Francis "Skipper" Gidney (1890–1928) was an early leader of the
Scouting
Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...
movement in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. He was appointed the first Camp Chief of
Gilwell Park
Gilwell Park is The Scout Association's principal camp site and Scout Activity Centre, activity centre in the United Kingdom. It is a site, located in Essex in the Sewardstonebury area of Waltham Abbey within Epping Forest near the border with ...
in May 1919, and organized the first
Wood Badge
Wood Badge is a Scout leader training program, first implemented by The Scout Association, The Boy Scouts Association in the United Kingdom in 1919 and subsequently adopted, with variations, by some other Scout organizations. Wood Badge Course ...
adult leader training course there in September 1919. He served in the Scouting organization until 1923, and was honoured by having the Gidney Cabin at Gilwell, a training centre, named for him.
Biography
Gidney started one of the first
Scout Troop
A Scout troop is a term adopted into use with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Scout Movement to describe their basic units. The term troop echoes a group of mounted scouts in the military or an expedition and follows the terms cavalry, mounted i ...
s in 1908, when he was only 17 years old.
Gidney then served in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. He was seriously wounded and invalided out of the army before the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
. His position in Scouting led to financial and marital difficulties: he himself complained that he was underpaid, and his wife did not care much for Scouting. The marriage eventually foundered. They had at least three children, one of whom died in 1921.
His son, Alan Francis Gidney, later became an officer in the
10th Gurkha Rifles and was
mentioned in dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...
during the
Burma Campaign
The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...
.
Gidney established the
pen name
A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...
of "Gilcraft" which he used when writing articles in ''
The Scout'' and the ''
Headquarters Gazette
''Scouting'' magazine was a bi-monthly publication of The Scout Association. The magazine included information, resources and support for both young people and adults involved with The Scout Association and Scouting. From 2004, it was supplied fre ...
'', also in several instructional books and booklets for both adult
Scouters and boys. The pseudonym continued to be used by his successors at Gilwell in the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
. It was his idea to start the 1st Gilwell Scout Troop (today the 1st Gilwell Park Scout Group) for all Wood Badge holders, with its distinctive
neckerchief
A neckerchief (from ''neck'' (n.) + ''kerchief''), also kerchief, scarf, and bandana, is a type of neckwear associated with those working or living outdoors, including farm labourers, cowboys and sailors. It is most commonly still seen today in ...
, and he successfully established the pattern still used for modern-day Gilwell Reunions.
Disputes over how Gilwell Park should be managed led to Gidney resigning in 1923, which greatly upset the founder of the Scouting movement,
Robert Baden-Powell
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with ...
.
Gidney then worked as a Master at a
preparatory school in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
, before retiring due to ill health. He died from complications to his war wounds in 1928 at the age of 38.
The Frank Gidney Memorial Cabin was built at Gilwell by Don Potter, one of the staff members, who had been given his first set of woodworking tools by Gidney.
The cabin was opened by Baden-Powell on
Easter Sunday
Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...
, 1930.
See also
References
1890 births
1928 deaths
The Scout Association
Scouting pioneers
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