Cambridge District Scout Archives
Boy Scout Awards and Badges
From the beginning of Scouting until the Advance report in 1966 the stages in a Scouts training were shown by various insignia. Baden-Powell’s original Scout training aimed to encourage personal achievement and provide a framework for the activities of the Scout Troop.
The specific details altered over time but the core stages and awards were as follows.
- Scout Badge Initial membership and investiture
- 2nd Class Scout
- 1st
Class Scout
- Bushman’s Thong
- Kings Scout
These were tests in a wide variety of skills associated with the outdoors, health, good citizenship and the personal achievements.
Further skills were recognized by proficiency badges. Accumulated badges earned All Round Cords. The cords were worn on the right shoulder usually suspended from the pocket flap button. The one below from 1920 is apparently pinned to the tunic top.
The requirements altered with time; the number of badges required remained the same. The example below is 1953 by which date only one, green, cord was achievable.
- Level 1 2nd Class Scout and 6 Proficiency badges Green and Yellow
- Level 2 1st Class Scout and 12 Proficiency badges Red and white
- Level 3 1st Class Scout and 18 Proficiency badges Gold
- Level 4 Silver Wolf
In the very earliest proposals a level 4 for 24 proficiency badges was proposed – the Silver Wolf. This moved to being either 24 Proficiency badges or 12 badges and extraordinary performance or repeated acts of bravery, endurance or self sacrifice. Later it became purely an award for the extraordinary acts, and the badge connection was dropped.
1911 A terrible shock has been dealt to scouts in Cambridge by the death of Scoutmaster William Wright, a second year undergraduate of Queens’ College. Joining when he first came to Cambridge he worked with Scoutmaster Spiller of the 7th and Scoutmaster Curzon of the 1st and had already attained the 24 highest honours badges which secured him the title of ‘Silver Wolf’. Cambridge News 29/09/1911
Bushman’s Thong The Bushman’s Thong was a slightly later addition to the insignia and focussed on Outdoor skills. To gain the thong a Scout first needed to be a 1st Class Scout.
The first recorded Bushman’s Thong in Cambridge was 1927 – 28. Only one cord was worn at a time, but a cord and Bushman’s Thong could be worn together.
Kings Scout By contrast the Kings Scout requirements were more Service based and to retain the title badges should be retaken every 12 months. It became a requirement that a King’s Scout hold a Bushman’s thong.
The first Cambridge King’s Scout was O. Webb, possibly Oliver Webb, named as achieving this by 1911 and in the front rank of those inspected at the Windsor Rally that year. See Local History/ Outstanding Events/ 1911 Windsor Rally
Signatures In early POR the following were permitted
- Kings Scouts were entitled to add a Crown
- All Round Cords a Stafford knot after his signature
- Silver Wolf a wolf after his signature
1946: Scouts and Senior Scouts
With the advent of Senior Scouts as a separate section the awards system was partially altered.
The three stages of Cord were replaced by a single braided lanyard in Scout Green presented for holding six proficiency badges.
Of these
- one must be Backwoodsman, Explorer or Pioneer and
- one Backwoodsman, Camper, Cook, Stalker, Weatherman, Woodcrafts.
The Cord had to be gained before the age of 15 but could be worn after that age.
The Senior Scout of 16½ – 17 was expected to have achieved the Bushman’s Thong on the way to a Queens Scout Badge. The thong arrived as a length of leather and a set of instructions to make the knots.
1966: and all that
The shape and the paraphernalia of training were given a thorough overhaul following the Advance Report of 1966.
Only 30% of Scouts reached 2nd Class Scout and only 10% reached 1st Class Scout. A very high dropout rate was observed between the ages of 12 and 13. The existing scheme was deemed cumbersome and expensive. It was observed that the standards expected were too low in the public service sections with little emphasis on active service. The changes were implemented in October 1967.
A four stage progression through Scouts was retained; the secondary markers of achievement, Scout Cord and Bushman’s Thong, stopped. This simplified the whole.
- Scout Badge
- Scout Standard
- Advanced Scout Standard
- Chief Scouts Award
Proficiency Badges
The badge system was given flexible categories. The need to cater for Senior Scout badges stopped as Venture Scouts started at 16 and had their own system. Previously Senior Scouts, who could be either separate Troops or be Patrols within a Troop, had a sub set of badges within the Scout whole.
The new badge categories were
- Interest (elementary standard) 12 – 13 years of age
- Pursuit (practical) 13 – 15 years of age
- Service (higher standard: practice and theory)
- Instruction (higher standard: for those specialising)
The badges themselves were reduced in size and the service stars stopped. It is not clear to what extent these subsets were used in practice.
Venture Scouts
- Venture Award
- Queens Scout Award
These focussed on long-term service and commitment as well as the completion of an expedition lasting four days and fifty miles.
1984:
Scout Standards were replaced with four new categories
- Scout Award
- Pathfinder Award
- Explorer Award
- Chief Scout Award (fully revised)
Cub badges were reviewed in 1991.
2002: Programme Review
Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Queens Scout
In 2003 the ladder of awards was extended to cover all sections, one rung in each of the first three sections, the last three spread over the Explorer and Network Sections.
Programme Zones linked to Challenge Badges and covered the core training requirements. All of the Challenge Badges must be completed to achieve the highest award in that Section.
| Beaver | Challenge Award | Bronze Chief Scout Award |
| Cubs | Challenge Award | Silver Chief Scout Award |
| Scouts | Challenge Award | Gold Chief Scout Award |
| Explorers | Platinum Chief Scout Award | |
| Diamond Chief Scout Award | ||
| Network | Queens Scout Award |
The Explorer Belt was introduced in 2013 as an additional Challenge.
The last three stages are aligned with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
- Platinum Chief Scout Award ≈ Bronze Duke of Edinburgh
- Diamond Chief Scout Award ≈ Silver Duke of Edinburgh
- Queens Scout Award ≈ Gold Duke of Edinburgh
Recipients of the Queens Scout Award and/or the Gold Duke of Edinburgh receive the award in the presence of a member of the Royal Family or their representative.
Proficiency Badges were renamed Activity Badges
2015: Programme Refresh
The programme was given a general makeover in ‘Programme Refresh’. The structure of Challenge Badges and Chief Scout’s Awards has been retained but the content has been revised and made “more challenging”.
The previous Programme Zones have been replaced by three themes, being
- outdoor and adventure
- world
- skills
The Challenge awards expanded to
| Beaver | Challenge Award 6 | Bronze Chief Scout Award |
| Cubs | Challenge Award 7 | Silver Chief Scout Award |
| Scouts | Challenge Award 9 | Gold Chief Scout Award |
| Explorers | Platinum Chief Scout Award | |
| Diamond Chief Scout Award | ||
| Network | Queens Scout Award |
Cambridge Archives
1951 5th Cambridge ‘too many are not even first class, a sorry record after a year or more of membership.’
1952 5th Cambridge ‘ it would be pleasant to record that once again all PLs are First Class Scouts. But alas it is not so,’
1952 5th Cambridge ‘it is disappointing that so many Scouts have been in the Troop for a year without gaining second class. How much longer are you going to let your name appear on the Black List?’
2020 13th Cambridge ‘There was an award after the bushmen’s thong for Rover Scouts which was the BP award. I believe that those of us in the 13th Rover Crew were some of the last to receive that award before Rover Scouts finished’. Tony Claydon responding to 2020 Facebook entry.
JWR Archivist Feb 2019
Cambridge District Scout Archive 