Various Scout Groups claim the title of oldest Scout group in their respective countries. As Scouting is a movement and not an organisation and developed rather than was constituted, there was initially no central organisation and there is no clear starting date. Due to the rapid growth of Scouting, there were many Scout groups before central organisations were established and therefore the earliest groups were only registered long after they had been formed. Some groups first met under the banner of other organisations, including the Boys' Brigade, Church Lads' Brigade, YMCA, churches or schools, and only later registered with central Scout organisations. Some maintained dual registrations. This makes it impossible to establish which groups started first. Today, national Scout associations often do not take a stance as to which was the first group in their country.

Development of Scouting

Scouting developed in the early years of the twentieth century. There are records of Boy Scouts and Scouting groups from 1900. The Boys' Brigade began its Scouting scheme in 1906.The Boys' Brigade Gazette, 1906 Robert Baden-Powell held a demonstration camp on Brownsea Island from 1 August 1907. Thereafter, the publisher C. Arthur Pearson Limited began promoting Scouting in Britain and published Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys, initially in six fortnightly instalments from January 1908 and then in complete book form which C. Arthur Pearson Limited followed with The Scout magazine from April 1908. Boys began forming Scout patrols and flooding C. Arthur Pearson Limited's Scout office and Baden-Powell with requests for assistance.

The Scouting movement developed rapidly, in Britain, the British Empire, among English-speaking people and the rest of the world.

United Kingdom

There are a number of claimants to be the first troop in the United Kingdom. As Scouting is a movement and not an organisation, there was initially no central organisation. The publishers C. Arthur Pearson Limited sold registration cards to subscribers of its magazine. Numerous local or regional Boy Scouts associations were formed and several national Scouting organisations were formed in the United Kingdom including the Boys' Brigade Scouts, Chums Scout Patrols, YMCA Boy Scouts, British Boy Scouts, Church Scout Patrols, London Diocesan Boy Scout Corps, Boys' Life Brigade Scouts, National Peace Scouts, The Boy Scouts Association and Salvation Army Boy Scouts (re-organized in 1914 as the Life-Saving Scouts of the Salvation Army). The Boy Scouts Association (now The Scout Association) was formed in 1910 and does not acknowledge any single troop as being the first but maintains a list of all the Scout Troops who claim to have started in 1908.

The Scout Troops with strong claims are listed below:

The First Glasgow Scout Group in Scotland holds the earliest known registration certificate, dated 26 January 1908, issued by The Boy Scouts Association. The Group was formed from the Glasgow Battalion of the Army Cadet Corps; its Adjutant was Captain Robert E Young. In June 1907, they formed the 'Cadets' Winter Recreation Training Club'. The club was a success from the beginning, as 'Boss' Young related: "At first we met at my house, signalled up and down the stairs, tied knots around the banisters and always finished with a good tuck-in." 'Boss' Young met B–P during Autumn 1907 who suggested that the club could experiment with the ideas contained in 'Scouting for Boys'. On 16 January 1908, the club was formally disbanded and the First Glasgow Troop of Boy Scouts was registered with Scout HQ in London.

The 1st Chesham Bois Group was founded in 1908.

The 1st City of London holds a copy of their formal registration dated 24 May 1908 (Empire Day), but they had been operating for a few months prior to this date. The Scout Master was Arthur Poyser, the verger at All Hallows by The Tower – an associate of Lord Baden-Powell – see the group history at www.cityoflondonscouts.org.uk – the Group has operated continuously since formation, and is the only uniformed youth organisation in the City of London. They became the Lord Mayor's Own Scout Group in 1911.

The first Scout Troop to receive a visit from Baden-Powell was the Vaux's Own Scout Troop in Sunderland. This visit was made on 22 February 1908, so it is assumed by The Scout Association "that it had already been in existence for some days at any rate". This was also the first Scout Troop listed in the Imperial records. The 1st Crystal Palace Patrol (now known as the 2nd Croydon, 1st Crystal Palace) is documented as being in existence on 28 February 1908. The group is still in existence.

In 2007, 1st Henfield Scout Troop was named as the oldest surviving Scout Troop in the world for the centenary of Scouting. They were the hosts of the only place that the centenary flame stopped in England for the night before reaching its goal of Brownsea Island. However, it is not the oldest Scout Troop, as others were set up before Henfield. It is said that the boys that went to Brownsea Island on the first ever Scout trip were from Henfield.

The 1st Birkenhead (YMCA) has a claim to be the oldest Scout Troop as it was founded on 24 January 1908 when B P attended a meeting at the YMCA. Documents at the District Headquarters confirm this fact. Baden-Powell at the 1929 Coming of Age Jamboree in Birkenhead said "Here in Birkenhead that I first mooted the idea of Scouting".

1st Connahs Quay Scout Group were founded in April 1908. They are believed to be the oldest Scout Group in Wales.

The 1st Croydon Scout Group (Addiscombe) were founded in the latter months of 1907. The Group was officially registered by Imperial Scout Headquarters on 16 June 1908 and can claim to be one of the earliest Groups.

1st Church Kirk, Church near Accrington Lancashire. Formed 1907. Baden Powell formed a link with Accrington during his opening of the Ambulance Drill Hall in 1904.

1st Cheltenham (Highbury) started in early 1908, they were visited by Baden-Powell on 13 January 1908 and by March 1908 the Troop was meeting regularly.

The 1st New Cross (The Greys) Scout Group was formed 17 January 1908 but was not registered until 26 May 1908 by Baden Powell before he even registered his own group.

There is an entry in Baden-Powell's diary on 4 February 1908 which mentions a Scout Troop in Nottingham.

1st Alsager, Cheshire were formed before 24 February 1908.

A troop from Hampstead was involved in various events in the first half of 1908.

5th Islington, London was formed in April 1908 by a group of boys who had formed a "secret society" at St Mary Magdalene Sunday School, inspired by the first copy of The Scout magazine.

The 1st City of Aberdeen Scouts existed in 1908. 1st Arbroath Scout Troop (2nd Angus) dates back to June 1908.

1st Stirlingshire Scouts unofficially first met in August 1908, and later officially on 21 December 1908.

The 1st Norwich "Capt. Bower's Own" Sea Scouts started in January 1908. The group is one of few which has continuously run for 100 years and, remarkably, had just 4 Group Scout Leaders during that time. To celebrate their centenary year, the group published a book entitled, "It Can Be Done: The Hundred Year History of the 1st Norwich Sea Scout Group." drawing from their extensive archives.

The 1st Colchester scout group in Essex (now known as 1st Colchester Air Scouts) were founded in May 1908, the group met in the Bunting Rooms in Culver Street West (Colchester) and Baden Powell made several visits to attend local Scouting rallies. The "Air Scout Troop" gained official recognition by the Royal Air Force in 1956 and has retained this recognition.

1st Sawbridgeworth Scouts organisation in Hertfordshire claims to be among the oldest in the country, founded in the earlier months of 1908, also backing their claim is a plain red "scarf" (most groups have two or three colours).

In Poole, Dorset, there are strong claims from three current Scout Groups that all have separate newspaper articles back to 1908 listing Patrols or Troops practicing Scouting. 1st Parkstone has got a registration number back to February 1908 for a Scout Troop. Hamworthy are listed as having a Boat patrol at the Local Church in November 1908 and Broadstone having an Ambulance Scout at the Gathering on Brownsea Island in December 1908.

Wycliffe Scout Group (Gloucestershire) claims to be the oldest continuously active school-based Scout group in the world (active September 2013). It is listed in the Scout Association database with a registration date of 1 February 1909, although the Group celebrated their centenary in 2008, implying that there had been Scouting activity at the school before the Group was registered.

The 5th Fife Scout Group, formerly known as the 2nd Kirkcaldy (KHS) Scouts and 5th Kirkcaldy (KHS) Scout Troop which merged in 1919, has maintained an unbroken presence since 1909 with records dating back until this time. The first registered Scoutmaster was Mr Thomas Collins.

British Empire

1908

Australia Scouting appears to have started as early as 1907 in Victoria in an informal way when a boy in Caulfield received from a friend, who had been a member of the experimental camp at Brownsea Island, some pamphlets which had been issued by Baden-Powell. The first Scout Group in Australia may have been founded in Northcote in Melbourne in early 1908, but the Victoria Scout Heritage Centre states that "It is very difficult to name the first Troop to start in Victoria".Those Boy Scouts: A Story of Scouting in Victoria, Victorian Scout Archives, 1987 However, by the end of 1908, there were 11 Scout Troops in Victoria.

In New South Wales, 1st Toongabbie Scout Group in the western suburbs of Sydney was founded in 1908 by a member of the Sydney University Scouts, Errol Galbraith Knox (later Brigadier Sir Errol Knox, MBE), and is still operating. Other Sydney groups founded in 1908 and still operating include 1st Hurstville, 1st Petersham, 1st Leichhardt and 1st Paddington (now 1st Woollahra-Paddington).

1st Mosman 1908 is very likely the first scout group in New South Wales and Australia. It was founded by Charles Hope in early 1908 and the place where they met, The Barn is a heritage listed site. 1st Mosman 1908 continues to be active today and has merged with several other local scout groups such as 4th Mosman and Port Jackson Scout Groups.

Canada In the spring of 1908, Canada became the first overseas Dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program. The 1st Merrickville Scout Troop, founded in 1908, is the oldest Scout troop in North America. Reference "75 Years of Scouting in Canada". The 1st Port Morien Group claims to be the first Scout Group in North America. The Nova Scotia Council of Scouts Canada recognized the centennial of the Port Morien Group by providing a crest to all Nova Scotian Scouts Canada members.

Gibraltar The first recognized overseas unit in a country controlled by the United Kingdom was chartered in Gibraltar with the establishment of the 1st Gibraltar Scout Troop on 27 March 1908. The group is still active and has a membership of around 140. It is expected to open a new troop and pack this coming year. The group celebrated its 100th anniversary with a parade along Main Street and received the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar on 2 October 2008. To commemorate the conferment of the title Marquis of Milford Haven one hundred years ago, the present marquis visited the Group during the celebrations.

Malaysia In Malaysia, the Scout movement started two years after it was founded in London. However, it is believed that a trial group had been established in Penang at YMCA in 1908, the same year that Scouting was formed in England.

Malta The Malta Boy Scouts Association applied to become a member of the British Movement on 9 November 1908 and was officially recognised, as was the procedure then, exactly a year later. The 1st Sliema Scout Group in Malta was founded in 1909.