A brief
history of
Hertfordshire
Scouts
Hertfordshire has the distinction to be the first ever organised Scout County.
The birth of Scouting in Hertfordshire began at a dinner party in 1906 when Percy Everett met Baden-Powell. Over the next year a friendship developed and Percy was invited to help plan the experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour.
After the camp in August 1907, Baden-Powell asked Percy to go home and set up Scouting in his home county of Hertfordshire.
Baden-Powell wanted a system and organisation to allow Scouting to develop and to be an example to other Commissioners when setting up their own county structures. It took Percy 2 years to set up 16 Districts, each with a management structure. The first Hertfordshire Troop met formally on 20 February 1908 and by November 1909 there were 29 Troops and 787 boys and leaders.
History & Heritage in Hertfordshire
Our County Museum is one of the oldest permanent Scout Museums in the UK having been created in 1957 to the memory of Haydn Dimmock. He was Editor of The Scout, a weekly paper that was published non-stop for 58 years. Haydn Dimmock was also a Hertfordshire Scout, living in Welwyn Garden City where both his sons were Scouts with the First Welwyn Troop.
The main role of the History & Heritage Support Team is to create a permanent record of Scouting in Hertfordshire, providing support to individuals, Groups and Districts when tracing their history or carrying out badge work. Guided tours of the Museum are available by appointment. A tour of the Museum can help considerably with certain aspects of Activity badge work and History & Heritage themed activities for all ages. The team are also available to come to your HQ and give an illustrated talk on the unique history of Scouting in Hertfordshire and how it helped to develop into an outstanding Scout County.
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