HEREFORDSHIRE'S OWN CHIEF SCOUT

Everyone will know that Robert Baden-Powell founded and lead the Scouting Movement. Perhaps few, however, will remember that Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers, of Eastnor Castle in the County of Herefordshire, served as the Deputy Chief Scout from 1935 - and then the Chief Scout, upon Baden Powell's death, from March 1941 until his own death in 1944. Although not appointed Chief Scout until Baden Powell's death, Lord Somers must effectively have served in that position from Baden-Powell's retirement from public life at the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937.

Lord Somers in scouting uniform

In short, therefore (and as with so much else), Herefordshire must have been the epicentre of the Scouting Movement during the Very British Civil War of 1938....

Lord Somers in civvies, May 1936, Bassano

Lord Somers had a distinguished war record during the First World War, from serving with the Life Guards in 1914 to commanding the 6th Battalion of the Tank Corps in 1918. He was twice wounded, mentioned in despatches, and awarded both the MC and the DSO. Post war, he served as Governor of Victoria from 1926 - 1931.

Lord Somers, with inevitable dogs, Eastnor Castle May 1936

Goodness knows what Lord Somers would have done upon the outbreak of the Very British Civil War - and, in keeping with campaign tradition, it would be wrong to speculate. Perhaps it can be ventured, however, that he would have been most anxious to retain the integrity of the Scouting Movement and, on a more personal note, to defend the Eastnor estate against all aggressors. As Somers was a retired military man of considerable personal wealth, the Herefordshire Scouts could expect to be well equipped during the VBCW...

In that context, it must have come as a particular disappointment to Lord Somers that the first engagement of a local scout troop (Mortimers Troop at the Battle of Mortimers Cross) resulted only in the said scouts immediately defecting to Commissar Professor Colonel Winter's Communist Faction (there are some suggestions of outrageous bribery, viz. "free pop and buns"). Lord Somers must hope that other Scout troops are made of sterner stuff, for Eastnor Castle now lies in the path of the BUF advancing towards Ledbury along the A438. An engagement with Storm Leader Reckless' Recce Troop surely cannot be long delayed...

A modern day map of Eastnor Castle and its grounds. The terrain has not changed much from 1938.

Thankfully, the grounds of Eastnor Castle seem eminently defensible, protected to the east by an ornamental lake and generally swathed in woodland. And if Lord Somers has insufficient scouts at his disposal, he can surely call upon some of his old Australian friends and WW1 veterans from the State of Victoria to come to his aid....