“Brother Britons”: Robert Baden-Powell, the Boy Scouts, and the British World, 1907–18

Scholars frequently debate the degree to which the British Boy Scout movement promulgated ideas of militarism, social deference, and national service among young lads in Edwardian Britain.  Less attention has been devoted to Scouting’s role in forging a common racial and imperial identity.  General Robert Baden-Powell and other Scout authorities advanced a vision of “imperial brotherhood” that depicted the empire as a vast transoceanic community of “Britons.”  They cultivated ideas of racial consciousness, loyalty to the crown, and a masculine association with white colonial men.   Indeed, the founding myth of Scouting—the Siege of Mafeking 1899-1900—celebrated the cooperation of British soldiers with hardened colonial frontiersmen during the South African War.  In a period of intense public discussion about the proper composition of the national/imperial community, Scouting highlighted the perceived racial and cultural bonds among the white boys of the empire.  

This paper explores the early Scouting movement’s emotional appeal to a broader notion of “Britishness.”  Drawing on an array of archival and published sources from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, it argues that Scouting instilled boys with an appreciation for the global “British” connection, and reminded them of their mutual responsibility in maintaining the empire.  By reexamining this subject from a broad transnational perspective, it demonstrates how Scouting served as a powerful extra-state agent of imperial identity formation.