Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Joseph HOPE and Edith Mary nee SCARR

Charles Hope will always be remembered as the young man who founded, by writing to Baden Powell seeking permission, the first scout troop in Australia.
Gavin Souter recounted this part of Mosman history in his book, Mosman A History p154
"Outside school hours, Mosman boys were able to participate in the new outdoor youth activity known as 'Scouting for Boys'. Indeed they were the earliest Australians to do so, for the Kangaroo Patrol of what was to become 1st Mosman Scout Troop was the earliest of its kind in the Commonwealth. The credit for this belonged to Charles Hope, a 15 year-old office boy living in Muston Street and working in the city, who bought Lord Baden Powell's 'Scouting for Boys' as soon as the book reached Sydney in 1908, and read it avidly while travelling on the ferry……Charles knew exactly what the General was talking about, because at the weekends in the bush around Balmoral he and a gang of mates played 'Bobbies and Bushies' using semaphore signalling, observation and stalking, just as the Scouts 'Wide Game'. With six other boys who shared his enthusiasm, Charles held the first meeting of Kangaroo Patrol in the stables in Muston Street in May 1908. They wore khaki hats, white jumpers and belts, navy blue shorts and long socks, and conducted their activities according to the manual. Some time after 28 June, when an article about scouting in England had appeared in Sydney 'Sunday Times', Patrol Leader Hope wrote to the editor-in-chief of that paper, T.R. Roydhouse, telling him about the Patrol.
'Well done Mosman', said the 18 August issue of the paper.
Spurred on by further publicity in the Sunday Times, other patrols soon came into being, including two more in Mosman, which in December of that year merged with the Kangaroos to form 1st Mosman Troop, with Charles Hope as Scoutmaster. Although Mosman's claim to priority in this regard has sometimes been disputed , it does seem to be justified, if only by a few weeks. In 1909 Mosman gained vice-regal patronage of sorts when the Governor-General, Lord Dudley, decided that his son the Honourable Roderick Ward, should join it."

A letter from Charles Hope appeared in the "Sydney Morning Heraldl" Friday, 9 September 1949, p.2.
First Boy Scout
Sir - Recently your paper published reports about the beginning of the Boy Scout movement.
One report stated that the first Scout troop was started in Victoria in August, 1908. As a matter of fact the first Scouts were started in Mosman in May, 1908, and the patrol leader, who was the first Boy Scout in Australia, was myself. Records in my possession give full details concerning the early days of the movement.
Chas Hope Baulkham Hills

The greatest corroboration of Charles Hope's claim are the photos taken of the Mosman boys in their scouting uniforms which were later published in Sydney Mail Wednesday 18 March 1931 pp 8 and 9 on the occasion of Baden-Powell's tour of Australia. In one of the photo the Mosman scouts are:
Charles O Hope
R. Shearer
C. Cox
A. Jacob
H. Titchen
N. Hope
R. Middlecoat
F. Rolls
An article in Sunday Times, Sunday 16 August 1908 p.9 names W. Cornell as being part of this group. the article includes a letter from Master C. Hope dated 12/8/1908 to the editor of the Sunday Times.
The original scouts in Kangaroo Patrol referred to above were:
1. Robert (Bert) Campbell Shearer a brother of the James Shearer whose photo in this collection of boards appears with two other Mosman volunteers. Robert Shearer didn't serve in WW1 but was a Captain in WW2 No. NX70898. He was born 26/3/1894 Mosman and died 31/10/1946 Concord Repatriation Hospital. He married 1919 at St Leonards Nellie Foster Dumbrell (1895 Newcastle - 4/11/1970) They had 3 daughters, one of whom Marie Jean (Jean) died 14/5/2005.

2. Charles Herbert Cox WW1 No 1230. He was badly wounded - severe gun shot wound to left arm. Born 18/2/1895 Mosman died 1969 Victoria. he married Violet Dorothy. His parents were Arthur Blatchford Cox and Grace Maud Thompson. Charles Cox served WW2 as a Sgt at HQ Victoria (V143585).

3. Archibald Jacob WW1 No 1 (Queensland). Born 1892 Ashfield died 8/8/1973 late of The Esplanade, Balmoral Beach. Married at Mosman in 1934 Kathleen Doris Devlin (1892 Ashfield - 30/1/1973 late of Mosman). In WW1 he contacted typhus and, they believed, developed phlebitis of the leg, was repatriated and discharged Brisbane 9/1/1916. His parents were William Snodgrass Jacob (1867 Raymond Terrace - 1927 Mosman) and Mary Edith Turner (1870 Concord - 1952 Mosman).

4. Harry Titchen WW1 No 1279 18th Batt trnsfd No. 2 Sig Coy. Awarded the Military Medal. Promoted Cpl then Lieutenant. There is a photo of Harry Titchen at the Officers' Training School in the AWM collection No P02367.009.
Born 1892 St Leonards - 7/10/1960 Marrickville. Married at Hornsby in 1957 Winifred Eileen Osborn (1893 Newtown - 27/2/1978 Hornsby). Parents Henry Frederick (c1866-1937 Katoomba) and Jane Kate (c1866 England - 1941 Mosman) Titchen.

5 Noel Sydney Hope - brother of Charles and Richard Maitland Hope whose photos are in the collection. His name is on the Manly War Memorial for WW2. Born 11/3/1894 North Sydney - 15/8/1956 late of Cremorne. Married in 1927 at Manly Rose Mary Blakey (1897 Annandale - 11/1/1967 late of Wahroonga. See details of his family above with Charles Hope.

6. Roy Twynham Middlecoat. 

7. Frederick George Rolls. 

8. Walter Goulburn Cornell No 1145 Sergeant 18th Btn. Born 1893 Mosman - Killed Hill 60 Gallipoli. At first reported missing. He served 6 months with the earlier Expeditionary Forces. He was a clerk who had attended Mosman Public School. Parents Augustus Frederick Cornell (Auckland NZ = 1930 Sydney) married Elizabeth O'Connor (died 24/7/1933 Manly).