An independent, source-led cultural history of Girl Guiding: its origins, practices, objects, people and changing ideas of girlhood, from 1909 to the present. 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/ Claire Mcdonald 2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/records/hunstanton-log-book-1939-45/

A typed list of one Norfolk Guide company's war work, 1939–45: from a ton of waste paper to a summer milk round.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/records/sandringham-log-book-1944/

A royal-estate Guide company's logbook, recording its greetings for Princess Elizabeth's 18th birthday, and the telegram of thanks that came back.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/uniforms/brownie-uniform-c1989/

A late-1980s Brownie dress, belt and necktie, worn from 1989 to 1991, through the launch of the 1990 redesign.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/people/agnes-baden-powell/

Organiser, first President and main author of the first Guide handbook, and a founder whom later memory largely forgot.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/people/robert-baden-powell/

Army officer and founder of Scouting, who set out the girls' scheme with his sister Agnes, wrote Guiding's handbooks from 1918 and signed them as "Founder".

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/practices/camping-and-the-outdoors/

Freedom, managed risk, rural citizenship and, for some girls, exclusion. How Guide camps were run and regulated, where they happened, and who could go.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/practices/promise-and-law/

The words members commit to changed twelve times in the UK between 1910 and 2013, and again when "the Queen" became "the King" after the accession of Charles III in 2022. There has never been one universal wording.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/stories/girls-and-the-outdoors/

Camping, hiking and fresh air were at the heart of Guiding's appeal. They were also managed, costly and not open to everyone equally.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/stories/origins/

How Guiding began, 1908–1920: girls who called themselves Scouts, the adults who gave them a scheme of their own, and the argument about what girls should do.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/stories/who-could-belong/

Disability, race, belief, class and gender identity: how the question of who could join Guiding has been answered, and re-answered, since 1910.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1907-brownsea-camp/

Robert Baden-Powell's experimental camp for boys, the starting point of Scouting and so, indirectly, of Guiding.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1910-girl-guides-organised/

A scheme for girls was published in late 1909 and the Girl Guides were formally organised in 1910, with Agnes Baden-Powell as President. Why do official sources give both years?

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1928-wagggs-founded/

At the Fifth International Conference in Hungary, delegates from 26 countries formed the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), with its secretariat in London.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1942-guide-international-service/

A scheme set up in 1942 to select and train volunteers for relief work after the Second World War. Its teams served from 1945 in Europe, Egypt and Malaya.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1943-trefoil-guild/

In 1943 the Girl Guides Association brought together local groups of former Guides under the name Trefoil Guild, today a self-governing charity for adults within the guiding family.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1966-tomorrows-guide/

A Working Party reviewed the whole Guide programme between 1964 and 1966; its report, Tomorrow's Guide, led to a new Promise in 1967 and to new handbooks, badges and an Eight-Point Programme from March 1968.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/1994-guide-association/

In 1994 "duty to God" became "to love my God" and "and my country" was added to the Promise; around the same time the Girl Guides Association became The Guide Association, though sources differ on the year.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/2010-centenary/

Girlguiding UK marked its first hundred years with events from September 2009 to October 2010, ending when members across the UK renewed their Promise at 20:10 on 20 October 2010.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/activity-centres-sold/

In 2023 Girlguiding decided to sell its five national activity centres. Four closed at the end of that year; the last sale was completed in May 2026.

2026-11-11T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/timeline/membership-policy-2025-26/

After the UK Supreme Court's 2025 ruling on the Equality Act, Girlguiding announced in December 2025 that trans girls and young women could no longer join.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/badges/campfire-blanket/

A blanket covered in badges moved from outgrown uniforms: a member's whole Guiding life, sewn into one object.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/badges/rosebud-promise-badge-1914/

The first badge made for the youngest girls in Guiding: a metal rosebud, from the single year before Rosebuds became Brownies.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/badges/war-service-badges-1914-1918/

Two War Service badges in the Norfolk archive, catalogued as 1914 and 1918, and a puzzle about which one is the original.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/camping/gis-collapsible-bucket/

A folding camp bucket used in Guide International Service training during the Second World War, and afterwards on relief expeditions.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/print/brownie-handbook-1920/

The first handbook written for the Brownie section, by Robert Baden-Powell. Sources give its 1920 title in different forms, and no first edition has yet been seen.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/print/how-girls-can-help-1912/

The first Guide handbook, by Agnes Baden-Powell in collaboration with her brother Robert, published by Thomas Nelson in 1912. Even its exact title wording is still to be checked against a copy.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/uniforms/1990-jeff-banks-range/

A mix-and-match uniform range by the fashion designer Jeff Banks, launched in 1990 and first shown on the BBC's Clothes Show.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/uniforms/brownie-dress-altered/

An older Brownie dress with its pockets moved up to match a newer style: evidence that someone adapted a uniform rather than buying new.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/objects/uniforms/guide-uniform-1930s/

A navy-blue cotton shirt dress and leather belt worn by a Girl Guide between the wars, now in the V&A.

2026-10-25T00:00:00Z https://guidingexplained.com/people/juliette-gordon-low/

Founder of Girl Scouting in the United States in 1912, who adapted the British model for American girls and paid for much of its early growth.