Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase March April 2021

A Window on the Past
Boy Scouts
The early years of the 1st Rugeley Troop
One August evening in 1910 two Rugeley youths, Reginald
Robinson and Harold Hough, met two Scouts from
Stafford whilst walking in Green Lane. They decided that it
would be a good idea for Rugeley to have a Scout Troop
and the 1st Rugeley Troop of Boy Scouts was founded a
few days later. Their first public duty was guarding for
three days and nights the bonfire built on Etching Hill for
the Coronation of George V in 1911.
They originally met in Taylor's Lane, the first Scout Master
being Harry Kelly. They bought a wooden hall for their
headquarters which was enlarged and erected on land
rented from the Earl of Lichfield, who opened it in 1923 as
a Memorial Hall. In 1937 the land on which the hall was
built was sold and the Troop appealed for funds to
purchase a plot to move the hall to.
1. Poster for an early fund-raising event for the 1st
Rugeley Troop, who had been founded three months
earlier.
2. R.C.J. Robinson at the Scout camp in North Wales in
1911.
3. Reginald Robinson, a founder member of the 1st
Rugeley Scouts obtained his Scout Master's Warrant in
1912.
4. The Scouts played an important role in the First World
War.
5. The opening of the new Scout hut in 1964. Scout Master
R.J. Pearce is on the far right.
During the 1914-18 war Scouts were involved in many
activities including helping at Ravenhill Red Cross Military
Hospital. They also collected magazines for hospitals in
France, collected several tons of waste paper, guarded
railway bridges, and those with bikes acted as messenger
boys for the police.
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The Landor (local history) Society is a
focus for those who wish to learn more
about the history of Rugeley and its
surrounding parishes. It was founded in
1953 and was named in honour of
Walter Noble Landor, local and county
historian, who became the Society’s
first President. More information is
available at www.landorlocalhistorysociety-rugeley.btck.co.uk
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