Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in society. The history of scouting in Malta has been immortalised in the detailed and well researched book by John A. Mizzi, Scouting in Malta: An Illustrated History. A summary and highlight of events and other notable dates of the scouts in Malta prior, during and soon after the end of the First World War give a very good insight of other scout activities during this period. Added to this is a set of three photos which givefurther insight into the sterling service rendered by Malta Scouts during the First World War.
Scouting began in 1907 when Robert Baden-Powell, Lieutenant-General in the British Army, held the first Scouting encampment at Brownsea Island in England.
It was on 15 September 1913 that the Malta Boy Scouts Association was formally registered by Imperial Headquarters in London as an Overseas Branch of the Boy Scouts Association
The history of scouting in Malta is truly rich in events that mark its chequered history. The close connection with the founder of the Scouting Movement, Robert Baden-Powell who served in Malta as Captain during 1890-1893 is one such event. During this period his uncle, General Sir Henry Smyth was Governor of Malta.
Chief Scout Baden-Powell together with Lady Baden-Powell visited Malta during February 1913 Malta during their delayed honeymoon.
The Chief Scout inspected six Troops from Baracca, Dockyard, Floriana, Sliema, Tigne and Valletta. Baden-Powell recognised and shook hands with two of the scouts he had tea with in London during the Coronation in 1911.
War was declared in August 1914. The First World War a significant impact on scouting on Malta, since most of the scoutmasters were also servicemen and were ordered to the front in Europe.
Most of the scout leaders were servicemen and within weeks of the declaration of hostilities they were on their way to the Western Front.
Camps were cancelled and the scouts volunteered for war service as interpreters, in hospitals, in convalescent centres, in the censor’s office and as coast watchers and messengers.
There were by November 1915, 84 scouts on war duty, 44 of whom had qualified for a special war badge. However, as the latter half of the war progressed, membership rose sharply, and the association’s general meeting on 30 November 1917, reported 1,200 members with 28 scout troops on the island.
During the First World War, like the Crimean War period, Malta served as a “Nurse of the Mediterranean”. From the Gallipoli campaigns 2,500 officers and 55,400 troops were treated in the Maltese hospitals, while from the 1917 Salonika campaigns 2,600 officers and 64,500 troops were treated.
The years of the conflict thus required the significant augmentation of hospital beds for injured and sick troops. The number of beds in the Valletta Military Hospital were augmented from 26 beds to 340 and later to 440 beds. This was achieved by renovating disused wards and bringing the sanitary and medical facilities up to date.
The Valletta Station Hospital served as a sorting base for the wounded arriving in the hospital ships prior to their being transferred to the other 30 hospitals and camps scattered over the islands. The Valletta Hospital itself was reserved for dangerously ill cases that could not be safely moved.
The principal hospitals and camps used were the Naval and Military hospitals, Bighi Naval Hospital, Valletta Hospital, Cottonera Hospital, Forrest Hospital, Mtarfa Hospital (commissioned in 1912) and Chambray Convalescent Depot.
Other hospitals and hospital camps were set up including: the Hamrun Hospital, St. Andrew’s Hospital, St. George’s Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital (close to St. Andrew’s), St. David’s Hospital and St. Patrick’s Hospital, St. John’s Hospital (in the Sliema Primary School), St. Ignatius Hospital (in the old Jesuit College in St. Julians), Tigne Hospital, St. Elmo and Baviere Hospitals in Valletta, Manoel Hospital, the Blue Sisters’ Hospital and the Ghajn Tuffieha Camp.
Another interesting aspect of the role of Malta was that men who had been hospitalised and then recovered, were sent to Convalescent Camps on the island such as the one shown in the photos at Għajn Tuffieħa where they could be reintroduced to the rigours and disciplines of army life. Their progress was monitored until it was decided that they were fit for action. It seems that there was no guarantee they would return to their original unit, as a drafting process could send men to where they were most needed.
On Sunday October 14, 1917 a rally for all scouts was held at Mosta.
On parade were two District scoutmasters, 20 scoutmasters, 33 Assistant scoutmasters, 115 Patrol Leaders and 625 scouts.
The Chief Scout, Lord Methuen presented warrants to the first Island Commissioner of the Malta Boy Scouts Association, Mr. E. Bonavia.
Interestingly, the 1st Sliema scout Group (Bernard’s Own) is the oldest surviving scout Group outside the UK. This scout Group was founded in 1909 and in 2009 celebrated the 100th Anniversary of scouting in Malta.