The Boys' Brigade was founded on 4th October 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith when he formed a company of 35 Boys at Free Church Mission Hall, North Woodside Road, Glasgow.
William Smith, a Sunday School teacher and an officer of the 1st Lanark Rifle Volunteers devised a unique system of giving Boys an organisation as part of the church based on religion and discipline. Initially, 59 Boys joined, many out of curiosity, but 35 of them stayed. Simple form of drill, gymnastics and games were introduced and these proved to be very popular. The uniform for the first year was a rosette; afterwards the forage cap, haversack and belt were introduced. Other activities were soon added and in 1886, the first BB camp was held in Tighnabruaich. It was, in fact, the start of camping for young people.
The Boys' Brigade was the first uniformed youth organisation in the world. From one small company, it has grown into a worldwide organisation with companies in over 60 countries.
Following the impact of The Boys' Brigade, other uniformed organisations were started, including the Girls' Brigade (1893), the Boy Scouts (1908) and the Girl Guides (1910). All these organisations can trace the idea of uniformed youth back to 1883 and William Smith.
In 1917, Boy Reserves was started for boys between the ages of 9 and 12 years, but later changed to Life Boys in 1926. Subsequently, in 1966, The Life Boys became part of The Boys' Brigade organisation and was known as the Junior Section.
BB Week was introduced in 1921. BB throughout the world celebrated the 100 years of its founding in 1983.
The motto of The Boys' Brigade, "Sure & Stedfast" is taken from Hebrews 6:19. The biblical spelling of stedfast is retained as found in the King James version.
The emblem was originally an anchor. Like the motto, it stems from the verse "which hope we have as an anchor of the soul..."(Hebrews 6:19). With the union of The Boys' Brigade and The Boy's Life Brigade in 1926, a red cross was added to the anchor.
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