The Boy Scouts And Girl Guides Of The Great War

At the outbreak of the First World War, with many men volunteering to fight, certain roles were taken up by the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts saw a rise in the number of boys that had joined at the outbreak of war - everybody wanted to do their bit to help the war effort. They were too young to join the army or the navy and so this was the next best thing. 

These Boy Scouts were tasked with carrying out important war work such as watching the skies for Zeppelin raids, sounding their bugle to warn of imminent attacks and again once the threat had cleared. They also carried different, most often important messages around the immediate area. They could be set to getting help for a casualty, or carrying messages amongst home front organisations. Boy Scouts carried out various other jobs depending on what was needed - after all, most able-bodied men were away fighting, with older men left behind, most of whom wouldn't be able to run for several minutes to get a message to someone. The Boy Scouts became highly respected for the work they were doing. 

For the girls there was the Girl Guiding. They were expected to undertake different, more female roles. These included parcelling up clothing to send to the frontline, delivering milk, learning and carrying out basic first aid as well as also deliveries messages, similar to the Boy Scouts. There is also rumours, of which the truth will probably never be made public, that the Girl Guides were also involved in delivering messages on behalf of MI5. It is believed that the Girl Guides were the second choice, with the Boy Scouts being the first choice. However, MI5 are said to have believed the boys to be to wild, sometimes naughty and more often than not highly talkative, something that MI5 didn't want. 

Both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides gave children a purpose in the war, which I think boosted morale to thousands of children across the country and gave them a sense of purpose. With many of them missing fathers and other male family members who were on the front line, being part of the organisations meant that time was taken up carrying out their 'duties', taking their mind off other events. However, I do also think that the duties they were carrying out made them feel older and I think they left their childhood behind them sooner than they would have in peacetime.