Early Beginnings of Rover Scouting |
Rover Scouting began in England sometime in November 1919, twelve years after Scouting has taken roots in Brown Sea Island after a successful camp organized by Baden Powell in 1907. at that time, the main focus in scouting was only for boys, little thought was given for the next stage in their development.
When WWI broke out in August 1914, many young men in England were drafted into the army to be sent to the front. It was during this time when many scouts beyond the age of 15 seldom stayed in their Troops. The retention problem was first raised in the editorial issue of Headquarters Gazette in 1914. The situation led some Scoutmasters to clamor for a solution to stop the leakage problem.
In answer to the clamor, B.-P. organized the Scouts Friendly Society Scouts Brigade etc. but all these organizations were overwhelmed by enormous problems caused by the War.
A scheme to remedy the problem was announced at the Commissioners’ Conference at Matlock, Derbyshire, in March 1917 and was published by summer of that year. A new senior section to the Movement was to be created and its members were, to be called Senior Scouts. It was in this scheme that the Roots of Rover Scouting lay.
Baden Powell worked with the president of the Board of Education, Hal Fisher and tried to tie-in his new scheme, which is to promote specialization to increase the boys’ ability to get a job through a series of training. All Scoutmasters were asked to encourage their members who had left school at 14 to take part in the scheme. But it was wartime and there was a shortage of Scoutmasters able and willing to do this sort of work. The schemes fell flat on its face.
In June 1918 the London Scout Council convened a Senior Scout Conference during which Chairman P.B. Nevill made the most telling comment in his summing up, who said that the Senior Scout plan was by no means “cut and dried” and that the name Senior scout was not that pleasing.
When the war ended, young men returning home however found the new section quite unappealing. By September 1918 the Commissioner for Training, Col. Ulick de Burgh , writing in the Headquarters Gazette, showed that the Imperial Headquarters was agreeable to the scheme that the new section must cater to the returning heroes. The term Senior Scouts was dropped and Rovers were no longer referred to as older lads, but as young men.
“The term Senior Scouts was generally objected and disappears, and is replaced by the ‘Senior division of the Scouts’ and called Rovers. The word Rover suggests adventure and freedom, which are characteristic of young men, and the final stage in the evolution of his development.
By November 1919, the Rover Scout section was established.
A Conference of Rover Scouts held at the Imperial Headquarters in London on October 6th and 7th 1921, declared that “A Rover Scout is usually a senior Scout aged 17years and over” (during this time, the term Senior Scout was still running side-by-side with Rover Scouts). The same Conference also resolved that the specific objective of Rover Scouting was to “retain our older boys as active Scouts…with a view to their becoming Scout Officers or Scout Workers.” The purpose of Rover Scouting was then defined clearly by the Conference- its main purpose was to be a reservoir of future Scoutmasters. After these rulings Rovers began to make progress.
B.-P. decided to adapt the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as his theme not only to inspire the crew to quest, like the knights on a questing mission, but also to imbue upon them the values of Knighthood such as honor, charity and chivalry. B.-P. also thought of a term to call the gathering of Rover Scouts after the Anglo-Saxon word “Moot” which means deliberative assembly.
The first National Rover Moot was held in Birmingham in October 1923, at Yorks Wood Park with P.B. Nevill acting as Chief Rover.