The choice of the silver fish was as a result of Lord Baden-Powell visiting Japan, where he learnt that when a son was born, parents would hang a small silver fish on their door, signifying the boy would be able to successfully 'swim upstream' through life's challenges.

Lord Baden-Powell decided to make a Guide's highest honour a silver fish, to show that girls are just as capable of battling against the odds as boys.

[3] The award is mentioned in the November 1909 edition of the Boy Scout Headquarters Gazette in "The Scheme for 'Girl Guides'".

By 1918 a Silver Fish was awarded by headquarters "on the recommendation of County Commissioners for some very special Service to the Movement".

[11] In 1995, her daughter Betty Clay was presented with a gold Silver Fish in the form of a brooch.