Luton’s oldest Scout has died aged 94 after a brave battle against cancer. For 86 of those years, Alec Arthur Brown was a member of the Scout Movement rising from a young Cub Scout in 1923 to become President of Icknield District Scouts seventy years later. He was also the last surviving member of a secret Rover Scout Crew set up in the notorious Changi POW Camp in Singapore during the second world war.

Alec reckoned that Scouting provided rich experiences and training that allowed you to survive even in the most arduous of conditions. When he was eight he was converted to Scouting by his Sunday School teacher at Waller Street Weslyan Chapel that the family helped to build.. Later, as a Scout, he had a fondness for weekend camps at Sam’s Farm in Caddington. It was a great adventure for him to load the trek cart with camping gear and pull it the three miles up the hill to the village. These were real life adventure stories he would tell at Scout meetings almost to the day he died.

Alec was a teacher at William Austin School where he was known as a fair if strict disciplinarian. One of his pupils was a lad called Rex Horton who had a healthy respect for him. “Years later”, Rex recalled, “Alec chose me as his District Chairman so I must have impressed him somewhere along the line.” Many more of his pupils went on to become important members of the Scout Movement in Luton.

In 1967 Alec was chosen as one of the founders of modern Scouting in Luton when he took over the newly-formed Icknield District as their District Commissioner part of a 10-year plan for Luton. Something of a free spirit, Alec could be counted on getting things done sometimes despite the rulings of higher authorities.

But Alec’s major contribution to Scouting took place some 6800 miles away from his Luton home as a Japanese POW in the infamous Changi Jail in Singapore. Within weeks of capture in 1942 he helped to start a secret POW Scout Group called the Selarang Rover Scout Group with handmade uniform, certificates and badges. Some 60 prisoners were helped to cope with life as POWs as a result of the work this Luton Scout performed. Alec was the last surviving member of that clandestine group.

Alec did not talk much about his time in Changi Jail. But he was clearly proud of the way his venture helped to bolster the spirits of his fellow Scouts in horrendous circumstances. Some of his proudest moments were when he could wear the handmade scarf he rescued from his time in Singapore. For his services in Singapore Alec was awarded the prestigious Medal for Meritorious Conduct and later a Silver Acorn. He was made District President in 1993.

Many Scouting guests joined family and friends at the Luton Crematorium service to pay their respects. The service was a family affair presided over by Alec’s niece The Reverend Mary Irish. She remembered Uncle Alec as a man of few words who often said, “Make it short and get it right!”

Alec’s son Rowan explained how Scouting dominated his dad’s life from the day he joined the 8^th Luton Scout Group in Waller Street at the age of eight in 1923. He later had the honour of representing the town at the 5^th World Scout Jamboree in Holland in the summer of 1937. Rowan said, “It was one of dad’s proudest moments when he was appointed District Commissioner for Icknield District in 1967. He was determined to set its tone and make it efficient. He had this pure, burning ideal of Scouting to guide him. Even late in life he was still serving on every committee going. As his son and a fellow Scout I can say he was an example to us all.” And he added proudly, “Dad, that was a job well done.”

Alec leaves a son, Rowan his daughter in law Norma and two grandchildren as well as a Scouting legacy which has few equals anywhere.

[Back to News Front Page]