The Silver Fish is the highest adult award in Girlguiding. It is awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding. The award has changed greatly since it first appeared in 1911, initially being awarded to girls on completion of a number of badges, then via numerous stages to the highest award in the Guiding movement worldwide, and then on to its position as a Girlguiding award.
Award criteria
The Silver Fish is not earned, but given to those who are nominated and are considered worthy of the award. Recipients must be members of Girlguiding, have done outstanding service to Guiding in more than one capacity and made a contribution to world Guiding. Ideally candidates should be at least 18 months from retirement and have held an appointment within 6 months of the nomination.
History
The award of Silver Fish existed from the beginning of the Guiding movement. It is mentioned in the November 1909 edition of the Boy ScoutHeadquarters Gazette in "The Scheme for 'Girl Guides'". Here a girl must pass seventeen specified efficiency badges. However, in Pamphlet A: Baden-Powell Girl Guides, a Suggestion for Character Training for Girls, also published in 1909, twenty efficiency badges were needed to obtain the Silver Fish. This was later reduced to fifteen and, additionally, good all round work was required. The award was considered a sign of a girl 'who could make her way upstream'. Around the time of the foundation of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912, their handbook listed the Silver Fish as the highest honour in Girl Scouting. However, before anyone could earn it, the Golden Eaglet was introduced. Only three American women were awarded the Silver Fish - Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts USA; Anne Hyde Choate, Juliette's goddaughter and the second president of Girl Scouts USA; and Helen Storrow, donor of Our Chalet. In addition, a exists taken in 1921 of Mrs. Benedict Crowell, Commissioner of the DC Girl Scouts, posing with the wife of President Warren Harding, General John Pershing, Juliette Gordon Low and a crowd of Girl Scouts. Both Mrs. Low and Mrs. Crowell appear to be wearing Silver Fish awards. The DC Girl Scouts were very active in supporting the US war effort in WWI, providing food to American soldiers. In October 1917, the award changed to being given for outstanding service to the movement. At this time, the design also changed from a whiting with its tail in its mouth worn on a silver chain to a swimming fish worn on a dark and light blue striped ribbon. The award became the highest in worldwide Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, but then changed to become a Girlguiding specific award. Olave Baden-Powell was presented with a gold Silver Fish in 1918, then the only one of its kind. In 1995, her daughter Betty Clay was presented with a gold Silver Fish in the form of a brooch.
