Girls’ Brigade: A 130-year legacy

As it celebrates this momentous birthday, we take a closer look at the history of the Girls’ Brigade

A journey through the Girls’ Brigade physical archives is a journey through time. It’s a small room tucked away at headquarters, which could be mistaken for a storage cupboard filled with donations from previous members and volunteers. But digging through the boxes of old badges, uniforms, photographs, hats and hundreds of carefully bound issues of the Girls’ Brigade newsletters, a story begins to unfold. It’s the story of young women who, for 130 years, have participated in an organisation that has offered them significant and empowering opportunities – starting years before women in the UK even had a vote.