There are no formal or official links between Freemasonry and the Scout movement, nor should there be. But for many Scout Masons there are natural affinities and sharing of ethos, and in the case of members of the Kindred Lodges Association, a very powerful emotional linking of the two Brotherhoods.
    But first a little history. Baden-Powell (BP) was not a Mason, although his brother was, as were many of his friends. This is perhaps surprising in the light of his military service in India and South Africa, where the Craft was active and much in evidence.
    However, when a Lodge bearing his name was consecrated in Western Australia, with Lord Somers, the Governor-General as Founding Master, BP presented a Volume of the Sacred Law to the Lodge. Lord Somers was to become the second Chief Scout.
    It is also interesting that at the siege of Mafeking, where BP became a national hero, the Masonic Hall was the most prominent building in the town. BP, probably wisely, resisted attempts to introduce Masonic-like ceremonial into the Rover section of the movement – aimed at young men – and it is said that, when approached about the Craft, he declined possible membership, feeling that as Chief Scout of the World, his position could be compromised.
    When presenting the paper on which this article is based to Lodges and Chapters, I always ask how many of the Brethren and Companions were members of the Scout movement. The response is normally 70 to 80%.
    Such numbers could be a result of the success of Scouting in attracting boys years ago, and indeed now, but why are so many of them Masons today? My suggestion is that the aims and general approach of both the Craft and this great youth movement are so much in accord, that those who enjoyed Scouting found a ready home in Freemasonry.
    The aim of The Scout Association is to promote the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
    The method of achieving this aim is by providing an enjoyable and attractive scheme of progressive training based on the Scout Promise and Law and guided by adult leadership (my italics).
    It is, perhaps, the Promise and Law that makes Scouting unique.

On my honour, I promise that I will do my best
to do my duty to God and to the Queen,
to help other people and to keep the Scout Law.

This is a powerful obligation for an eleven-year-old, let alone an adult. Yet there are millions of men and women all over the free world who have made that promise and allowed it to influence their lives long after they have left off the uniform in which they made it.
    Have in mind that splendid charge to the Initiate regarding this promise, because if he was a Scout, there will be much he has thought about before. Like the Craft, Scouting started as a Christian movement, but very soon attracted followers of other religions.
    BP wanted it to bring young people to their God and made it an important part of the spiritual aim. No Scout Association can be recognised by the World Bureau without that religious aim at the forefront.... the important duties you owe to God ....
    Duty to the Sovereign presented no problem to a Scout during the war, when collecting paper, mending stirrup pumps and fire watching were all performed and, I confess, enjoyed. Many other Scouts performed more arduous and dangerous service, and many made the supreme sacrifice.
    In the First World War, one of the youngest VCs ever was a posthumous award to Boy Jack Travers Cornwell, a Scout, serving on HMS Chester at the battle of Jutland. The Cornwell Badge is now given to Scouts who carry out their Scouting under extreme personal difficulty.
    Her Majesty is Patron of the Association, and the highest award that a young member can achieve is The Queen's Scout Badge.... by never losing sight of the allegiance due to the Sovereign of your native land.
    To help other people has always been part of the Scout method – the good turn, the training in first aid, citizenship, public service of many kinds, the presentation of a lifeboat to the RNLA before the craft did – all representative of the message to place others before self.... to dedicate yourself to such pursuits as may at once enable you to be....useful to mankind...
    To keep the Scout Law, there are seven statements of positive virtue – not sanctions – but rules of life covering, trust, loyalty, friendliness, brotherhood, courage, care and respect....to indelibly imprint on your heart the sacred dictates of Truth, of Honour and of Virtue. Much more of what we do, say and mean may be familiar to a candidate for Freemasonry who has been a Scout.
    In quoting the aim of the Movement earlier, I put the phrase guided by adult leadership in italics. This was because it was the genius of BP that he realised, long before many educationalists, that encouraging young people to take up the leadership of their peers, and to accept responsibility, would be so enabling.
    He, therefore, placed the adult leadership in a very special position of guidance rather than command. When you meet a man or woman wearing the little Fleur-de-Lys badge, shake their hand with your left hand if you qualify, and wish them well because they are helping to give yet another generation of boys and girls the chance to enjoy the Great Game.
    They will be giving up much more than “the one evening a week” and, to be fair, the men among them may not have the time for Freemasonry yet, but when your candidate has been a Scout, and in particular a Scout Leader, anticipate that you will find the type of commitment all our Lodges need.
    Because so many Masons have wished to preserve their links with Scouting, 35 Lodges have been founded in England and Wales with Scout and youth movement connections. The Lodges have some splendid names such as Quest, Pathfinder, Impeesa, Pioneer, Pinewood, Torch, Venturer, Arrowhead, Kudu and Red Scarf, the latter for former members of The Gang Shows.
    They formed The Kindred Lodges Association in 1952, which includes Lodges that are “Sure and Steadfast” – the motto of the Boys' Brigade. Many members of the Kindred Lodges are, or have been, members of other youth movements, and at some meetings will wear the appropriate uniform with their Masonic regalia.
    The Kindred Lodges meet together twice a year, at northern and southern locations, and there is just a hint of the campfire about the festive boards. The Kindred Lodges maintain links with five such Lodges in Australia and Lodges in New Zealand, South Africa and Germany, together with Masonic Scout Clubs in the USA and Lodges sponsoring Scouting in Canada.
    There is also Associate membership open to Masons like myself, who are not in any of the constituent Lodges. This gives many of us the opportunity to attend the Festival meetings.
    With some 600,000 members in the UK, and more than 25 million worldwide, the Scout movement, in terms of numbers, leaves us in the shade. But even the tyler will not be displeased to have a candidate who understands “Be Prepared” to add to our Brotherhood.
    I do not suppose the President of The Scout Association would be displeased either, as he is the Grand Master, HRH the Duke of Kent.

References:

www.scoutbase.org.uk (Scout Association)
www.masonic-kindredlodges.org (Kindred Lodges Association), telephone: 01226740285

Lt.Col Brian Hilton is Junior Grand Deacon of the United Grand Lodge of England