Roland House

The other person who is commemorated on Stepney Green, not in a memorial, but in the name of a house, is The Honourable Captain Roland Erasmus Phillips, one of the early pioneers of scouting, an aristocratic Wykehamist, second son of Lord St. David, who, after reading law at New College, Oxford, went to work for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company in Liverpool where he met a group of boy scouts and volunteered to help.   In 1912, he transferred to the Union Castle Steamship Company, lived first in Bethnal Green, then Stepney, and was appointed Assistant District Commissioner for the Scouts in East London.   In 1912, he and Stanley Ince instituted the Hackney Lectures on Scout Law, which were massively popular, and in 1914, he published Letters to a Patrol Leader, before enlisting in August 1914 in the Royal Fusiliers   He died on the front on 6th. July 1915 and left his house 29, Stepney Green, now called Roland House, to the scouts of East London:-

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8 thoughts on “Roland House

  1. Unknown's avatar P V Pawar says:

    Just examine how a cub moves to the level of senior scout . Trcking , camping , all about nature , , help for the needy. This is just great .
    I now feel so sorry that this scouting has come down . We still need to take care of nature ; help in first Aid and so on .
    Let us hope that scouting will grow all over again .
    From P V Pawar pawar.pv@gmail.com

  2. Nigel Scotchmer's avatar Nigel Scotchmer says:

    My Dad was lucky enough to come to Roland House in 1936 from rural Suffolk. He brought me here in about 1976 or 1977 and told me how much Lord Baden Powell and Roland Phillips had inspired and helped him. Without Roland House it would have been much harder for him.

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