The Church Lads Brigade was founded by Walter Mallock Gee, who was Secretary to the Junior Division of the Church of England Temperance Society, on November 11th 1891, at St Andrew's Church, Fulham. Derived from the existing Boys Brigade, he formed the Church Lads' Brigade to be wholly part of the Anglican Church rather than Interdenominational, as the Boys' Brigade was.

It became the first scout group incorporated in the world in 1909. Between 1911 and 1930 it was the largest force of cadets in the country. During the First World War they formed two battalions of infantry, the 16th & 19th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and earned 22 Victoria Cross medals, more than were awarded to former members of any other youth organisation.

In the 1970s the Church Lads Brigade merged with the Church Girls Brigade, formerly the Church Nursing and Ambulance Brigade, to form the present day Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade.