1908 - In the beginning – the 1st Tongham Scout
Troop.
By Authur Edwards.
“Scouting for Boys”, written by Sir Robert Baden Powell,
came out in fortnightly parts at 3d per time. 
Arthur Hunt, a nephew of Wearings the Coal Merchants, got
hold of some copies and lent
them to Fred King and myself and we thought it would be a good thing to start a gang on
those lines.
Fred King was about a year older than myself and I was
working with him at Hydes. Hunt
did not
join in the actual forming of the patrol, but King and I got some boys together
and had a meeting in my mothers kitchen in Oxenden Rd.
Two members were Bob Wheeler and Walter
Cranston (who was in the navy at Jutland in
1916). Fred became patrol leader and I was Corporal
of the Cat Patrol.
Our “Scouting for Boys” became our bible and we started our
own uniform by buying green
and black braid and with safety pins made shoulder knots.
Fred King’s father was bandmaster of the Tongham Temperance
Band and Fred himself used
to play the euphonium.
Mr King Senior got up a subscription and with
the results bought and gave us two bugles.
Wheeler and Cranston were the only ones good as buglers and
we used to march over the
Hogs Back to the tune “here comes the lads brigade”
which our self taught buglers had
pinched from our rivals.
I’m afraid I disagreed with the acquisition of these bugles
as our rules said we should not beg and in any case there were
so many things I
considered more important but there was nothing I could do about it. After about a year Fred King
left in order to
concentrate on the Village Football and Cricket teams, of which he was
secretary for many years.
Patrons and Helpers
The first one to take an interest in us was the vicar of
Tongham, the rev H. M. Harke and from the start until he moved to
Rowledge he
gave is every help and encouragement. He
allowed us to use the wood at the end of his garden for Scouting
exercises and
a stable for a short time as a headquarters.
He was a great diciplinarian and ruled the village with
a firm
hand. And insisted on we Scouts
attending bible classes every Tuesday evening.
We did not like this very much
but the boys responded very well and as “Scouting
for Boys” suggested that Scout Troops be non-denominational I argued
that if as we on occasion had a church parade in the Parish Church we paraded the next
week at the Free church Gospel Hall.
This was accepted by the vicar with some reservations but in practice
worked very well.
Our next great supported was Col. Allatt of Thumblands,
Runfold, retired after a great career in the RAMG where he had served
as a
medical volunteer on both sides of the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. He also lectured at the military colleges in
Sandhurst
and Camberley and he was responsible for introducing carrier pigeons service
into the army.
(editors note: HW Allatt
wrote a book entitled “The Use of Pigeons as Messengers in War and the military
pigeon systems of Europe.” )
He had re-enlisted and organised Army lorries to be
protected by steel plate as armoured cars in the Irish
Troubles and we were all
deeply grieved when he died from Heart Trouble in the Dublin Rising.
Crooksbury Hill was, ay this time, heavily covered with trees
and most of our early activities were over this area.
The Colonel would meet us on the hill top and set us problems
such as determining and marking how many trees would have
to be cut down in
various positions in order to provide a clear sighting for signalling to Ceasars
Camp, Aldershot Camp,
Fox Hill, Hogs Back ans around to the Hindhead
ranges. Or we would post sentries about
every 50 yards apart
defending the hillbrow and others would attempt to pass
dispatches through the lines without being seen.
The Colonel was keen on raising and preparing Buff Orpington
poultry for show and had many silver cups to show for his
efforts and often
when I called at Thumblands, he would be cleaning and sprucing up a smart
rooster and making it stand
very erect and docile for the judges by stroking it
under the beak and throat with his walking stick.
One day he invited our troop of 18 to have
tea with them and tables were laid on the lawns. Miss Allatt, his daughter,
was hostess and
sat at the top table with myself on her right hand and a row of scouts down
each side.
I had previously threatened to murder any boy who
misbehaved so all were somewhat subdued. We were all from poor
families and were
not entirely at ease and I was immediately confronted with a problem of etiquette. We were all served
up with boiled eggs and we
weren’t sure of the correct way to remove the lid.
Did one bash it off with a knife, or pick the
shell off with ones fingers? The result
was that I waited for Mss Allatt to
remove the shell and copied her as best I might but to my horror all down the rows the Scouts watched my movements
and
religiously copied me. Every move Miss
Allatt made and every mouthful was followed almost by numbers. Miss Allatt
did not batt an eyelid but it was
the most embarrassing meal of my life. I
wished the ground would open a swallow me up.
1909 – 1st Tongham Troop Boy Scouts
In 1909, the Farnham Boy Scouts Association was formed and
Brig. Gen. Grove of The Red House, Tilford Road
became the first District
Commissioner. The 1st Tongham
Troop was incorporated but because we were so far out
and we were so poor we
could only join occasionally in district activities.
Gen Grove used to come over to visit us and became our very
good friend until he joined the Army and
went away to
Oxford. Col. Rowan-Hamilton
then became district commissioner. Our
first combined district exercise was for the Elstead
Scouts, lead by Capt
Belcher and myself with the Tongham boys would defend Elstead Village against the
Farnham troops.
We defenders were strung
out over a long line over Crooksbury and across Charles Hill with our left wing
(facing Farnham)
resting on the River Wey.
The object was to see how many could get through our lines
without being spotted or captured.
All started well, we kept busy checking our sentries complete
with passwords etc.
Just as it was getting dusk the 1st Farnham (grammar
school) mob mounted on bicycles charged full tilt down Charles Hill
yelling like mad and waving
ferns and scarves.
Short of thrusting our scout poles through their front
wheels, we could not stop them and they claimed a much disputed victory.
I think we were somewhat jealous of the 1st
Farnham as they, by our standards, all wealthy boys and the troops had tents
and other equipment that we others could not afford.
It was quite a time before we all really adopted the Scout
law which says “A Scout is a friend to all and a Brother to every other
Scout
no matter to which social class he may belong”, but as we mixed more freely, we gradually
began to be less to be less
patronising from above and less resentful from
below.
After this exercise finished all the Farnham Boys went home
but Elstead and Tongham spent our first night out in Barns and
outbuildings
belonging to Capt. Belcher at Polshot Poultry Farm on the Cutt Mill Road.
July 14th 1910.
Royal Review, King George V and
Queen Mary.
1ST Tongham Troop participated.
We were a very poor troop and had very little in the way of
uniform but a week before this occasion, Col Allatt of Thumblands, Runfold,
came to see me and I believe with the help of
the Rev H. M. Harke, advanced enough money to buy a doz dark green shirts from
Whites
at, I think, 10/6 each.
This improved the look of the troop enormously and made our
attendance possible but it was a very long time before the debt to the
Colonel
was refunded at only a few pence every week.
On the day of the review, about 200 of the local boys were drawn
into two long lines and behind the Royal Pavillion and leading to Long Valley.
After a long wait, the King arrived from inspecting his
troops and proceeded to ride down between our ranks followed by two or three
mounted officers. Col Allatt, in Morning dress and carrying his top hat, walked
at the Kings bridle.
The King seemed very tired and uninterested and as they by
me, it went like this:
Col: “They are all
working boys.”
King: “They are all
working boys.”
Col: “They pay for
their uniforms by a penny a week.”
King: “They pay for
their uniforms by a penny a week.”
They now pass out of earshot and the King leaves the Colonel
and rides straight to the Royal Pavillion and we stand at ease.
After another long wait a large car bearing the Royal Arms arrives
at the end of our lines and out steps Queen Mary and we
snap to the “alert” .
She meets the Colonel and a real inspection begins. She walks slowly down one line and back up
the other and stopping every
few yards to speak to the Scout or have some badge explained to her. I was unlucky in that
she did not speak to me personally,
but each side of me a boy was singled out
for inspection. Her inspection was
indeed memorable and lasted about a half hour
and we all responded
enthusiastically to three cheers as she left.
Our History
