Menu
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
In Central America, Belize, the principal town of the timber-rich crown colony of British Honduras (now Belize), was the centre of all prewar Brigade activity. The first company was formed there in 1899 and three more were attempted in 1911-12.
William Smith writing to E.Metzgen in September 1911: There already is one Company of The Boys’ Brigade enrolled in Belize in connection with the Wesleyan Church under the charge of the Rev. R. T. Morrison, The Mission House, Belize, and I hear of another Company under the charge of the Rev. Robert Cleghorn, Baptist Mission House, Belize, so that you, Mr. Morrison and Mr Cleghorn should meet together and arrange for co-operation in working your Companies. Mr, Morrison’s Company is an old established Company registered as the 1st Belize(British Honduras) Company. Your Company I think, should come in as 2nd Belize(Briti8h Honduras) Company and Mr. Cleghorn’s as 3rd.
The UK Annual Reports reporting the statistics of overseas Companies reported 3 Companies operating with an average of 180 Boys and Officers through until the early 1970’s.
The 1st St Johns Company was formed in 1889, by the Rev. Thomas Francis Fotheringham, an Ontario-born Presbyterian, who made sure that the movement was initially kept under the influence of the main denominations, the Sabbath Schools, and Glasgow Headquarters. As the movement expanded, and as various early attempts at a Canadian Headquarters and executive failed, this did not hamper early growth and by early 1896, membership in Canada had reached over 5000, in 120 Companies, having been bolstered by a visit by William Smith in 1895, and the support of Lord Aberdeen, a Honorary President of The Boys’ Brigade and Governor General of Canada.
The 1930’s was the highlight of the Boys Brigade in Canada where in Ontario the great revival was portended in Windsor where five units were operating before 1933-34. The prewar leap forward was centred, however, in Toronto and other Ontario cities (notably Hamilton and London), and in Montreal. In Winnipeg it occurred between 1937-40. Between 1929 and 1944 just over 120 companies were registered in Canada through Abbey House.
In May of 1937, 105 Canadian officers met on the occasion of the third Annual Review of the Toronto Battalion to constitute the second Dominion Council of The Boys’ Brigade. Notable in the fact that it gave The Boys’ Brigade in Canada the autonomy to enrol Companies and register Officers, the same authority which had been granted them in the 1890s at the formation of the first Dominion Council. By the end of WWII, membership had halved and the BB in Canada was struggling. The BB in Canada never regained the numerical strength it had enjoyed in the prewar years, and by the early 2000’s was mainly operating as individual Companies.
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
Golden, Andrew and all the volunteers are busy working hard, and many more pages are being developed. Once we have finished, these pages they will be made public. Please return again soon to visit the main site when hopefully we will be finished and you can view these pages.
If you can assist with creating any of these pages by providing content please email: Archive@boys-brigade.org.uk
BB Gazette Vol.20 No.6 February 1912 – A Company has been formed in connection with the Baptist Church at Flowers Bay, Spanish Honduras. The Pastor of the Church, who is a native of Edinburgh, reports that there are about 50 Boys on the roll, and the Company Bible-Class is well attended.
1st Flowers Bay (Spanish Honduras) Company. – Connected with Baptist Church. The Rev. John Henderson to be Captain.
Although the first B.B. company formed in the U.S.A. was in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1887, the epicentre of the movement in that country was California. The Rev. John Quincy Adams commenced the 1st San Francisco Company at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in August 1889. By 1893 there were an estimated 14,000 boys in 220 or more United States companies. But by then Glasgow had given up the unequal task of registering companies in the U.S.A. Henceforth national records in that country remained chaotic and statistics erred annually on the inflationary side.
A hierarchical rule-by-convention gradually set in, and the U.B.B.A. became year-by-year more militarized and less Church-based. Smith and his British Executive, although viewing the American trends with disquiet, continued faithfully to report developments in the U.S.A. The Founder did seem to favour, it is true, those accounts which emphasized traditional activities like camping and the simple pronouncement of Christian virtues throughout the movement. The UBBA continued to operate in small numbers in the later part of the 20th Century, amd by the start of the 21st Century the headquarter structure appears to have ceased to operate.
The Boys’ Brigade Archive Trust relies on supporters to further the preservation and promotion of the Heritage of The Boys’ Brigade, ensuring that is is accessible and relevant to future generations of young people. If you are able to support our work though a financial donation, by the donation of artifacts, photographs and paperwork of by volunteering please click on the links below. If you wish receive our monthly newsletter please sign up. We look forward to hearing from you and advancing the work of The Boys’ Brigade Archive Trust.
Our volunteer researchers are constantly developing content for The Boys’ Brigade Virtual Museum.
Links to our brand new content can be found below.
