7th Cambridge (Abbey)

Cambridge District Scout Archive

St Andrew the Less comprised three centre’s, St Andrew the Less, Abbey Church and St John’s District. It is now known as Christ Church St Andrew the Less (a red brick building on Newmarket Road) and St Andrew the Less is the older church known as Abbey Church, Abbey or Barnwell Abbey. St John’s Mission in Wellington Street was probably home to 3rd in about 1924.

St Andrew the Less hosted the 5th Cambridge Boys Brigade Company under Capt. E O Brown, who was later to become a member of the District Committee as a BB representative, and later without that designation.

In October 1909 the BB announced several patrols within the Company and by January 1910 Peewit Patrol was credited with raising £9/10/1 on the Scout stall.

G V W is Lt G V White, probably just a BB rank.

In March 1910 the Parish magazine (all three Churches) announced a troop of 5 or 6 patrols. This was formed at the Abbey Church and was a separate body. The 5th BB continued with the Scout Patrol within a total of around 50 boys. The Abbey Scouts were running at around 25 boys in October 1910.

The following from October 1910 relates to the Abbey Troop. It is also reported that the Troop carried a message from Quy to Cambridge by relay with the Scouts spaced half a mile apart. The inward journey took 31 minutes, the return 36. If Cambridge was the city centre this was a little short of 5 miles each way.

From November 1910 we have numbers and a District number ‘7th’. The two bodies in two churches within the larger parish continued. Later details of the Patrol with in the 5th BB Company are missing.

The cost of uniform is a salient detail

The available Parish magazines stop at this point. At some point before 1912 the 7th had become the ‘Christ Church and Jesus Lane Sunday School’ Troop. Christ Church, St Andrew the Less is the full title of the Church; Abbey Church is the older church out of town but also on Newmarket Road. It is not known if this was just a name change (as could readily happen when the forms for registration were completed each year) or the joining of JLSS generated the change.

In either case they closed in October 1913 and the County School took the number ‘7th’.

JWR Archivist May 2022