Scouts' honour

Preparing for the upcoming football season members of the Bilston Scouts Old Boys 1913-14 gathered for a team photograph.

But a little over a year later every member of the group had bravely answered their country's call for duty in the First World War.

Like so many of their era, the boys, most of whom were between the ages of 17 and 19, had quickly become men.

In all twelve members of the 1st Bilston Scout group signed up for the Great War on the same day in September 1914, yet two did not return home.

The photographs feature Lance Corporal William Harpin and Corporal Arthur Flavell, 23,who were both killed in action in France.

Another of those pictured is believed to be W T Morgan, who went on to become a lieutenant-colonel, while others are thought to include Jack Turton, Wilf Jay, H Steward and a Mr Darby.

Sadly others captured in the photograph remain unknown, their identities lost over the years.

The men were paid tribute to at a special St George's Day service held at the Bilston Town Hall.

The ceremony featured a dozen current explorer scouts and young leaders dressed in original First World War outfits and old scout uniforms, together representing the 12 who signed up, while two girls wore nurses' uniforms of the period.

Denis Evans is treasurer of the 1st Bilston Scout Group - which is thought to be the oldest in the world having been founded in 1908, the same year Robert Baden-Powell published his book Scouting for Boys.

He said the ceremony was a fitting tribute to a fine body of men.

"It puts it all into perspective when you look at the pictures," said the 71-year-old, who was made an MBE for his services to the scouting movement.

"They were all youngsters getting ready for the football season and enjoying their time as scouts. Then within a short time they are preparing for war.

"They didn't know what they were getting into.

"They felt it was their duty to join up. They were all brave. They just thought it was the right thing to do.

"We wanted to pay tribute to the group and pay our respects to all scouts who were lost during the war. It was a nice service. I think the youngsters did an excellent job."

The ceremony featured a performance of the Last Post, played on the bugle by Karen Mason, great-niece of William Harpin.

The Bilston-born Lance Corporal, served with the 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars and was killed in action in France in October 1915.

Mrs Mason said she had not known her great-uncle had been a scout until she was contacted by Mr Evans two months ago.

"It was a pleasant surprise to hear he had been in the scouts," said Mrs Mason, who lives in Bilston.

"We knew he was buried in France, but part of the family tree had got lost over the years,"

"My granddad had a number of brothers and two of them were killed in the war, but we didn't realise William had died so early.

"To see that he hadn't been forgotten was wonderful, particularly with the centenary of the First World War taking place this year."

Mrs Mason is no stranger to the bugle, the former officer at Wolverhampton Boys Brigade 9th Company having learned to play the instrument several years ago.

And for the past five years she has played the Last Post at the annual Remembrance Day service at Bilston Cenotaph.

The 50-year-old said she enjoyed seeing the scouts paying their respects to the group of fallen heroes.

"It was a very good event. The scouts who took part did a fantastic job and were very respectful.

Mrs Mason added she plans to go to France to visit her great uncle's grave in the near future.

"It is something I really want to do at some point," she said.

"Now we have more information it would be nice to go over and pay my respects."

Responsibility for holding the Wolverhampton East Scout District St George's Day Service alternates between groups and this time it was the turn of the 1st Bilston Scout Group.

The fact that this coincided with the marking of the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War turned Mr Evans into a DIY detective.

The Ist Bilston group had been given the photograph clipped from a newspaper of the day showing the 12 boys who joined up at the outbreak of the war when celebrating their 100th birthday in 2008.

Mr Evans explained: "We thought that we could not let that coincidence go by and decided that it would serve as an ideal theme for the service but nobody had done any research into who the background of the boys. We did not even know who they were.

"The group scout leader Stuart Evans organised the event and I researched those in the photograph for around four months. All we had was hearsay of who might be in the picture."

The first big break came when local historian Carl Chinn revealed that the Scouts Association in London had a roll of honour of those who died in the First World War. Checks with this disclosed the real names of the two Ist Bilston members who lost their lives during the conflict.

Mr Denis Evans managed to track William Harpin down to a home address in Great Bridge Road, Bilston. Through that he was able to trace relatives of the war hero. Mr Evans also discovered that Mr Harpin had worked for Joseph Sankey in Bilston, as he did.

He was 18 when he died having served for up to 18 month. It is known that many teenagers gave false ages in their enthusiasm to sign up.

Corporal Flavell proved even more of a challenge since the letter on the roll call initially appeared to spell the surname as Havell. But once that confusion had been resolved he was finally found to have lived in Coseley. Mr Evans continued: "It took a lot of work but was well worth all the effort."

Mr Evans joined the ist Bilston group at the age of 11 before becoming one of its leaders. His grandson Toby is now continuing the family tradition by belonging to the group where his two daughters were also Queen Scouts.

He arranged for a dozen scouts at the parade to be suitably dressed for the occasion. Six wore scout uniforms from the 1914 era while four more were dressed in original First World War uniforms and two had Florence Nightingale-style garb.

It had originally been planned to hold the event at the cenotaph at Bilston since the 1st Bilston is an open scout group not attached to a particular church but heavy rain ruled that out. Mr Evans said: "Fortunately we had booked Bilston Town Hall as a back up and a place to hold refreshments after the service and so we were able to switch the whole thing indoors. The service was attended by around 250 from scout groups throughout the Wolverhampton East District. It was conducted by Rev Chris Davies from St Leonard's Church, Bilston who is also a cub leader with the 1st Bilston group.

Mr Evans smiled as he concluded: "We like to keep it all in the family,"