HOW IT BEGIN
In 1883 in Glasgow, Scotland, a young Sunday School teacher, whose name was William Alexander Smith, W
as very worried that the Boys in his Sunday School class couldn’t seem to settle down enough for him to teach
them about Jesus and how to be better people. They were bored and thought they were too old for Sunday School.
On Saturdays William Smith was an Officer in the Volunteers (like our Army Reserves today) and could get
many men to do exactly as he wanted when he drilled them, but on Sundays he struggled to get the Boys in
his class to settle down and work together. Then one day he had an idea. If the Boys in the Sunday School could
be as well trained and behaved as his Volunteers through doing drill and other things, then he would be able
to teach them how to get more out of life.
So The Boys’ Brigade was started and the first meeting was held on the 4th October, 1883. Boys enjoyed it so much,
that soon other Companies were formed in Scotland and then spread to the rest of the world. But this movement
was for Boys who were between 12 and 17, mainly because it was the age group that Mr Smith had in his Sunday School class.
When Mr. Smith, who was later knighted and became Sir William Smith, started the Boys? Brigade he chose as its
emblem an Anchor and for its motto the words "Sure and Steadfast."
A few years later another organization was begun in England and it was called "The Boys’ Life Brigade,
" which had as its emblem a Red Cross.
In 1926 both these organizations joined together and in addition they joined their emblems.
Younger Boys of course wanted to be part of BB also and do similar exciting activities. In September, 1917,
a man called Carey Longmore, who was the Captain of the 1st Warley (Essex, England) B.B. Company,
started a junior branch of his Company and these young Boys were called "The Boy Reserves.
" The Boys’ Life Brigade also had a junior branch called "The Lifeboys".
When the B.B. and the B.L.B. joined together as one organization in 1926 it was decided to keep the name
"The Boys’ Brigade," and it was also agreed that the name of the junior branch should be
"The Life Boys" spelt in three words. From 1926 to 1966 that was how the names remained,
but it was then agreed that the whole of the movement should be known as
The Boys’ Brigade and the name "The Life Boys" was dropped.
The B.B. has gone on expanding and growing and now there are nearly 5,000 Companies throughout the world.
SYNOD 2012 OFFICERS IN ACTION
