West Wratting: Outline History

Cambridge District Scout Archive

• 1^st Cambridge District (Balsham and West Wratting)            1921 – 1928
• 43^rd Cambridge                                                           1928/1929 AGM report         
• 68^th Cambridge (West Wratting)                                1934 –

1^st Cambridge District           (Balsham and West Wratting)         1921 – 1928     8447

1^st Cambridge District (Balsham) was formed in 1913 and registered nationally in the first set from Cambridge District in 1919.  It received the IHQ number of 906 (Cambridge numbers started from 900).  It failed to re register in 1921 and a letter from IHQ gently avoided apportioning blame.  On re registration in 1921 it was listed as Balsham and West Wratting and received the IHQ number 8447.  No references are known for 1922 – 1924 but the joint villages are named in the AGM reports until that of 1927/1928 (published in early 1929) when the 1^st Cambridge District was again just Balsham and had a new IHQ number (suggesting a significant change in registration) of 10557.  A note of 1929 gives the intention ‘to be divided and re registered.

The Troop numbers fluctuated (publication dates of AGM reports a year behind)

Balsham and West Wratting

• 1927    35
• 1928 38
• 1929 39

Balsham

• 1930    6
• 1931    6
• 1933    20
• 1934    22
• 1935    22  and  11 Cubs

Scarf colour changed from Maroon to Blue and Orange between 1931 and 1933

Little specific to West Wratting can be unpicked from the records.  One leader, George Harold Hart, had a West Wratting address.

• M Slater          SM                   <1925 – 1929  (The Grange)
• A J Parr            SM                   1929 – 1931>
• F M Richmond SM                   <Jan 1934

43^rd West Wratting

In the AGM report of 1928/1929 (printed 1930) 43^rd West Wratting appears in the list of Groups.  It has no named leaders, no IHQ number, no address and no census numbers.    The year previously 1^st Cambridge District had been named Balsham and West Wratting, in 1928/29 report it had become just Balsham.  The next Group that took on the 68^th Cambridge number (Byron House School) was also offered the 43^rd number.  It is not clear why the 43^rd was considered a local number.

68^th Cambridge (West Wratting)                  1934 – 1935

Registered on 28^th September 1934 and transferred or planned to be transferred to South Cambridgeshire District in the 1935 division of the very large Cambridge District into four smaller Districts.

Records from this District are not held by Cambridge District.  The Group does not appear in the County list of January 1935 in either District.  A re-registration date of 28^th Jan 1935 is given and a reference to the Group is found in 1937 but they are not present in the next available South Cambridgeshire records post WW2.

The number is next used in Cambridge District in 1943.  It is likely that West Wratting, like all other Groups in South Cambridgeshire, removed the X^th Cambridge prefix and the number became available for use.

JWR Archivist Aug 2022