William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt
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William Hillcourt (August 6, 1900 - November 9, 1992) also known as Green Bar Bill, is considered by many to be the father of American Boy Scouting and the Scoutmaster to the World due to his prolific writings and teachings in the areas of troop and patrol structure, training, and the development of the American adaptation of the Wood Badge program.
Hillcourt was Danish, but moved to America as a young adult and worked for the Boy Scouts of America. He also traveled all over the world teaching and training both Scouts and Scouters.
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[edit] Early life
Hillcourt was born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1900 under the name Vilhelm Bjerregaard Jensen. At age 10 he received a Danish translation of Baden-Powell's (B-P's) Scouting for Boys from his brother for Christmas. He then went on to earn the rank of Knight-Scout, the highest in Danish Scouting, at age 17. In 1920 his troop sent him to the 1st World Scout Jamboree in Olympia, United Kingdom, where he met B-P.
[edit] Scouting life
In 1925 Hillcourt came to the United States and was working with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) when he broke his leg. While his leg was broken he encountered James West, the Chief Scout Executive of the BSA. After this meeting Bill sent Dr. West a detailed memo indicating, among other things, that the BSA needed to write a handbook for Patrol Leaders, and that it needed to be written by someone who had been both a Patrol Leader and a Scoutmaster himself. West agreed and commissioned Bill to write the BSA's first Handbook for Patrol Leaders. He soon changed his name by Anglicizing "Vilhelm", dropping "Jensen", and translating "Bjerregaard" into "Hill-court". It is said he always had a slight Danish accent. He never missed a BSA National Jamboree from the 1920s until he passed away. His impact on BSA is second only to B-P.
Harcourt died in Europe while on a Scouting tour. He is buried St. Joseph's Cemetery, with his wife Grace, in Mendham, New Jersey near Schiff Scout Reservation, where he spent much of his Scouting career.[1]
[edit] Wood Badge
Hillcourt was a particpant in the first Wood Badge course held in America in 1936 (which was run by the British), earned his Wood Badge beads in 1939, was the Scoutmaster of the first two BSA Wood Badge courses, beginning in 1948, and as National Director of Training was the only American ever to earn the right to wear a 5-beaded Wood Badge.[2]
[edit] Writings
Hillcourt was by far the most prolific writer in the history of the BSA, producing numerous works:
- The Patrol Leader Handbook (First, Second and Third Editions)
- The Scoutmaster Handbook (Third, Fourth and Fifth Editions)
- The Boy Scout Handbook (Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Editions)
- Numerous writings for Boys' Life and Scouting magazine, including a column aimed at Patrol Leaders written as by Patrol Leader "Green Bar Bill".
- Edited revisions of Baden-Powell's Aids to Scoutmastership and Scouting for Boys (known as the "World Brotherhood" editions)
- The first authorized biography of Baden-Powell: Baden-Powell, Two Lives of a Hero
[edit] Other Contributions to Scouting
In addition to his writings themselves, Green Bar Bill made numerous contributions to the program of the BSA.
- In the early part of the BSA he brought the organization back in line with the Patrol Method originally devised by Baden-Powell.
- After the abysmal failure of the "New Improved Scouting" of the 1970s, Hillcourt came out of retirement to revitalize the program with a new Boy Scout Handbook, returning the focus of the program to the outdoors. He did this free of charge to BSA. He also developed the "All Out for Scouting" program that kicked off this new program.
- He was awarded the highest honor the BSA gives to an adult, the Silver Buffalo Award.
- In addition to being a Danish Knight-Scout, Hillcourt is also an Eagle Scout, having been allowed to work on Scouting advancements prior to a rule change in the 1950s that only allowed Scouts under the age of 18 to become Eagle Scouts. Hilcourt was later recognized with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
- Green Bar Bill was awarded the Bronze Wolf, the rarest award in Scouting and the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, in 1985.
- Green Bar Bill walked Firecrafter Hill in 1990 and became one of the Scouting Service Organizations most well known members aside from Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell, and organization's founder Francis Oliver Belzer.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Murphy, Kevin (2001). Readable Graves in St. Joseph Cemetery (TXT). St Joseph's Catholic Church Cemetery. Retrieved on 2006-08-03.
- ^ "Green Bar Bill" and Wood Badge. Wood Badge history. Retrieved on February 06, 2006.
[edit] External links
- http://www.trussel.com/prehist/crump/hillcour.htm
- http://www.cnyscouts.org/historical/hillcourt_bio.html
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Hillcourt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Vilhelm Bjerregaard Jensen |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Scouting author, Scoutmaster to the world |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 06, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aarhus, Denmark |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 09, 1992 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Europe, buried Mendam, New Jersey, United States |
