Baden-Powell's Use of the Term "Outlanders"

[Kudu 186]

Here is an excerpt from Michael Foster's history of the British Boy Scouts. Over the years I have tried to contact him for a written reference to Baden-Powell's use of the term "outlander," as well as information about the origin of the "Outlander Promise," but I have been unsuccessful. If anyone knows him, or if you know if Ian Nicolson or Roy Worthy are still alive, perhaps you could step in and help solve this mystery in the history of Scouting.

 

The British Scout Federation / The Outlanders

 

At the beginning of 1978 Ian Nicolson (1st/2nd & 6th Hampshire) and Fred Torr (2nd/3rd Nottinghamshire) left the FSE with their Groups to form 'The British Scout Federation' which was renamed in 1979 as 'The Outlanders,' a term B-P used for those who could not make the full Scout Promise. Early 1979 the Outlanders was registered as a Charity.

 

The original design of the badge that the British Scout Federation had chosen for their symbol, was the Jacob's Staff, inside the outline of a fleur-de-lys. The Staff had been the emblem of the 1937 World Jamboree, the last Jamboree Baden-Powell attended. The Outlanders continued with a plain Staff removed from its fleur-de-lys. A third group joined as an affiliated group in March/April 1978 - 1st Chesterfield which had been a Baden-Powell Scout Group and had become an independent group. Contact with this Scout group was provided by Roy Worthy who had joined the new organization and who had been a Province Commissioner in the FSE living in Chesterfield. Worthy's membership was short-lived only surviving until Jan/Feb 1979. Contact was lost with the Chesterfield group due to Roy Worth's resignation. Fred Torr died Jun/July 1979, leading to the loss of the Nottingham Group. The remaining group continued the Outlanders as a separate organization until 1988, when it merged with the BBS for a period of 6 years until 1994 when it reestablished as an independent organization under Ian Nicolson's leadership [pages 77-78, "The Great World Scout Schism and the History of the British Boy Scouts," by The Reverend Michael John Foster SSC MIWO, copyright 1998].

 

 

[Eamonn 61]

Sorry I can't help.

Have you contacted Colin Walker?

scouting.milestones@btinternet.com

He seems to know everyone!!

Eamonn.

[Miki101 14]

Colin's on holiday until the end of the October.