International Heritage Centre blog

The Life Saving Organisations

Establishment of the Life-Saving Scouts and Life-Saving Guards

The Salvation Army has been linked with Boy Scouts and Girl Guides from the early days of Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s initiative. The Scout Movement originated in 1907 as a youth training method for use by organisations such as the YMCA and Boy’s Brigade, inspired by Baden-Powell’s time as a General during the South African wars. However, distinct Scouts Patrols soon began to form in the UK and abroad and in 1912 The Boy Scouts was granted a Royal Charter, becoming an official organisation (How Scouting Grew, The Scouts Association).

In the early years, as Scouting was still coalescing into an organised movement, General William Booth corresponded with Lord Baden-Powell about The Salvation Army adopting the Scouting programme for its youth. The idea was successful and ‘The Life Saving Scouts’, were inaugurated on 21 July 1913 at Clapton Congress Hall as part of the Young Life Crusade (a wider scheme to increase children and youth involvement) with Staff Captain Hugh Sladen was the first Territorial Scout Organiser.

The 26 July 1913 War Cry reported on the event, explaining how the Life-Saving Scouts were to be unique from the mainstream Boy Scouts:

“The very name, ‘Life-Saving Scouts,’ will mark this boys’ organization out from all others, and it is to be distinctly understood from the commencement that there is to be no militarism or playing at soldiers. The purpose is to save the boy, body, mind, and soul, and to train the boy to save and serve others.”

At the event, The General was also quoted in The War Cry as commenting: and “why not some Life-Saving Girl Scouts?”

The Girl Guides had formed soon after the creation of the Boy Scouts, after girls famously demanded to be included at the 1909 Crystal Palace Scouts rally. The Girl Guide Association was created in 1910 by Robert Baden-Powell’s sister, Lady Agnes Baden-Powell (Our History, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts). 

The Salvation Army’s equivalent to Girl Guides, The Life-Saving Guards, was established on 24 November 1915 by Mrs. General Booth at a rally at Regent Hall. The Guards were to follow a similar programme to the Scouts, but with additional instruction in skills such as housecraft, nursing, and economy. 

The Guards were conceived as a response to wider societal changes at the time. The 27 November 1915 War Cry explained that Mrs Booth believed that the Guards came at an important time: “when women were entering many new fields of labour. Her hope was that the Life-Saving Guard Movement would do much to safeguard young women from the peculiar dangers arising out of this new order of things.”

The Life-Saving Scouts and Guards (known together as The Life-Saving Organizations) established itself in the UK and spread to other Salvation Army territories. In 1915 the first Scout and Guard troops were formed in Canada, and in 1919 in Australia. Participation statistics from 1946 show that there were Scouts troops across North America, Europe, Australia, India, South America and the Caribbean, with the largest numbers of participants outside Britain being in the USA, Sweden, and Canada.

Growth and development in the interwar years and WWII

Through the 1920’s, the Life-Saving Organisations became integral to the wider educational scheme of The Salvation Army. As described in the 1927 Year Book, by being a Scout or Guard The Salvation Army aimed for youth to have “clearly a reason for the hope that is within him, should have a practical knowledge of his bible, should understand the purpose, principles, and methods of the Organization, and should cultivate the talents he possesses.”

In time, the programme expanded to provide activities for a wider age range. Boys aged 8-11 could join the Chums and girls aged 7-11 the Sunbeams. Senior Teams were also set up for older youth.

All Life Saving Organisation sections worked towards earning badges. There was overlap in the activities undertaken by boys and girls, but with some greater focus on homecraft and nursing for the Sunbeams and Guards. Badge compendia from the mid-twentieth century show a selection of typical badges available: Scouts could earn Cyclist, Carpenter, Missioner and Healthyman badges, while Guards could earn badges like Child Nurse, Laundress, First Aid, Salvation Army Knowledge and Carpenter. The highest award was The General’s Scout/Guard Award.

The Salvation Army began publishing a periodical for the young members of the Life Saving Organisations in 1921 – The Life Saving Scout and Guard. The papers had everything to entertain and educate its young readers, including updates from Scout and Guard troops in the UK and internationally, reports from camps and trips, fun activities to follow, and series of short stories and comics.

In June 1943 The Girl’s Own Paper featured an article about the Fulham Guards and Sunbeams. The author explained that the Guards had a “well-balanced programme” learning things such as signalling, first aid, camping, and making pancakes. It also noted the attractiveness of the uniforms and commended the girls on their fine mending skills and initiative to sell handmade rugs for the war effort. 

Official affiliation and merge with Scouting / Girl Guiding 

The Life-Saving Organizations continued to have a close link with the Scout Association and the Girl Guides Association and eventually it made sense to officially integrate. In 1937 the Life Saving Scouts adopted the Boy Scouts’ badge system, and 1948 fully merged into The Boy Scouts Association with the Chums and Life-Saving Scouts becoming the Wolf Cubs and Boy Scouts.

The Life-Saving Guards remained an independent programme until 1959, when they affiliated with the Girl Guides Association as ‘Salvation Army Girl Guides’ (and Brownies). In a letter to the Salvation Army Chief of the Staff in 1958, The British Commissioner Edgar Grinsted explained the decision as coming out of a desire to be in line with the Boy Scouts arrangements and similar moves in other Salvation Army Territories such as Canada and Sweden, but also recognizing opportunities for greater training facilities and financial savings. 

In a late draft of the Terms of Affiliation in 1959, The Guards were to integrate operationally and financially into the Girl Guide Association. However, they would retain an additional stipulation to the Guide Law around abstinence from intoxicating liquor and tobacco, the Salvation Army Knowledge Badge and General’s Medal, and would have a Salvation Army representative on the Girl Guides Association’s Religious Panel. 

Some Salvation Army territories like the USA and Australian territories maintained and continued to develop separate youth programmes. A Moonbeams section of the Guards was added in the 1970’s for girls aged 5-6, and the Salvation Army Boys Adventure Club (S.A.B.A.C.)  was created for Boys with sections called Explorers, Adventurers and Rangers.

100 years of Salvation Army Scouting and Guiding 

Girl Guide and Scouts groups at Salvation Army Corps in the UK & Ireland Territory continued to be spaces where youth of all ages could have fun, and grow socially, morally and spiritually, into the new millennium. In 2013, Salvation Army celebrated 100 years of Scouting with an international jamboree held at Gilwell Park, Chingford. Ignite saw Salvation Army Scouts attend from Australia, Canada, Congo, England, Finland, France, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Uganda and Wales.

Christie

May 2025