World War I broke on the Western world on August 4th 1914, and things were never the same again.

There was an immediate loyal flocking to the Colours.All over the country Officers of The Boys' Brigade, many of whom were already in the Reserves or Territorials, went off to their military or naval units.Stanley Smith, for example, son of the Founder and now Assistant Brigade Secretary, was called up to his regiment, the 5th Scottish Rifles, at the beginning of August and went almost immediately to Flanders. His brother Douglas came in to Headquarters to take his place until he himself was called up to the Navy.

Soon the B.B. Gazette was to record page after page of B.B. men on active service. The first total in February 1915 showed almost 10,000 names. The second list, only a month later, doubled that figure. Then came the sad lists of men killed in action, or missing, believed killed, and the record of bravely-won decorations. Some 400,000 Old Boys and Officers served in World War I, and among them eleven were awarded the Victoria Cross for the highest gallantry.

Every regiment in the kingdom, Regular or Territorial, had its quota of B.B. Old Boys. Perhaps the most famous in B.B. annals was the l6th Service Battalion of The Highland Light Infantry, recruited entirely by the Glasgow Battalion of the Brigade for 'Kitchener's Army'. The l6th was to distinguish itself in some of the bloodiest battles of four long years of war - the Somme, Beaumont Hamel, Passchendaele and Arras.

Here are some brief B.B. glimpses of those faraway, heroic, tragic days:

An early episode was the seige of Antwerp in the north of Belgium by the German Army. British Naval Brigades were sent to the relief and evacuation of the city.

Among the men was Murray Macdougal, a Bugler Boy of fourteen, a member of The Boys' Brigade. He had certainly no business to be there, but in the haste of sudden embarkation he had joined the troops and was not noticed until Belgium was reached. During the thirty-two miles march which followed the evacuation of the city he stuck it with the best.

One outcome of the devastation of Belgium was that thousands of Belgian refugees, men, women and children, flocked across the Channel. The B.B. pledged itself to be guardian to some of the desolate and bewildered children who sought sanctuary in Britain.

The youngsters arrived, duly labelled, at Charing Cross Station, to be made much of by their new B.B. friends. It was a gleam of compassion in a dark time of war, and the young Belgians never forgot their welcome. Some of them stayed to make their homes here.

Some vivid 'Scraps from an Officer's Diary' came from the pen of Captain F.W. Stevens of the lst Essex Regiment, who was a Captain of The Boys' Brigade: Once again in the front line, 'somewhere in France'.The dull brown earth is tinged with green; flowers are fraternizing with wire entanglements; the trill of a lark in the clear blue sky mingles with the distant drone of an aeroplane; the laughter of children in the nearby ruined village alternates with an intermittent scream of an enemy shell; a plough is moving slowly across land within range of the guns.

From the Senior Service there came the story of Boy William Walker. He was 16 years of age and a former member of the 4th London Company of The Boys' Brigade. William Walker became adept at bugling, and that stood him in good stead when he joined the Royal Navy. He became bugler aboard H.M.S. Calliope when she led her squadron into the turmoil of the Battle of Jutland on 3lst May 1916. 'Young Bill', as he was known, had to stand on the bridge with the Captain and sound the order 'Commence'. Thereafter he stood by his Captain through the fury of the fiercest naval battle of the war. Calliope was hit five times in her pursuit of the enemy destroyers.Late in the day a splinter of a shell struck Boy Walker, wounding him severely in the side. He stood at his post until he fainted from loss of blood. Later, in hospital, he was visited by His Majesty King George V and, greatest honour of all, he was given a specially inscribed bugle by the Admiral of the Fleet himself, 'Jellicoe of Jutland', in recognition of his gallantry.

At home, the service and sacrifice of B.B. combatants told heavily on the Movement. There was an increasing shortage of Officers and Staff Sergeants, who were now with the Forces. Lighting restrictions cut short evening drills. Summer Camps were not allowed on the coast or in areas prohibited to everyone except the Army. Many Companies were forced to give up altogether. By the final year of the war B.B. numbers were very considerably down, all over the country. It is a fine tribute to the Movement that two rest huts for the troops, one at Rouen and one in Edinburgh, were paid for, maintained and staffed by the B.B. throughout the years of war.

It was a confused and troubled time for The Boys' Brigade.There is no doubt, looking back, that they greatly missed the wise leadership and firm guiding hand of Sir William Smith. For example, the War Office in Edinburgh had proposed as early as 1910 that various Brigades for boys should be recognized by the Army Council as Cadet Corps. The bribes offered were considerable - they could have the loan of Government Camp equipment, a supply of disused Army carbines, the free use of firing ranges and drill halls, and the privilege of inspection by Army Officers in uniform. The Army Council would cut short the training period for any recruit who had been in the Cadets. They would, in fact, have a constant supply of almost readymade soldiers.

The rest hut for the troops in Edinburgh. 

The B.B. Executive called for a poll of opinion all through the Movement. The reply was emphatic: nearly 90% voted the idea to be detrimental to the primary Object of The Boys' Brigade. The churches were against it; parents disapproved; friends and supporters would have none of it. The Boys' Brigade had a commitment to the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among the Boys in its care, and the promotion of true Christian manliness. It was not their task to provide the War Office with drilled and obedient cannon fodder. William Smith firmly told Haldane so at the War Office. As a result, all the privileges the Army had to offer were at once withdrawn from The Boys' Brigade. But the B.B. could call its soul its own.

Other organizations took up the Cadet idea, and some B.B.Companies were left free to do so. In days of war the glamour of uniform and training made a very strong appeal to boys whose fathers and older brothers were fighting for King and Country.

The new and much younger movement, The Boy Scouts, won the hearts of many boys, with its healthy, open-air, adventurous image.Major-General R. S. S. Baden-Powell, the hero of Mafeking, was an Honorary Vice-President and good friend of the B.B. He had been Inspecting Officer of the Glasgow Battalion on their 2lst birthday, and it was on that occasion that William Smith suggested that he might write a book for boys who were training to be good citizens. The result was an article, 'Scouting for Boys' which appeared in the B.B. Gazette in June 1906. B.P. wrote: The object of the scheme is to develop among Boys a power of sympathizing with others, a spirit of self sacrifice and patriotism, and generally to prepare them for becoming good citizens. The method suggested is to make Boys observant of details, and to develop their reasoning powers, and at the same time to inculcate in them the spirit of self-denial and of obedience to duty.

We can see how Baden-Powell and William Smith learned from one another. There was even a time when there were B.B. Scouts, with wide-brimmed hats, knapsacks and all. 'Scouting for Boys', first written for the B. B. , was the germ of an idea which grew to be the great worldwide Scout Movement, founded by B.P. some 25 years after the Brigade.

The end of the war years found The Boys' Brigade unsure of itself. There was great restlessness over the matter of uniform. A speaker at the Manchester Council meeting in 1917 could say that he admired the wonderful insight of William Smith in fixing on the simple uniform: cap, belt and haversack. But he went on: 'These Victorian days are past. Numbers are dropping, and the uniform is to blame, especially the "pill box". It is completely obsolete, and the Boys hate it.

That started it! During the next year or two some extraordinary experiments in uniform were tried out. The Executive proposed a full khaki uniform, and that gained a good deal of approval. Scottish Companies were encouraged to experiment with kilt and balmoral. There was even a special tartan approved and registered as 'The Sir William Smith of Pennyland Tartan' for the sole use of The Boys' Brigade.

But soon complaints poured in. The tailor's dummies of the illustrations in the Gazette were glamorous enough, with chevrons, leggings, and rakish caps. But the real Boys were not. The proportion of younger Boys was considerable at this time and small boys and khaki did not harmonize. They looked like mascots. As for the 'alternative cap', it was known everywhere as 'the convict's cap'.

Brigade Council changed its mind again, and suggested grey or blue. Grey won the vote, and elaborate details were worked out. The tunic was to be grey, with dark blue facings and a low collar. Dark blue shoulder straps would carry the letters B.B. in brass. It was left to Officers Commanding Companies 'whether they adopt Breeches or Shorts, or both'. Puttees were to be dark blue. The cap was to be of Air Force pattern, grey with blue piping, and the badge an eight-pointed brass star. There was to be a similar uniform for Officers, but with a Service peak cap.

The new uniform brought no peace. Some complained about the top-heavy effect of a man's uniform upon a very small Boy. Others were outspoken about the orphanage or reformatory look of the grey outfit. The mixture of uniforms on a Battalion parade looked ridiculous. It was particularly remarked that the strongest and smartest Companies on parade were wearing the traditional cap, belt and haversack.

The truth was that the B.B. was looking for its image, and a mirror was the last place to find it. The wise and far-seeing H. Arnold Wilson of Milngavie reminded his fellow-officers of the move against militarism that was bound to come after the war. The Movement should stop fussing about uniform and shoulder straps and brass and puttees and be sure and stedfast to their Object.

Certainly there were many younger Boys. Some Companies were already taking in Boys under the age of 12, whatever the rules might say. Others experimented unofficially with Junior Corps. In the year 1917 two splendid B.B. men, F. C. Carey Longmore, Captain of the lst Warley Company, and Douglas Pearson Smith, second son of the Founder, proposed a properly organized new movement for younger Boys, with its own uniform, title and training. It was to be known as 'The Boy Reserves'.