The Boys' Brigade a brief history
Where it all started...
The Boys' Brigade was founded in Glasgow on 4th October 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith. From this one Company formed in Scotland the BB has grown in to a world wide movement having worked with millions of children and young people for well over a century.
William Smith became a teacher in the Sabbath School which was held in a mission hall in North Woodside Road, not far from the church. It was in the Sabbath School that he struck a snag, and had an idea. The snag was that the older boys were bored and restless. No one seemed able to interest or control them. They felt that they were too old for the Sabbath School and they were suspicious of 'do-gooders' and teachers who told them to sit still, make less noise, and generally behave themselves. In short, they were typical healthy teenagers. Smith thought a lot about it. On a Saturday afternoon, as an enthusiastic young officer in the Volunteers, he had no difficulty in making a hundred men obey his every word and command on the nearby drill ground. Yet on a Sunday he could do nothing with a small group of lively boys. It was then that he had his idea: 'Drill and Discipline'. Why not turn his Sabbath School boys into a volunteer band or brigade, with the same military order, obedience, discipline and self respect as any well trained corps of the Army of the Queen? Religious instruction was the core of the Sabbath School work. But why should the boys not enjoy games as well as discipline, gymnastics, camps and sport as well as hymns and prayers?
Later, William Smith was to sum up his aims in these words. The aim was to devise something that would appeal to a boy on the heroic side of his nature- something that would let him see that in the service of God there is as much scope for all that is brave and true and manly as in the service of King and Country.
On 4th October 1883 he invited the boys of North Woodside Mission Sabbath School to join The Boys' Brigade. The badge was to be an anchor and the motto 'Sure and Stedfast'. William Smith took the words and the spelling and the crest from the Authorized Version of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 19: 'Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast'. Name and badge and motto remain through the hundred years since that momentous day. The object was also quite clear from the beginning:
The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among boys and the promotion of habits of Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness.
(The word obedience was added some 10 years later).
Within a year the Boys' Brigade of the 1st Glasgow were in uniform. Although the leaders might have liked to see the Boys as smartly turned out as their Volunteers on parade, William Smith wisely set his face against full uniform clothing. It would be too expensive for one thing, whereas cap, belt and haversack cost only eighteen pence (about 7.5p. in modern money).
By 1914 there were 120,000 young people involved in The Boys’ Brigade, and became famous for its bugle bands.
Extracts taken from First For Boys,: The Story of The Boys’ Brigade 1883-1983, by Donald M. McFarlan
Sir William Smith on Wikipedia
The Boys' Brigade on Wikipedia
First For Boys: The Story of The Boys’ Brigade 1883 -1983 (PDF)
Key Dates
1854 – William Alexander Smith born (27th October)
1883 – BB Founded in Glasgow (4th October)
1886 – First BB Camp (Tighnabruiach)
1897 – First Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of York
1908 – Scout Movement Formed (by Baden Powell, developed from the BB)
1909 – William Alexander Smith knighted (July)
1913 – The King’s Badge introduced
1914 – Sir William Alexander Smith died (10th May)
1917 – Boy Reserves started for 8 to 11 year olds
1926 – Amalgamation of The Boys’ Brigade with The Boys’ Life Brigade
1933 – Jubilee Celebrations
1955 – BB involved in Duke of Edinburgh’s Award pilot scheme
1963 – World Conference (of The Boys’ Brigade) formed
1977 – Pre-Junior Section formed (now known as Anchor Section)
1982 – Royal Mail issue 1st Class stamp celebrating The Boys’ Brigade
1983 – Centenary Celebrations
1993 – Junior Section 75th Anniversary (previously called ‘Life Boys’)
1994 – Royal Review by HM The Queen at Windsor Castle
2002 – World Conference renamed Global Fellowship of Christian Youth
2008 – 125th Anniversary of The Boys’ Brigade
2008 – Girls’ Association formed
2011 – 125th Anniversary of Camping
2012 – HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Baton Run
