1909 Crystal Palace Scout Rally

Girls

By the time the Rally was held, over six thousand girls had registered with the Boy Scout Association. Several hundred of these attended, including one group under their Patrol Leader Marguerite de Beaumont. They dressed in the Girl Scout uniform as given in the Scout handbook. They called themselves Girl Scouts, and were referred to as that by the media and others. Girls had been part of the Scout Movement almost as soon as it began. A contingent of girls from Peckham Rye spoke to Baden-Powell at the Rally.

The media coverage of the rally, including that in The Spectator magazine in October–December 1909 initiated by Miss Violet Markham, led to the founding, in 1910, of the Girl Guides organisation under Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell that further led to other Girl Guide and Girl Scout organisations around the world. Baden-Powell decided to create an entirely separate organisation for girls, the Girl Guides and excluded girls from his Scout organisation. In those days, it was not common for girls to camp and hike, as this extract from the Scout newspaper shows: "If a girl is not allowed to run, or even hurry, to swim, ride a bike, or raise her arms above her head, how can she become a Scout?".

Attendees who later influenced the Scouts and Guides included Nesta G. Ashworth née Maude, later instrumental in the setup of Lone Guides, Rotha Lintorn-Orman and Nella Levy, a pioneer of Guiding in Australia.

To commemorate the event, in September 2009, Girlguiding UK opened a Centenary Maze in Crystal Palace Park.

References

References

1. (2011). "Scouting for girls? Gender and the Scout Movement in Britain". Gender, Place & Culture.
2. (2006). "Penguin Pocket On This Day". Penguin Reference Library.
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5. ""Girl Guides seek leading light", couriermail.com, 28 February 2009".
6. (1997). "Baden-Powell and the Crystal Palace Rally". Pinetree web.
7. (1997). "History of the Girl Scouts Movement". [[Girl Scouts of the Philippines]].
8. [[Headquarters Gazette]] 1909
9. [http://www.bc-girlguides.org/welcometoguiding/history/history.html History]
10. "Archived copy".