John Frederick Colquhoun,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(22 November 1890 – 1968), nicknamed "Koko", was a long-serving headquarters official of

The Boy Scouts Association The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was form ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and served on the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 173 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOS ...

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

from 1959 to 1965.

Background

Colquhoun was The Boy Scouts Association Headquarters

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

for

Wolf Cubs Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organization to which they belong. A participant in the program is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a 'P ...

from 1927 to 1938 and Akela Leader (head trainer of Wolf Cub leaders),

Gilwell Park Gilwell Park is a camp site and activity centre in East London located in the Sewardstonebury area of Waltham Abbey, within Epping Forest, near the border with Chingford. The site is owned by The Scout Association, is used by Scouting and Gu ...

. He organized the first International Wolf Cub Conference at

in 1938. At The Boy Scouts Association's Bournemouth Conference of April 1927, Colquhoun presented a paper titled 'The position of Rover leaders' which resulted in discussion on co-ordination (i.e. who was in charge) between Wolf Cubmasters, Scoutmasters and Rover leaders that led to the establishment of the Scout Group organizational structure and new rank of Group Scoutmaster from 1 January 1928. In the leadership changes following the death of The Boy Scouts Association's founder and first

Chief Scout A Chief Scout is the principal or head scout for an organization such as the military, colonial administration or expedition or a talent scout in performing, entertainment or creative arts, particularly sport. In sport, a Chief Scout can be the prin ...

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the worl ...

, Colquhoun became Deputy Chief Commissioner in January 1942 and, in 1943, chairman of the General Purposes Committee, the main sub-committee of the association's committee. In 1948 Colquhoun also became The Boy Scouts Association Headquarters Commissioner for Kindred Societies (later Headquarters Commissioner for Relationships) and, in that role, was the honorary organizer of the B.-P. Guild of Old Scouts from its formation in June 1948 until February 1951, after the Guild had become "autonomous" in October 1950. He was chairman of the association's religious panel. Colquhoun toured Australia and New Zealand in 1950 and 1951 to inspect The Boy Scouts Association's branches. He represented The Boy Scouts Association Imperial Headquarters and its Chief Scout of the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

and

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

at the Second Pan-Pacific Jamboree held at

Greystanes Greystanes is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Greystanes is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local governme ...

near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from 29 December 1952 to 8 January 1953. He and Fred Hurll, The Boy Scouts Association's Chief Executive Commissioner, were the organizers of the 1st

World Scout Indaba The World Scout Indaba was a gathering of Scout Leaders from around the world. Created at the 1949 12th World Scout Conference in Elvesæter, Norway where The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom submitted that of the great number of Scou ...

(a gathering of Scout Leaders from around the world) which took place at

for a week in July, 1952. Colquhoun contributed to books, booklets and articles on

Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

and authored "Scouting as an instrument of Evangelism" in ''Theology'' (1949), ''What I.H.Q. does'' (1949), ''You and I.H.Q.'' (1956) and ''Running a Scout Group'' (1954). Colquhoun was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the

1946 Birthday Honours The 1946 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 13 June 1946 for the United Kingdom and British Empire. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new h ...

and a Commander of the order in the

1966 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1966 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those co ...

for his services to The Boy Scouts Association. In 1963, Colquhoun was awarded the

's only distinction, the ''

Bronze Wolf The Bronze Wolf Award is bestowed by the World Scout Committee (WSC) to acknowledge "outstanding service by an individual to the World Scout Movement". It is the highest honor that can be given a volunteer Scout leader in the world and it is the ...

'', for exceptional services to world Scouting. The Colquhoun International Centre at The Scout Association's Gilwell Park is named in his honour. Gilwell Park#Colquhoun International Centre

Background

References

Further reading