File:Address to Minnigaff Troops.jpg

Address to Minnigaff Troops Boy Scouts Given at Graighall Blackcraig Saturday 1st April 1916.

by

Lt Col F.A.W. Armitage D.S.O. West Yorkshire Regt (commanding 1st Hampshire Regt)

SCOUTMASTER PATROL LEADERS AND SCOUTS ----- IT GIVES ME THE GREATEST PLEASURE TO COME DOWN HERE TO-DAY TO SAY A FEW WORDS TO YOU, AND TO PRESENT TO YOU THIS FLAG, IT IS AN HONOUR WHICH ANYBODY MIGHT BE JUSTLY PROUD OF, AND I CAN ASSURE YOU I AM VERY PROUD OF IT INDEED. I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SUFFICIENTLY CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR SPLENDID TURN-OUT TO-DAY. I UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS NOT TWO MONTHS YET SINCE THIS MOVEMENT WAS STARTED HERE AND YET I CAN SEE BEFORE ME OVER FIFTY OF YOU ON PARADE TO-DAY. NOW I CALL THAT VERY GOOD INDEED, AND I CONSIDER THE GREATEST PRAISE IS DUE, NOT ONLY TO YOURSELVES FOR THE SPLENDID WAY IN WHICH YOU HAVE ALL TURNED OUT, BUT TO EVERYBODY WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER TO THE WELFARE OF THIS BRANCH AND ABOVE ALL TO YOUR SCOUTMASTER, AND ASSISTANT SCOUTMASTER FOR THE PATIENCE AND ENERGY THEY HAVE SHOWN, AND THE TROUBLE THEY HAVE TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT THIS BRANCH HERE SHOULD BE A SUCCESS. YOUR BRANCH FORMS ONLY A SMALL PART OF THE BOY SCOUT ORGANISATION WHICH IS GOING ON ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, AND NOT ONLY OVER THIS COUNTRY BUT OVER THE WHOLE BRITISH EMPIRE, BUT ALTHOUGH A SMALL PART YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS THE SMALL PARTS WHICH MAKE UP THE WHOLE, AND WE LOOK TO YOU TO UPHOLD THE HONOUR AND TRADITIONS OF THE BOY SCOUTS, AND I AM SURE YOU WILL DO THAT NOBLY AND TRULY. TO-DAY HAS BEE GIVEN TO YOU ONE OF THE GREATEST PRIVILEGES THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO ANY MAN: TO-DAY HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED INTO YOUR CARE AND KEEPING, THE BRITISH FLAG: THAT FLAG WHICH I MIGHT SAY WAVES ALMOST ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND I AM QUITE SURE THAT WHENEVER YOU ARE CALLED UPON TO DO SO, YOU WILL PROTECT THAT FLAG AS ONLY TRUE BRITISHERS CAN. FOR THAT FLAG STANDS FOR THREE THINGS: IT STANDS FOR YOUR GOD, YOUR KING, AND YOUR COUNTRY. FIRSTLY, IT STANDS FOR YOUR GOD, BECAUSE IT STANDS FOR ALL THAT IS TRUE, ALL THAT IS JUST, ALL THAT IN HONOURABLE, ARE WE NOT FIGHTING FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE, AND HONOUR? ARE WE NOT FIGHTING NOT ONLY FOR OUR OWN COUNTRY, BUT FOR OUR UNFORTUNATE ALLIES, WHOSE COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN OVER-RIDDEN AND DOWN-TRODDEN BY A CRUEL AND GRASPING ENEMY? SECONDLY THE FLAG STANDS FOR OUR KING, ARE THEY NOT HIS COLOURS, AND ARE WE NOT AT ALL TIMES BOUND TO OFFER OUR SERVICES AND OUR TRUE ALLEGIANCE? AND THIRDLY, IT STANDS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND NOT ONLY FOR OUR COUNTRY, BUT FOR THE WHOLE BRITISH EMPIRE ------THAT EMPIRE WHICH OUR FOREFATHERS HAVE FOUGHT FOR AND DIED FOR; TO THEM WAS GIVEN THE PRIVILEDGE OF TAKING THAT FLAG. I MIGHT ALMOST SAY, TO THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH AND WHEREVER THAT FLAG FLIES IT DENOTES TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND LIBERTY; TO US, TO YOU, AND TO ME IS GIVEN THE PRIVILEGE OF KEEPING THAT FLAG THERE; LET US SEE THAT WE DO SO WITH ALL OUR MIGHT AND MAIN. NOW, AS YOU KNOW, I AM A SOLDIER, BUT I DID NOT COME HERE TO-DAY TO IMPRESS UPON YOU ALL TO BECOME SOLDIERS. THE BOY SCOUTS ORGANISATION IS NOT A MILITARY ORGANISATION, AND MUCH AS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU ALL SOLDIERS OF THE KING IN TIME TO COME, I KNOW THAT IT IS QUITE IMPOSSIBLE FOR EVERY ONE TO BE A SOLDIER, BUT WE CAN ALL BE TRUE BRITISHERS. THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO IMPRESS ON YOU TO-DAY-----BE TRUE-----BE TRUE TO YOUR GOD, TO YOUR KING, AND TO YOUR COUNTRY, AND LASTLY BE TRUE TO YOURSELVES, AND BY DOING SO YOU WILL BECOME NOT ONLY TRUE BRITISHERS, BUT TRUE CHRISTIANS. NOW, I SAID NOW THAT THE BOY SCOUT ORGANISATION IN NOT A MILITARY ORGANISATION, AND I WANT TO PROVE IT TO YOU. THERE IS ONLY ONE SINGLE CIVILISED NATION IN THE WORLD THAT HAS NOT ADOPTED THIS MOVEMENT, AND THAT COUNTRY IS GERMANY, AND WHY? BECAUSE WHEN THE QUESTION WAS BROUGHT UP BEFORE THE GERMAN EMPEROR HE SAID: “NO I WON’T HAVE BOY SCOUTS; IT SAVOURS TOO MUCH OF INDIVIDUALISM; IT WILL MAY MY SUBJECTS THINK TOO MUCH FOR THEMSELVES.” HE WAS AFRAID THAT IT WOULD DO AWAY WITH THAT IRON MILITARISM WHICH IS THE ONLY WAY HE CAN RULE HIS COUNTRY. WE DO NOT WANT MILITARISM, BUT WE DO WANT TRUE PATRIOTISM, AND I DO TRUST THAT YOU WILL ALL BE TRUE PATRIOTS. AND NOW INTO KEEPING I LEAVE THIS FLAG. REMEMBER ALWAYS THAT IT STANDS FOR YOUR GOD, YOUR KING, AND YOUR COUNTRY; REMEMBER THAT IT STANDS FOR ALL THAT IS RIGHT, ALL THAT IS TRUE, ALL THAT IS NOBLE; FIGHT FOR IT MY LADS, FIGHT FOR TRUTH, AND HONOUR, FIGHT FOR IT WITH MIGHT AND MAIN. FIGHT FOR IT, IF NEEDS BE, EVEN UNTO DEATH. I DO NOT THINK I CAM CLOSE MY FEW REMARKS TO YOU TO-DAY BETTER THAT BY QUOTING YOU A LITTLE VERSE WHICH I ONCE SAW IN A BOOK. IT IS THIS: --- “FIGHT FOR THE COLOURS OF CHRIST THE KING, FIGHT AS HE FOUGHT FOR YOU; FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT WITH ALL THY MIGHT, FIGHT FOR THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE,”

Colonel ARMITAGE was home on leave from France when he gave this address. He was wounded in January 1916: was five times Mentioned in Despatches: and was killed in action near Pecaut Wood, Gonnehem, France 22 April 1918.

By his death he set the seal of sincerity on the noble ideals he so expressed, and this panel, is gifted by his parents to the MINNIGAFF TROOP of BOY SCOUTS in the hope that his example may prove and incentive to the members at all times to “Fight for truth, Justice

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