How the Girl Guides Won the War

How the Girl Guides Won the War
Janie Hampton

A completely original history of one of the most extraordinary movements in the world – the Girl Guides – and how they helped win the war.The Girl Guides is one of the world's most extraordinary movements: millions of women have been members. But what have the Guides actually achieved, since they began 100 years ago? Do they do more than sell biscuits, sing around campfires, and tie knots? In this constantly surprising book, Janie Hampton shows that Girl Guides have been at the heart of women's equality since the early twentieth century - when they were garnering badges like Electrician and Telegraphist.Exploring modern-day girlhood through this very British institution's effect on global warfare, ‘How the Girl Guides Won the War’ reveals, for the first time, the dramatic impact that the Guides had on the Second World War. When the Blitz broke out, they dug bomb shelters, grew vegetables and helped millions of evacuated children adjust to new lives in the country. Many were taken as prisoners of war and survived concentration camps.Told by the Guides themselves ‘How the Girl Guides Won the War’ is packed with rich social history, fond and funny anecdotes, surprising archives, and the lingering taste of smoky tea in a tin mug. Providing a new slant on both the Guide movement, and World War II, Janie Hampton's remarkable book finally gives the Girl Guides the historical attention they deserve.

JANIE HAMPTON

How the Girl Guides Won the War

To my mother, who throughout her long life as both

a Guide and a Brown Owl, has demonstrated that

keeping to the rules is not nearly as

important as Robert Baden-Powell’s maxim:

‘I wouldn’t give tuppence for you if you are not jolly and laughing.’

Contents

Cover (#u3b232ca0-2c5f-5963-80ec-abf071e4a23d)

Title page (#uee9d3d77-cae6-591e-b39f-7c906d8da47a)

Illustrations (#u3c0a7594-f2fb-58d5-b995-38cd6bc5d015)

Introduction (#ub825cd74-958a-5f68-906d-898c1954d51f)

Prologue: Pax Ting (#u1f30c0c2-94ab-56c4-92ff-13448e55b745)

1 We are the Girl Scouts (#u1eb8bff4-ca22-58a0-9572-3262357cf028)

2 Brownies and Bluebirds (#u60b0878f-d5b4-53a9-ab0b-b647d51a5471)

3 Marching in Gas Masks (#uf9393c14-315b-5ca3-be8d-9ed5f6fef1ba)

4 Kinder-Guides (#uce2a2f55-c988-567e-af9f-a7219de1b100)

5 Golondrinas (#litres_trial_promo)

6 The Clover Union of Poland (#litres_trial_promo)

7 Blackout Blues (#litres_trial_promo)

8 Dampers and Doodlebugs (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Brownies in China (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Thrift and Gift (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Princesses and Paupers (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Baedeker Bombing (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Jersey Island Guides (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Japanese Internment (#litres_trial_promo)

15 The Warsaw Uprising (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Three Aunties (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Guides in Auschwitz (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Giant Pandas and Frozen Alligators (#litres_trial_promo)

19 The City of Polish Children (#litres_trial_promo)

20 The Armored Angel of China (#litres_trial_promo)

21 The Army of Goodwill (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Into the Twenty-First Century (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Bibliography and Sources (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Illustrations (#ulink_43736087-29d2-5c3a-8d7f-09fa3241049a)

Robert Baden-Powell talking to the first Girl Guides in Brighton, 1910. (© Girlguiding UK)

Guide messengers at the Peace Conference, Versailles, 1919. (© Daily Mail)

Olave Baden-Powell, with Brownies at the Essex County Rally in 1921. (© Girlguiding UK)

Guides enjoying an excursion on the Danube during the Pax Ting International Camp in Hungary, August 1939. (© Girlguiding UK)

Guides helping at a club for evacuees in the Corn Exchange at Bishop’s Stortford in autumn 1939. (© Getty Images)

The 1st Eynsham Brownie Pack on holiday in Swanage in the last week of August 1939. (Private collection)

Guides learning how to use a stirrup pump in 1940. (© Girlguiding UK)