Thursday 7 August 2014

Boy Scouts At Work

Officers of the Sharnbrook Division, 1920. Inspector John Wilfred Bliss, front row centre [QEV20/6]

Friday 7th August 1914 (Sharnbook): 
Inspector Bliss of the Sharnbrook police station has asked Boy Scouts from the villages to help the police by taking messages.[1] Four are to report to the station at 10 a.m., four more at 2 p.m. and another four at 6 p.m. Those with bicycles are to take them along. Many of the boys are already wishing they were old enough to join the army. No doubt they will feel that being a Boy Scout is the next best thing.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 7th August 1914

[1] The newspaper report says the Scouts were to report to the Police Superintendent, but at this time Sharnbrook’s senior officer was Inspector John Wilfred Bliss (Beats, Boots and Thieves, Des Hoar and Richard Handscomb, p.96). Boy Scouts were used across the county to take messages, run errands and guard premises.

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