Origins of The Boys' Brigade

The Boys’ Brigade was originated in Scotland of United Kingdom, which was the world’s first uniformed organization for youth. It has a history of 130 years. Sir William Alexander Smith, our Founder, who was a Sunday school teacher of a church. He felt that traditional Sunday school approach was hard to satisfy the curiosity and energetic disposition of youths. Thus, he made good use of his background as a Volunteer of Military Force, integrated the elements of team spirit as well as military discipline into the existing religious activities. On 4th October 1883, he gathered about 60 youths at the College Free Church in Glasgow and started the first parade. Nowadays, The Boys’ Brigade has already become an international mission movement, with Companies established in over 60 countries worldwide.

The Boys’ Brigade was founded on 4th October 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith at Free Church Mission Hall, North Woodside Road, Glasgow, Scotland.

It was called the 1st Glasgow Company with an initial membership of 59 Boys. The Boys wore simple uniform which consisted of a rosette, a forage cap, haversack and belt while some of the activities conducted were drill, gymnastics and games.

The Boys’ Brigade is the first uniformed youth organization in the world By the early 1890’s, The Boys’ Brigade grew to become a worldwide organization.

Among other organization formed based on the root idea of The Boys’ Brigade were:

The Boys’ Life Brigade became part of The Boys’ Brigade and was called `Life Boys’ in 1926. This resulted in the incorporation of the Red Cross from The Boys’ Life Brigade emblem into The Boys' Brigade Emblem.

The Boys’ Brigade in Canada was formed in 1889.

The Boys’ and Girls' Christian Brigade Canada (mixed group) was formed in 2015. The Church Boys’ Brigade – an Anglican Brigade for Canada

Object - the extension of Christ’s Kingdom among boys by binding them in a disciplined society under a three-fold pledge of sobriety, purity and reverence.

The Pioneer Company of the interdenominational Boys' Brigade was established in Glasgow in 1883. It quickly proved to be a success at holding older lads to their churches and spread to other parts of the world. The Brigade idea was copied by others and organisations such as the Jewish Lads' Brigade, the Catholic Boys' Brigade and the Boys' Life Brigade were started. The Church Lads' Brigade was formed for the Church of England in 1891. In a similar manner, in 1892, the Church Boys' Brigade was set up in Toronto specifically for Anglican Churches.

The first company of the Church Boys' Brigade was established in St Cyprian’s, Toronto, by Rev. Charles Shortt and Dr. Charles Carter in February 1892. Another six companies were started in the ensuing months and a council was formed to draw up a constitution. It was modelled on the Boys’ Brigade in Scotland, the Church Lads’ Brigade in England and the Knights of Temperance in the USA. The CBB was fully constituted by March 1894 and grew quickly from 18 companies in 1895 with 300 to 400 members to 28 companies with 1,300 members in 1896. By the following year, there were more than 50 companies spread across Ontario.

The Brigade grew out of the choir organisations and was for teenage lads, mostly 13 to 17 years. Members wore a glengarry cap, without tails, and a fan shaped badge that was red, white and blue - the Brigade Colours - blue for temperance, white for purity, red for the blood of Jesus, the colour of Calvary. A lapel badge with a triangle and the letters SPQR (found on the standards of Roman Legions) was worn when in civvies. It operated in a similar way to other Brigades which sought the betterment of the individual and the nation at large. There were a number of differences though. There was less emphasis on discipline and company officers were elected from the ranks of the boys themselves, instead of placing the clergy in charge. The boys used a password.

Those responsible for overseeing the affairs of the Brigade were Chief Warden and Organiser for the movement in Canada, Rev. Charles Shortt (St Cyprian’s); Chief Sub Warden, Mr. Godfrey Shaw (All Saints); Commandant, Rev. George Lothrop Starr (St John’s, Norway); Adjutant, Mr. O St. G. Preer; Brigade Major, Major Henry Pellatt (later Major-General Sir Henry Pellatt).

Lothrop

The Bishop of Toronto, Bishop Arthur Sweatman, was a keen supporter of the Church Boys’ Brigade. In 1895, when the Bishop met William Smith, Founder of the Boys’ Brigade, on his tour of Canada, he expressed the wish that he would like to drop the word ‘Church’ and have the CBB affiliated to the Boys’ Brigade so long as their internal arrangements were not interfered with. This did not happen. It is likely that leaders in the CBB were happy to stay as they were. In England, the Church Lads’ Brigade was inaugurated on the 11th November 1891 after the Boys’ Brigade Executive showed they were not interested in establishing an Anglican Branch within the BB. In 1896, the second Annual Convention of the Church Boys’ Brigade was held at The Pavilion, Toronto, a rally with over 500 members on parade and their company banners flying. During the rally there was a report on the 1895 Summer Camp by Rev Starr and the St Simon’s Company was presented with the Silver Challenge Cup, presented for drill by Major Pellatt. In the evening there were exhibitions of fencing and boxing.

On 22nd June 1897, the Church Boys’ Brigade paraded to Exhibition Park, Toronto, along with many other military and civilian organisations, to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The Church Boys’ Brigade organised an inter-company Hockey League (ice hockey). Companies listed in the Daily Mail and Empire, 14th February 1896: St Simon; St Cyprian; St Saviour, East Toronto; St John, Norway; St George; St Stephen; All Saints; St Luke; St John, Weston; St John, Toronto; St Margaret; St Thomas Mission; Church of the Redeemer; St Anne; St Barnabas; St Mary, Dovercourt; St James’.

There was a company at St James’, Guelph, west of Toronto. The Rector, Rev Alfred James Belt, was Warden, assisted by the drill instructor, Lt Ogg. The Guelph Mercury reports that the Company spent a week at camp in 1897 at Puslinch Lake but that other camps were being held at Peterborough, Hamilton and Clinton, indicating that CBB companies existed near these places. Several companies were at the Brigade’s main camp at Kew Beach, near Toronto,‘where the brigade’s headquarters is situated’.

There was a Church Boys’ Brigade at St Matthew’s, Quebec. The Warden was Rev Frederick Norie (sometimes misspelt Norrie), curate from 1893 to 1896, Sub Warden, Mr J W Grant, who assisted the Rector, Rev Lennox Williams. Mr Mayne-Reade of the Royal Canadian artillery was the drill instructor. A newspaper report informs its readers that, ‘the lads looked very neat and trim in their grey and red uniforms and their marching was very creditable’. There were 28 members.

A Church Boys’ Brigade was instituted on 16th August 1897 in St John’s, Port Arthur (now part of Thunder Bay), Diocese of Algoma. Mr R B H Bell of Trinity College, Toronto, assisted the Rector, Rev J W Thursby, establish the Company of 31 boys, taking them to summer camp for two weeks. The Company turned out on its first Church Parade and were inspected by the Bishop, there to carry out a Confirmation Service. In July 1898, ‘the Boys’ Brigade was getting on well under instructor Mr T J C Redden’.

It is not known for how long this Company was operational. What is known is that Company Number 2722 of the Church Lads’ Brigade was opened in May 1908, in the time of Rev Charles Hedley. The CLB Company was dormant by 1911.

The Chase Tribune, 12th September 1913, contained a few paragraphs about Rev G Lothrop Starr. It mentioned his association in Toronto with Sir Henry Pellatt and the organisation of a Church Boys’ Brigade, ‘which was the foundation of the uniform cadet corps of that city’. To become Cadet Corps would have been an expected development for this organisation but there is a lack of evidence to corroborate this statement. The Canadian Army Cadet History website does not carry any details that can be conclusively connected to the Church Boys’ Brigade in Toronto.

There is reference to Cadet Corps #169, Regina Church Boys Cadet Corps in Saskatchewan, attached to St Paul’s Anglican Church, which was formed 26th October 1908 (Militia Order 245/08) and disbanded 30th September 1920 (MO 374/20). Drill instructors were provided by the 95th Saskatchewan Regiment. The Archivist and Registrar for the Diocese of Qu’Appelle, Trevor Powell, was able to confirm that this was a Church Boys’ Brigade Company that had been set up in 1908 by Mr W J P Selby. However, Regina is a long way from Toronto.

So what happened to the Church Boys Brigade?

This information has been gleaned from a few detailed newspaper reports in the 1890s but material after this has been very scarce. It is known that St James, Carleton Place, was still operating a Church Boys’ Brigade in 1909 as the Rector did not wish to upset the CBB by sponsoring a Boy Scout Troop, and that the All Saints CBB was replaced by Boy Scouts as its 1922 Parish History informs that Godfrey Shaw was the Scoutmaster. It is likely that, after an initial period of growth, there was a period of contraction. Several key figures in the organisation had moved away from Toronto. Rev Shortt moved from St Cyprian in 1897 to St Thomas’s, and in 1900, left Canada altogether to take up missionary work in Japan. Rev Starr, who from 1894 was curate at St John’s, Norway, left for Manitobain 1 898 and then on to Kingston Cathedral in 1904. The respected Captain of the St John’s Company, Mr Charles E Jackson, left, was killed on 18th February 1900 at Paardeberg, South Africa, during the Boer War, aged 21.

Companies can close down just as quickly as they open. Time and time again, youth organisation histories show that a company is often held together by one person, usually the Captain, and when he leaves the district or steps down after some years in charge, no one can be found who is prepared to shoulder the responsibility. If there were companies that later became Cadet Corps, it is likely that they closed down after the Great War during a time when there was much anti militaristic sentiment. All over Canada, School Boards were put under public pressure to close down Cadet Corps. All the Church Lads’ Brigade Cadet Corps in Brantford, Montreal, Saskatoon and Toronto closed during the 1920s. The popularity of the Boy Scouts Movement may have had consequences for the Church Boys’ Brigade. As already stated, Godfrey Shaw was the Scoutmaster at All Saints. Rev Canon Starr became a Commissioner in the Boy Scouts and Sir Henry Pellatt and his wife, Lady Mary, became noted supporters of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. There is a display of Girl Guides memorabilia at Casa Loma in Toronto, nowadays a popular tourist attraction, the former home of Sir Henry and Lady Mary Pellatt.