WESTBOURNE
A village history in West Sussex
The 1st Henfield Scout Troop is the oldest in the world, founded during the winter of 1907/1908 after Baden-Powell’s experimental camp on Brownsea Island. It has been acknowledged by the Scout Association that the 1st Henfield Troop is definitely the oldest existing Scout Troop in the world, and this is the reason why in 2007, Scouting’s Centenary year, Henfield was the only village in England to host the Centenary Torch on it’s journey around the world to Brownsea Island. The following paragraphs will endeavour to explain how and why it was founded so early.
When General Robert Baden-Powell sailed back home to England after service in Africa, he was accompanied on that trip by an officer from Henfield, Major A.Wade the son of a Henfield solicitor. During the course of the journey, Baden-Powell explained his plans regarding setting up a training scheme for Britain’s boys, modelled on the training he gave to the boys who were scouts at the Siege of Mafeking. Major Wade was so impressed by these plans, that upon arriving home he related them to his sister Audrey Wade, who organised a Boy’s Hockey Club in Henfield. Miss Wade had wanted an all-year activity for the boys to undertake, as Hockey is seasonal, so she converted the Hockey Club into a troop of boy scouts and started training in scouting activities as planned by Baden-Powell.
This was early in the winter of 1907 and by the time that Scouting was officially formed nationally in 1908, Henfield already had an active and thriving Troop. Soon afterwards, Baden-Powell started a Troop near his home in East Sussex and Major Wade started a Troop in Chichester. Major Wade, in his book “The History of Scouting in Sussex”, stated that he believed 1st Henfield was the earliest Troop to be founded after Baden-Powell’s Brownsea Island Troop, which was formed for the experimental camp.
Major Wade enjoyed a long association with Baden-Powell, working to set up the National Association of Boy Scouts, organising the first Jamboree at Crystal Palace in September 1909 and the first International Jamboree in 1920. He later married Baden-Powell’s secretary and Baden-Powell was godfather to their son.
Source: http://henfieldscoutsbuildingappeal.org/history.shtml