On My Honour: Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain

Youth on Streets and Bob-a-Job Week: Urban Geographies of Masculinity, Risk, and Home in Postwar Britain

“…Whilst academic research on a range of youth organisations has already highlighted the importance of gender (Proctor 2002(Proctor , 2009Kadish 1995), the discussion in this paper on Bob-a-Job Week does not limit itself to the gendered socialisation of youth membership, but illustrates how in this example certain 'feminine' domestic tasks were permitted as appropriate for male youth -a distinct departure from scouting's early construction of a hard-bodied masculine ideal. The organisation is a highly gendered space, established by Robert Baden-Powell following a camp in 1907 with a specific class-based vision to create appropriate youthful masculinities for a stronger citizenry, nation and Empire (Proctor 2002;Warren 1986).…”

Youth organizations and the reproduction of nationalism in Britain: the role of Urdd Gobaith Cymru

“…We witness these twin aims in the founding of the archetypal youth organisation in the UK, namely the Scouts. Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, made clear these twin commitments when he published his Scouting for Boys in 1908(Baden-Powell, 1908Proctor, 2002). He was particularly concerned with the growing preponderance of idle, weak and potentially immoral young men.…”

“…In addition to this moral concern was a related focus on the fact that these were, of course, young British men. The Scout movement, from the very outset, was concerned with the need to ensure that its members would fulfil their roles as responsible, active and useful members of the British nation and empire (Warren, 1986;Proctor, 2002;). …”

Introduction: Geographies, Histories and Practices of Informal Education

“…The history of informal education has also been a marginal but sustained interest for historians of childhood, leisure and youth (for example, Springhall, 1977;Proctor, 2002).…”