History of Brownies

A Brownie is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations for girls from their seventh birthday to their tenth birthday. Exact age limits are slightly different in each organisation.

Brownies were first organized by Lord Baden-Powell in 1914, to complete the range of age groups both for girls and boys in Scouting. They were first run as the youngest group in the Guide Association by Agnes Baden-Powell, Lord Baden-Powell's younger sister. In 1918 his wife, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, took over the responsibility for the Girl Guides and thus for Brownies.
Originally the girls were called Rosebuds, but were renamed by Lord Baden-Powell after the girls had complained that they didn't like their name. Their name comes from the story "The Brownies" by Juliana Horatia Ewing, written in 1870. In the story two children, Tommy and Betty, learn that children can be helpful Brownies or lazy boggarts.

In the United Kingdom, the Brownie Promise is:

I promise that I will do my best,

To love my God,

To serve the Queen and my country,

To help other people,

And to keep the Brownie Guide Law.

The promise was changed from 'To love God' to 'To love my God' to incorporate different faiths.
An earlier version (extant 1980) was:

I promise that I will do my best

To do my duty to God,

To serve the Queen

And help other people,

And to keep the Brownie Guide Law.

The Brownie Guide Law is:

A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself and does a good turn every day.

The Brownie motto used to be 'Lend a Hand' (LAH). With the introduction of the new program in the United Kingdom, the motto was dropped for Brownies.
There is also a Brownie song that some packs sing at the beginning of the meeting:

"We're Brownie Guides, we're Brownie Guides

We're here to lend a hand

To love our God and serve our Queen

And to help our homes and land

We've Brownie friends, we've Brownie friends

In North, South, East and West

We're joined together in our wish

To try to do our best"

There are also slight variations of the song. In some packs it is sung while skipping around a toadstool.
Some packs also sing one of the traditional songs to end a meeting, to the tune of the Cambridge Chimes:

O Lord, our God

Thy children call

Grant us Thy peace

And bless us all

Good-night (everyone then salutes each other)

The second verse of Taps (Day is done...) is also often sung.
Today British Brownies receive a 'Becoming a Brownie' activity book upon joining. This has a version of the "Brownie Story" that is slightly different. Tommy and Betty are replaced by friends Katie and Sunita. This change is a very recent one.