Vera Barclay

Vera Charlesworth Barclay was born in 1893, in a family of 8 children of a father Pasteur, the Reverend Charles W. Barclay, and of a mother writer, Florence Louisa Charlesworth (1862-1920).

It adhered to the movement scout in 1912, becoming first Scoutmistress then, in 1914, one of the first chiefs of Pack During about fifteen years, and more particularly during the war, it will thus replace scoutmestres until one finds a man to fill the task.

She tells she even in 1915 how she founded her first pack with Hertford, in the North-East of London, because little boys badgered it when she dealt with her troop scoute: “Miss, Miss, if the scouts want us, one is ready.”. She wrote:

“When I saw these boys high like three apples and dépenaillés to greet me with three fingers, I started to estimate that something was to be made for them.”

She consequently devotes her evenings of Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, her weekends and part of her holidays to scouting. She recruits then her Angela sister to succeed to him the head of the pack.

In 1916, it is nurse at the hospital of the Red Cross of Netley, close to Portsmouth. June 16th, Baden-Powell organizes a meeting with Caxton Hall where it presents its recasting of the “book for wolf cubs” because it wants to integrate into it the Book of the jungle of his friend Rudyard Kipling. He persuades Vera to work with him with the recasting of the handbook. It thus joined the National team to deal with the branch louvetism. Each morning, It finds on its desk of the small notes of B.P. written on cigarette paper (at that time, this paper was used as coagulant for the cuts due to shaving…) that this last wrote at the time of its ablutions.

It evokes with humor that this handbook will not be for…

“these solemn people who awaited a thick handbook describing the way of informing a child from eight to twelve years; i.e., how to form it until to transform it into small stupid machine; how to crush its spirit eager to learn under a load from school nightmare of precision, these people will be painfully disappointed”

However, it makes a point of harmonizing the various practices, and will move in step less than 500 packs to learn the great howl with the wolf cubs!

Converted with Catholicism, it works enormously to raise mistrust which the clergy has against the movement scout. It will obtain the support of the Bourne cardinal, thus allowing a significant increase in manpower in England.

It is it which will decree with the Sevin Father the title “of Akela leader” making it possible the latter to form in its turn of the chiefs of pack. It will come besides in Chamarande in 1923,1925 and 1926.

In September 1920, it bids its farewell with the English national team in an article of the gazette of the head office by announcing its entry in the nuns of Charity (of Vincent Saint of Paul). In the same edition, BP cordially thanks it by granting the “wolf to him for money” the highest distinction scoute for rendered services.

However, it seems that it was only one test, since 3 years after one finds it with the main roads Team where she publishes training manuals again. She writes much, in particular under the pseudonym of Margaret Beech: books for children, but also of the religious English tests as well as in French.

In 1931, it definitively leaves its functions to settle in France. However, it is probable that it spent the second world war to Bognor Regis, close to Brighton.

She dies blind man, in September 1989, at 95 years.

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