A history of Scouting in Edgware

Early Scouting in Edgware

Just a year after Baden-Powell begun the Scout Movement, Scouting has been run in Edgware: the 1st Edgware were formed in November 1908. In its early days they held meetings in Truth Hall, until their leaders decided that they wanted to be an open group without ties to a church. By the beginning of the 1920s they were meeting in a hut in the Heron Field, a site a little to the north of Whitchurch Lane between St Lawrence’s church and Montgomery Road. For reasons of what appear to be empire building on the part of the Elstree District Commissioner the 1st Edgware began the decade as members of Hertfordshire County, but in 1923 they became members of the Harrow District Association in the County of Middlesex.

The rural nature of Edgware was changed by the arrival, in 1924, of the Underground railway from Hampstead. It had far greater impact on the area than had the arrival of steam more than fifty years earlier. Property developers (including one Herbert Soulsby, the grandfather of a future member of the 2nd Edgware) moved in, and new housing began springing up on a number of sites in the vicinity. Thus the population of Edgware increased dramatically to provide the area with the raw material for new Scout Groups to emerge.

Edgware District Scouts

Between 1928 – 1939, 11 new Groups opened across Edgware, six of which were attached to a Church, one to a synagogue and one to the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital, a Group set up for long-term patients there. This hospital Group, 1st Brockley Hill, was the only Group not to take the name ‘Edgware’.

With this growth in Scouting, the Edgware District Association was set up in October 1930, consisting of Groups across not just in Edgware, but also Stanmore, Harrow Weald, Kingsbury and Queensbury. The first District Scoutmaster was Dr ‘Kim’ Durward, an anesthetist at the RNOH who has been instrumental in founding the hospital group there. The first district parade took place on Stanmore Common on Saturday 25 October, when wide games were played against troops from Stanmore and Harrow Weald, returning to the Stanmore Institute (Bernay’s Hall) for tea and a campfire sing-song. The first meeting of the new Edgware District Association was held on 4 December in St Lawrence’s Hall, at which Dr Durward showed a film of the Arrowe Park Jamboree.

Back to Groups in Edgware proper, growth continued through the 1940s, including one short-lived Air Scout Group, the 14th Edgware. The last arrivals came in 1958 and 1969; 16th Edgware being the highest numbered Group. With 1st Brockley Hill that would tally 17 Groups spanning Edgware. It is worth noting, there were never 17 Groups active at the same time. In fact, the author estimates at most there were only ever 12 concurrently.

The Edgware District operated until 1965, when boundary changes saw it split three ways:

• Groups in Brent moved to the new Kingsbury & Kenton District (1963 – 2002)
• Groups in Barnet moved to the new Hendon & Edgware District (1965 – 2008)
• Groups in Harrow moved to the new Stanmore District (1965 – 2021)

A news article reporting unsuccessful efforts to save the Edgware District asks what will happen to the cups and trophies from District events, including the prized Harrow Flag for the annual Camping Competition. As the last winner of ‘The Flitch’, we at 2nd Edgware were lucky to keep hold of the item, which is looked after in our archives. You can read a digitalised copy of the Flitch here. The author would be interested to know what happened to the other items.

Pear Wood

Pear Wood, off Wood Lane in Stanmore, was the District campsite for many years. One former Scout who regularly camped there recalls ‘facilities were few – there was a standpipe on the border of the Scout and Guide fields, and a small hut with no electricity, gas or water laid on. Latrines had to be dug. But despite it being only a short distance from the A41 it was wonderfully isolated and you could be a hundred miles away from Edgware.’

The site was the location for the annual camping competition, with Scouts competing for the Harrow Flag – named after it was presented to the District when they broke away from the Harrow administration in 1930.

After Edgware District was absorbed in 1965, Pear Wood continued to be used for many years, lastly ending up as the District Campsite of Pinner & Headstone. Today footpaths to connect it into the larger Stanmore Country Park. Although it is still listed online as available for camping, the author suspects local groups use it more for day events and hikes now.

Scouting in Edgware today

With a national decline in Scouting around the 1990s, a number of Groups in Edgware began to close. With a reduction in Groups, the new Districts aforementioned eventually merged with neighbours to create larger Districts. At the time of writing (2025) there are six Edgware Groups (by name) still active; three in Harrow District and three in Barnet District (or seven Groups if you consider the 1st/6th merged).

In consideration to other areas, Edgware remains a strong place for Scouting. And with UK Scouting bouncing back with significant growth and an increase in housing developments in the area, we could start to see a parallels to Edgware 100 years ago. Perhaps it will be time to re-open some of those former groups…