Abstract
This chapter explores the development of youth organizations in the context of the shifting relationship between the English countryside and the public across the mid-twentieth century. In doing so, it highlights three important elements: the continued importance of the countryside to notions of Englishness; the growth of the popularity of the countryside as a space for leisure; and the increasing significance of debates regarding access and protection of the land in national discourses of citizenship in the 1950s. It argues that renegotiation between the English countryside and the urban public paved a space for youth movements to claim a cultural authority over the landscape and the young people within it.
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Notes
- 1.
The Guider, February 1934, p. 50.
- 2.
D. Lowenthal (1991), ‘British national identity and the English landscape’, Rural History, 2, 205–230.
- 3.
A. Howkins (2007), ‘“What Is the Countryside For?” Agriculture, leisure and the English Countryside 1900–2000,’ Revue Francaise de Civilisation Britannique, 14, p. 174.
- 4.
MOA, FR 878, ‘What does Britain mean to you?’, 20 September 1941, pp. 5–6.
- 5.
MOA, FR 878, p. 6.
- 6.
MOA, FR 904, ‘Article for “World Review”: “What Britain means to me”, 8 October 1941, p. 9.
- 7.
The Scout, 31 March 1949, p. 417.
- 8.
M. Wiener, English culture and the decline of the industrial spirit 1850–1980 (London: Penguin Books, 1981), p. 47.
- 9.
J. Marsh, Back to the Land: the pastoral impulse in England, from 1880 to 1914 (London: Quartet: 1982).
- 10.
T. Wild, Village England: a social history of the countryside, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004), p. xviii.
- 11.
J.B. Priestley , English Journey (London: Mandarin, 1994. Original work published 1934), p. 22.
- 12.
S. O. Rose , Which People’s War? National identity and citizenship in wartime Britain 1939–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 203.
- 13.
A. Howkins. (1998) ‘A country at war: Mass-Observation and rural England, 1939–1945’, Rural History, 9, 81.
- 14.
R. Weight, Patriots: national identity in Britain 1940–2000 (London: Macmillan, 2002), p. 159.
- 15.
P. Mandler (1997), ‘Against “Englishness”: English culture and the limits to rural nostalgia, 1850–1940”, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 7, 170–174.
- 16.
P. Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 233.
- 17.
G. Orwell , The Road to Wigan Pier (London: Penguin Classics, 2001. Original work published 1937), pp. 15–16.
- 18.
MOA, FR 878, p. 1.
- 19.
MOA, FR 878, pp. 6–7.
- 20.
A study by Rowntree and Kendall in 1913, using 42 case studies, highlighted the malnourishment and financial difficulty experienced by the rural labourer. B. Seebohm Rowntree and M Kendall, How the Labourer Lives: a study of the rural labour problem (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1913). Also see Ian Gazeley’s work on rural poverty. Ian Gazeley, Poverty in Britain, 1900–1965 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp. 49–55.
- 21.
S. Todd (2004), ‘Young women, work and family in interwar rural England’, The Agricultural History Review, 52, 83–98, p. 89.
- 22.
Weight, Patriots, p. 72.
- 23.
Matless has also suggested that there is a more complicated east/west divide at play too. D. Matless, Landscape and Englishness (London: Reaktion Books, 1998), p. 17.
- 24.
D. Russell, Looking North: Northern England and the national imagination (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 8. See also H. Jewell, The North-Divide: The origins of northern consciousness in England (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994); A. Baker and M. Billange (eds.), Geographies of England: the north–south divide, imagined and material (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.)
- 25.
MOA, FR 878, p. 1.
- 26.
B. Jones, The Working Class in Mid Twentieth Century-England: community, identity and social memory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012), pp. 10–11.
- 27.
MOA, FR 878, p. 3.
- 28.
S. Baldwin, On England and Other Addresses (London: Phillip Allan, 1926), pp. 6–7.
- 29.
The Manchester Guardian, 19 February 1952, p. 10, and 30 September 1952, p. 12.
- 30.
G. Mingay (ed.), The Vanishing Countryman, (London: Routledge. 1989), p. 1.
- 31.
A. Howkins, ‘Qualifying the evidence: perceptions of rural change in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century’, in D. Gilbert, B. Short and D. Matless (eds.), Geographies of British Modernity: space and society in the twentieth century (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), p. 97.
- 32.
For information on the emerging leisure society of the interwar period see R. Snape and H. Pussard (2011), ‘Theorisations of leisure in inter-war Britain’, Leisure Studies, 32, 1–18; J. Clarke & C. Critcher, The Devil Makes Work: leisure in capitalist Britain (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1985); J. Stevenson, British Society 1914–1945 (London: Penguin, 1990); S. Jones, Workers at Play: a social and economic history of leisure, 1918–1939 (London: Routledge, 1986).
- 33.
MOA, FR 878, p. 6.
- 34.
I. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Managing the Body: beauty, health, and fitness in Britain, 1880–1939 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). Also see Matless. Landscape and Englishness, Chapter 2.
- 35.
A. Howkins (2007), ‘What is the countryside for?’ p. 174; Jones, Workers at Play, p. 64.
- 36.
The Guider, May 1931, p. 163.
- 37.
The Scouter, July 1932, p. 249.
- 38.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 169.
- 39.
This is a trend that has been identified by a number of historians. See J. Lowerson, ‘Battles for the countryside’, in F. Gloversmith (ed.), Class, Culture and Social Change: a new view of the 1930s (Brighton: Harvester Press, 1980), p. 258; Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’; H. Walker, ‘The outdoor movement in England and Wales, 1900–1939’, (PhD Diss., University of Sussex, 1988); M. Bunce, The Countryside Ideal: Anglo-American images of landscape (London: Routledge, 1994), Chapter 4.
- 40.
Lowerson, ‘Battles for the Countryside’, p. 258; Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 173.
- 41.
B. Cole and T. Hillman, South for Sunshine: Southern Railway publicity and posters, 1923 to 1947 (Middlesex: Capital Transport Books, 1999), p. 23.
- 42.
Lowerson cites the example of a midnight excursion across Sussex in 1932 that attracted 16,000 people and required four extra trains, and states that groups of 800 were typical at such events for the rest of the 1930s. Lowerson, ‘Battles for the countryside’, p. 269.
- 43.
R. J. Moore-Colyer (1999), ‘From Great Wen to Toad Hall: aspects of the urban–rural divide in inter-war Britain’, Rural History 10, p. 114.
- 44.
For a detailed discussion of the formation of these movements see: D. Prynn (1976), ‘The Clarion Clubs, rambling and the Holiday Associations in Britain since the 1890s’, Journal of Contemporary History, 11, 65–77.
- 45.
Walker has given a detailed discussion of these movements and their actions in her thesis. Walker, ‘The Outdoor Movement’.
- 46.
See: Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’; Lowerson, ‘Battles for the countryside’.
- 47.
Figures taken from Youth Hostel Annual Reports across the period. See Appendix.
- 48.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 173.
- 49.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 169.
- 50.
Walker, ‘The Outdoor Movement’, p. 6.
- 51.
For a discussion of MO and class see J. Hinton (2008), “The ‘class’ complex’: Mass-Observation and cultural distinction in pre-war Britain’, Past and Present, 199, 207–236.
- 52.
Tebbutt has explored the gendered symbolism of rambling in Derbyshire. M. Tebbutt (2006), ‘Rambling and manly identity in Derbyshire’s Dark Peak, 1880s–1920s’, The Historical Journal, 49, 1125–1153.
- 53.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 177.
- 54.
J. Burchardt, Paradise Lost: rural idyll and social change in England since 1800 (London: I. B. Tauris, 2002), p. 178.
- 55.
Burchardt, Paradise lost, pp. 11–12.
- 56.
Matless, Landscape and Englishness, p. 253.
- 57.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’ p. 177.
- 58.
Walker. ‘The Outdoor Movement’, p. 143.
- 59.
Walker. ‘The Outdoor Movement’, p. 142.
- 60.
See Appendix.
- 61.
Family membership introduced in 1958. The Youth Hosteller, April 1958, p. 1.
- 62.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’, p. 178.
- 63.
M. Rosenthal, The Character Factory: Baden-Powell and the origins of the Boy Scout movement (London: Collins, 1986), p. 3.
- 64.
M. Rosenthal, The Character Factory, p. 5.
- 65.
R. Baden-Powell , Scouting for Boys: A Handbook for Instruction in Good Citizenship, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Original Work Published 1908), p. 13.
- 66.
Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys, p. 13.
- 67.
Baden-Powell , Scouting for Boys, p. 11.
- 68.
E. Boehmer, ‘Introduction’ in Baden-Powell , Scouting for Boys, p. xii.
- 69.
Baden-Powell , Scouting for Boys, p. 14.
- 70.
C. Dyhouse, Girls Growing up in Late Victorian and Edwardian England (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), p. 110.
- 71.
T. Proctor , On My Honour: Guides and Scouts in interwar Britain (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2002), p. 21.
- 72.
Dyhouse, Girls Growing Up, p. 110.
- 73.
T. Proctor , ‘Gender, generation, and the politics of Guiding and Scouting in interwar Britain’ (PhD Diss., Rutgers University, 1995), p. 237.
- 74.
A. Baden-Powell and R. Baden-Powell , The Handbook for Girl Guides or How Girls can Help Build the Empire (London: The Girl Guides Association, 1993. Original Work Published 1912), p. 22.
- 75.
This is an argument supported by Warren: A. Warren, ‘Citizens of the Empire: Baden-Powell, Scouts and Guides and an imperial ideal, 1900–40’, in J. Mackenzie (ed.), Imperialism and Popular Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986), p. 96.
- 76.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 26.
- 77.
Dyhouse, Girls Growing Up, p. 111.
- 78.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 26.
- 79.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 26.
- 80.
This imperial ideology has been explored by Anna Davin in A. Davin (1978), ‘Imperialism and motherhood’, History Workshop, 5, 9–65. See also Warren, ‘Mothers for the Empire’ and M. Smith (2006), ‘Be(ing) Prepared: Girl Guides, colonial life, and national strength’, Limina, 12, 52–62.
- 81.
Baden- Powell and Baden-Powell , The Handbook for Girl Guides, p. 413.
- 82.
Smith, ‘Be(ing) Prepared’, p. 1. Furthermore if one compares the Guide laws to those of the Scouts and the oaths taken by both groups there is evidence of a number of similarities in the basic foundations of the movements.
- 83.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 118.
- 84.
K. Alexander (2009), ‘The Girl Guide Movement and imperial internationalism during the 1920s and 1930s’, The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, 2, p. 38.
- 85.
This is a point Gledhill acknowledged in his discussion of the Guides in the 1960s: J. Gledhill (2013), ‘White Heat, Guide Blue: The Girl Guide Movement in the 1960s’, Contemporary History, 27.
- 86.
B. Leslie (1984), ‘Creating a socialist Scout Movement: the Woodcraft Folk, 1924–42’, History of Education, 13, 299–311, p. 301.
- 87.
The Woodcraft Folk Handbook of Folk Law & Constitution 1936, YMA/WF/91, p. 12.
- 88.
* The Woodcraft Folk in the 21st century remains a non-party political educational, empowerment and advocacy movement for children and young people. It is open to all, with the aim of building an environmentally sustainable world built on children’s and human rights, equality, friendship, peace, economic and social justice and co-operation.
- 89.
Herald of the Folk, August 1930, p. 3. FH_007_04, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-new-issue-no-16-august/
- 90.
Herald of the Folk, August 1930, p. 3. FH_007_04, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-new-issue-no-16-august/
- 91.
Leslie, ‘Socialist’, p. 303 and ‘The Woodcraft Folk Year Book’, 1934, p. 6, FH_013_06 https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/the-woodcraft-folk-year-book/
- 92.
Leslie, ‘Socialist’, p. 303.
- 93.
Leslie, ‘Socialist’, p. 302.
- 94.
In the same publication the movement declared that Scouts were ‘simply bulwarks of the old order of things’. Herald of the Folk, July 1930, p. 5, FH_007_003, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-july/
- 95.
Herald of the Folk, July 1930, p. 5, FH_007_003, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-july/
- 96.
Report of the National Council of the Woodcraft Folk on Camping in the Post-War World 1942, YMA/WF/13, LSE, p. 1.
- 97.
Herald of the Folk, February 1931, p. 2, FH_007_06, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-new-issue-no-30-february/
- 98.
Herald of the Folk, October 1930, pp. 3–4, FH_007_05, https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/herald-of-the-folk-new-issue-no-17-october/
- 99.
L. Paul , The Woodcraft Folk: A new orientation to cooperative education (1930), YMA_WF_004_10, p. 1. https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/a-new-orientation-to-cooperative-education/
- 100.
Paul , The Woodcraft Folk, YMA_WF_004_10, p. 3. https://heritage.woodcraft.org.uk/archive/item/a-new-orientation-to-cooperative-education/
- 101.
C. Griffiths, Labour and the Countryside: the politics of rural Britain 1918–1939 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 97–100.
- 102.
M. Shaw, ‘Cold Comfort Times: women writers in the interwar period’, in P. Brassley, J. Burchardt, and L. Thompson (eds.), The English Countryside between the Wars: regeneration or decline? (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2006).
- 103.
For figures for the whole period see Appendix.
- 104.
G.P. Hirsch. Young Farmers’ Clubs: a report on a survey of their history, organisation and activities, with recommendations for their future development (London: National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, 1952), p. 27.
- 105.
David Fowler has looked at the ‘leakage’ problem in the 1930s. See his section on the Boy Scouts in D. Fowler, The First Teenagers. The lifestyle of young wage-earners in interwar Britain (London: The Woburn Press, 1995), pp. 144–153.
- 106.
Proctor . ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 3.
- 107.
UK figures for the Guides, Scouts and YFC (England and Wales) courtesy of the movements themselves. Woodcraft figures taken from contemporary sources. For a full list of membership see Appendix.
- 108.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 83; Hirsch, Young Farmers’ Clubs, p. 29; J. Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society: British youth movements, 1883–1940 (London: Croom Helm, 1977), p. 116.
- 109.
Gledhill, ‘White Heat’, p. 79.
- 110.
. Springhall (1971), ‘The Boy Scouts, class and militarism in relation to British youth movements 1908–1930’, International Review of Social History, 16, 138.
- 111.
Proctor , ‘Gender, Generation’, p. 102.
- 112.
Baden-Powell , Scouting for Boys, p. 45.
- 113.
Hirsch, Young Farmers’ Clubs, p. 106. Social commentator H.C. Bracey commented in 1959 that the Young Farmers’ Clubs did not ‘represent a cross-section of the young people of rural England’. H.C. Bracey, English Rural Life: village activities, organisations and institutions (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959), p. 231.
- 114.
The report states that ‘It is our firm belief that a vital incentive to the war effort is the presentation of a clear picture of a better world which lies ahead and which, if plans are drawn up and the essential preparations made in advance, can be achieved after this struggle is over.’ Ministry of Agriculture, Report of the Commission on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas (London: HMSO, 1942), Cmd. 6378, p. vi.
- 115.
H. Taylor, A Claim to the Countryside (Keele: Keele University Press, 1997), p. 4.
- 116.
Ministry of Agriculture, Land Utilisation, p. 31.
- 117.
C. Williams-Ellis, England and the Octopus (Portmeirion: Golden Dragon, 1975. Original work published 1928), p. 20.
- 118.
S. Kaye-Smith, ‘Laughter in the South East’, in C. Williams Ellis, Britain and the Beast (London: J.M. Dent, 1937), p. 34.
- 119.
Matless , Landscape and Englishness, p. 62.
- 120.
Matless , Landscape and Englishness, pp. 67–68.
- 121.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’ p. 172.
- 122.
A. Howkins, The Death of Rural England: a social history of the countryside since 1900 (London: Routledge, 2003), p. 107.
- 123.
Wild, Village England, p. 120.
- 124.
Ministry of Agriculture, Land Utilisation, p. 31.
- 125.
An argument supported by D.N. Jeans who argues that ‘The idealised countryside, hitherto the recreational and aesthetic preserve of the gentry and the middle class, was now being invaded by the urban masses. The countryside conservation movement was a class resistance.’ D. N. Jeans (1990), ‘Planning and the myth of the English countryside in the interwar period’, Rural History 1, 259.
- 126.
Moore-Colyer, ‘Great Wen to Toad Hall’, p. 113.
- 127.
Howkins, ‘What is the countryside for?’ p. 174.
- 128.
Howkins, Death of Rural England, p. 107.
- 129.
Ministry of Agriculture, Land Utilisation, p. 27.
- 130.
Ministry of Agriculture, Land Utilisation, p. 57.
- 131.
Griffiths, Labour and the Countryside, p. 309.
- 132.
Howkins, Death of Rural England, p. 176.
- 133.
Matless , Landscape and Englishness, p. 250.
- 134.
I. Whyte, Landscape and History (London: Reaktion, 2002), p. 192.
- 135.
Williams-Ellis, England and the Octopus, p. 108.
- 136.
The National Parks Commission . The Country Code: For Visitors to the Countryside (London: HMSO, 1951).
- 137.
Matless , Landscape and Englishness, p. 6.
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Edwards, S. (2018). The Good Citizen and the English Countryside. In: Youth Movements, Citizenship and the English Countryside. Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65157-6_2
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