8th Lambeth - Swamplanders Revisited

Recent publicity in the South London Press has led Scouters of the 8th Lambeth Scout Troop to take a serious look at the Troop's origin and they have come up with a remarkable story. Based at St Michael’s Church in Stockwell in 1909, and still based there 100 years later, the Troop was started by Sir Francis Vane as part of a grand idea to set up troops all round the world as a way of strengthening international ties. Troops were established in France, Italy, America, South Africa, and Australia with Captain Masterman running the 8th Lambeth in Stockwell.

A letter in the Troop archives, written in 1986 by an 86-year-old, records how as an eleven-year-old Horace Skuse joined Captain Masterman’s Own Stockwell Troop which included a bugle band and a fife band! The Troop still holds two bugles from that era and financial accounts including this covering letter for the group's 1923 accounts.

Sir Vane paid for everything but on leaving the Army was declared bankrupt and withdrew his support from his international organisation. And soon, after application, the 8th was accepted as part of the official Scout movement.

Further research into the events that led up to the formation of the 8th Lambeth and its move to the "official" Scout Association reveals that the group had originally been associated with a parallel Scout movement led by Sir Francis Fletcher Vane with Captain Walter Masterman as one of the senior officers. There was an astonishing conflict between the rival movements with the 8th group one of the pawns in the game. The existence of the 8th was very much down to Captain Masterman being highly respected by Baden-Powell and the officers running his movement.

The main characters in the saga are mentioned on a number of websites. Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher Vane was, in 1909, the London Commissioner of Scouts in Baden-Powell's organisation. But he objected to the growing number of militarists in positions of authority and was sacked for taking policy initiatives instead of just being an inspector. He then, in December 1909, became President of the "rival" British Boy Scouts (BBS) which had been formed in May 1909. This organisation ran into problems, though. Vane had shouldered financial responsibility and, due to unpaid debts, he was declared bankrupt in August 1912. Even worse, the BBS lost most of its assets including its headquarters in Battersea.

This where Captain Walter Masterman comes into the picture. As the BBS's Assistant Grand Scoutmaster in the UK, he hoped to achieve affiliation with Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts Association. But the latter organisation would only consider applications for membership from individual troops, an option that proved unacceptable to the BBS. Masterman decided "enough was enough" and took eight troops which had been under his direct control into B-P's Boy Scouts. Among the eight was, of course, the troop that became the 8th Lambeth.

The British Boys Scouts organisation carried on but with diminishing numbers and, by the 1950s, is believed to have had only six troops in the UK. It saw a small resurgence in the 1990s when a few disaffected troops transferred from the "official" Scout Association. In 2011 over 413,000 young people age 6 to 25 and 79,000 adults were members of the UK Scout Association.

Returning to London from wartime evacuation, Stan Allen and his brother Reg joined the newly formed 42nd Lambeth Scout Troop. Equipment was scarce and that prompted their dad to call on various associates to provide tents, cooking equipment and other items essential for the sort of adventures the young Scouts yearned for.

All went well until a new vicar wanted to impose compulsory church and Sunday School attendance on the Scouts. Not a popular idea... and the 42nd Scouts "upped sticks" and moved to St Michael's Church in nearby Stockwell to revive the 8th Lambeth.

Stan Allen has provided an account of this and his recollections of local Scouting in the late 40s and early 50s here.

During the 1950s, the 8th Lambeth Scouts - maybe influenced by the Mickey Rooney and Judy

Garland films with the regular catchphrase of "I know, let's put on a show..." - did just that.

Some of their group show programmes are displayed here...

For some details of the present-day 8th Lambeth Scouts and who to contact, please click here.