The family
travelled regularly to Switzerland where Vera liked skiing and sledging. She was one of the first women to try the
Cresta Run. At that time it was still
unusual for women to wear anything but long dresses, so Vera's sporting outfits
were skirts or riding breeches. Vera
injured her knee during one of those vacations.
Vera’s mother
Florence became ill and was bed-ridden for a while. During that time she began writing novels and
in 1910 had a novel published that became No. 1 best-seller in America.
In 1912 Vera
joined the Scout Movement, which began with a camping trip to Brownsea Island
in Dorset in the summer of 1907 organised by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden
Powell. Baden Powell came up with the
idea of the Scouts after successfully employing school boys as assistants
during the siege of Mafeking in the Boer War in 1900.
Vera soon
became one of the first Scoutmistresses.
She also noticed the eagerness of younger boys to emulate the older boys
who were members of the Scout movement as their regular meetings looked like
fun and decided to do something about it.
During the
First World War, Vera volunteered to work with the Red Cross and went to the
Red Cross Hospital in Netley, Hampshire.
In 1916,
encouraged by Baden Powell, Vera came up with the idea of having a similar
group for younger boys and on 16th June 1916 the Wolf Cub section
was formed at Caxton Hall in London.
Baden Powell used the ideas of his friend Rudyard Kipling in his “Jungle
Book”.
Vera resigned
from her nursing job, which had become more difficult due to her earlier knee
injury, and concentrated on organising Cub packs in Britain. Between 1923 and 1926, she went to Chamerande
in France to set up Cub and Scout packs and train leaders. Vera went to live in
France in 1931, returning to Britain in around 1939.
Netley Military Hospital was built on
the south coast of Hampshire after the Crimean War and opened in 1863. During WW1, a large Red Cross Hospital was
constructed in huts to the rear of the main hospital building, with a capacity
of around 2,500 beds. Demolished in the
1970s, all that remains of the original building are the Hospital Chapel and
Military Cemetery. http://www.netley-military-cemetery.co.uk/#
There
is also a Facebook Page dedicated to the commemoration of Netley Military
Hospital.
Sue Robinson
of Wenches in Trenches set up the group in memory of her grandmother who nursed
at Netley Hospital in WW1 http://www.wenchesintrenches.co.uk/-
Sources: “The Years of Promise” by Cecil Roberts
(Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1968)
Fiona
Mercey’s book about Vera’s scouting activities in France - “Le Grand Jeu de
l’Enfance” - has recently been published by Carrick Publishing in France
https://www.carrick.fr/librairie/formation-des-chefs/les-fondateurs/2344-vera-barclay-le-grand-jeu-de-l-enfance-9782913539518.html
Photo of Vera Barclay's grave in Sheringham taken by and reproduced with kind permission of Jane Crossen.
Photo of Vera Barclay's grave in Sheringham taken by and reproduced with kind permission of Jane Crossen.
