Cambridge District Scout Archive
Courts of Honour comprised Patrol Leaders, Troop Leaders and possibly Assistant Patrol Leaders and were the organising body for the Troop. The Scout Masters oversaw the running of the Courts of Honour and supported the Patrol Leaders. The shift of responsibility from SM to PL’s was an ideal. Successful Troops were able to achieve this shift and it may be seen that in doing so the Troops became stronger.
It is likely that the strength of a Court of Honour fluctuated with the individuals in the Troop at the time. A Troop can be influenced by the behaviour of one Scout, witness Eric Curwain of whom it was said in 1920 ‘the 14th owe everything to Eric’.
Decisions on hats, the requirements concerning patrol boxes, libraries and lanyards were all made by the Court of Honour. Expectations of Patrol Leaders in training individuals and the behaviour of Patrol Leaders within the Court of Honour were part of the review of the Troop.
We know about Courts of Honour from the few whose records are in the archives. Where these survive they tend to depict a successful Troop or a Troop during a successful period.
1923 7th Cambridge Records of the Courts of Honour No.s 36 – 127 ending in 1928. A record of P/L decisions which altered marginally with a change of SM.
1950 5th Cambridge The 5th Court of Honour possibly became prominent after the formation of a Senior Scout Troop. Previously a strong PLs leadership was evident. They did much of the planning of scout events. They published Arrowhead starting March 1951. Each new intake had a training camp and held separate camps for the PLs who constituted this body.
1951 – 1953+ 44th Cambridge (Trumpington) had an active CoH meeting up to fortnightly. They made active decisions on promotions, ejections and re-admissions and saw Scouts in the meeting to question them on their behaviour. The CoH took an oath at the beginning of meetings and considered adopting hoods to be worn in session to encourage secrecy and seriousness. This was not adopted.
1956 54th Cambridge Initiated a Court of Honour initially attended by A/PLs, Skipper and Bosun and within two years by TL, PLs x 4, Skipper and Bosun.
During this period the troop was very active, camping, entering competitions and setting targets for individual members.
Decisions on hats, the requirements concerning patrol boxes, libraries and lanyards were all made by the Court of Honour. Expectations of Patrol Leaders in training individuals and the behaviour of Patrol Leaders within the Court of Honour were part of the review of the Troop.
‘At the Sandringham Jamboree we held a Court of Honour nearly every day to arrange routine matters of programme’
1967
5th Cambridge rebuilt the Scout hut as part of the Douglas Brown memorial (ex SM) with a dedicated PL Council room to ‘give the PL Council worth‘.
19 13th Cambridge Reached their 300th Court of Honour and celebrated with a small party.
Patrol Leaders Council
The Advance Report altered the name if not the intent. As with many of the Advance Report recommendations the terminology became clearer.
1966 Advance Report recommended
- ‘That the Court of Honour be renamed the Patrol Leaders Council
- That Troop Leaders be renamed Senior Patrol Leaders
- That Patrol Seconds be renamed Assistant Patrol Leaders
- That the present system of Patrol names be continued but that the inappropriate be avoided’
See also Patrol Leaders Meetings
JWR Archivist Feb 2021
Cambridge District Scout Archive 