.svg) | |
| Founded | 4 October 1883 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Sir William Alexander Smith |
| Location |
|
| Origins | Glasgow |
Area served | International |
Members | 750,000 worldwide[1] |
| Website | www.boys-brigade.org.uk |
The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values.[2] Following its inception in Glasgow in 1883 the BB quickly spread across the United Kingdom, becoming a worldwide organisation by the early 1890s.[3] As of 2018, the Boys' Brigade claimed 750,000 members in 60 countries.[1]
The BB inspired the formation of other similar brigade organisations serving particular denominations, regions, genders, ideals, other religions or even individual churches, such as the Church Lads' Brigade (1891), London Diocesan Lads' Brigade and Church Girls' Brigade (all Church of England and later amalgamated into the Church Lads' and Church Girls' Brigade), the pacifist Boys' Life Brigade (formed 1899 by the National Sunday School Union with strongest support amongst non-conformist churches), the Girls' Brigade, the Girls' Life Brigade, Bolton Boys' Brigade, Catholic Boys' Brigade (1894), Baptist Boys' Brigade and the Jewish Lads' Brigade (1895), inspiring a whole brigade movement.
- ^ a b "Brigade across the globe". The Boys' Brigade, Australia. 2018. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
The Boys Brigade Australia is part of a vast international network of youth organisations stretching across the globe with over 750,000 young people in 60 countries.
- ^ Raynor, Tauria (30 October 2008). "Boys' Brigade want alumni to return for a special anniversary". The Royal Gazette. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
- ^ Senior Section Handbook, Fifth Edition. Malaysia: The Boys' Brigade in Malaysia. 2003.