Event    From 4/8/1912  To 4/8/1912

Walworth Boy Scouts Tragedy

Categories: Children, Tragedy

On Saturday the 3rd August 1912, the 2nd Walworth Troop of five adults and twenty-four young scouts sailed from Waterloo Bridge for Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey. They moored at Erith for the night and set off again early the next morning. The scouts were in sight of their camp, when, two miles off the coast, a sudden squall, caught and capsized them. Because of several acts of selfless heroism, (especially by their scoutmaster, Sydney Marsh), many lives were saved, but eight scouts and Frank Masters from the training ship Arethusa were drowned. The tragic loss of such young lives struck a chord with the nation and Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, arranged for a destroyer to transport the bodies back to London. 100,000 people were reputed to have attended the lying in state of the boys. Photographs of the mass funeral, show the streets lined with crowds eight deep.

One of the boys, Percy Baden Powell Huxford, though unrelated, had been christened in honour of the war hero, Baden Powell, who went on the found the scout movement.

A strange footnote to the incident, is that one of England's most successful footballers, David Beckham, would not have been born if Edward Beckham, who was to become his great-grandfather, had not been rescued from the waves.

Sadly this disaster was not unique. There is a memorial in Brussels to a very similar event in 1906. A training ship went down and over 30 young lives were lost.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Walworth Boy Scouts Tragedy

Commemorated ati

Bert Barnes

In memory of Bert Barnes, 1925 - 2010, and his work inspiring the erection of...

Read More

Skipper Gandolfi and Kim Mayo

The wording of the Mayo plaque is a little strange.  In what way could resear...

Read More

Walworth Boy Scouts Tragedy - lost statue

This monument, now lost, was paid for by public subscription. This photo come...

Read More

Walworth Boy Scouts Tragedy - new memorial

{Left hand page of an open book:} To commemorate the scouts of the 2nd Walwor...

Read More

Walworth Boy Scouts Tragedy - original memorial

The base can be seen in our photo immediately behind the 'open book' which is...

Read More

Show all 6

Other Subjects

Brady Settlement

Brady Settlement

From the picture source website: The Brady Boys' Club was the first Jewish boys' club in Great Britain and it was founded in 1896 by Lady Charlotte Rothschild, Mrs Arthur Franklin and Mrs N S Josep...

Place, Children, Community / Clubs

3 memorials
Amy Johnson Junior School

Amy Johnson Junior School

Former primary school, presumably named for Amy Johnson, the connection being the (sort of) proximity of Croydon Airport.

Building, Children, Education

1 memorial
Albert Edward Dack

Albert Edward Dack

Albert Edward Dack is the boy lying on his side on the front right in the photograph of the scout troop. Albert Edward Dack was born on 1 August 1899 in Walworth, the fourth of the ten children of...

Person, Children, Community / Clubs, Tragedy

2 memorials
Effie Bourne Taylour

Effie Bourne Taylour

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
A. A. Milne

A. A. Milne

Author. Born Alan Alexander Milne at Henley House, Mortimer Road, Kilburn. Best known as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin, named after his son.  1925 Milne bought Cotchford Far...

Person, Children, Literature, Seriously Famous

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead

Actor. Born and died America. Unsuccessful on Broadway so in 1923 came to London and was very successful on the West End stage. She returned to America and worked in both movies and on the stage. H...

Person, Cinema, Theatre, USA

1 memorial
Harry Eve

Harry Eve

Honorary Treasurer of St Clement Danes Parish in 1897.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial