ABSTRACT
The youth service was a development of both immediate and permanent importance — immediate in that it was created to meet the damaging effects of the war on young people and permanent in that the foundations were laid of an organised system of youth welfare on the same basis as the other educational services. As with other aspects of the education service, the sort of needs which it met had been satisfied to a limited degree by the initiative of private voluntary organisations for many years. The YMCA was founded in 1844, the YWCA in 1855, the Girls' Friendly Society in 1875 and the Boys' Brigade in 1883. As in other fields, war helped to stimulate new growth here. It was in the aftermath of the Boer War that the Boy Scouts were founded in 1907, followed by the Girl Guides three years later. The Education Act of 1918 contained provisions for the education of young people in day continuation schools but this remained an unfulfilled aspiration.
