Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895-1965

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The Volunteer (later, Territorial) Army units raised in Bermuda were created as part of an Imperial military garrison that existed primarily to protect the Royal Naval base, centred about the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island.

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[edit] The British Army Following The Crimea

Following the Crimean War, it was painfully clear to the War Office that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Globe on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences.

What was painfully clear to the citizenry of those Isles, when there was a threat of invasion by the much larger French Army in 1858 (following an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III), was that, even without sending a third of the Army to another Crimea, Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly then. This vulnerability to a potential European invasion continued to be underlined by subsequent events on the continent (The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71), and by the development of steamships, railroads, and of breech-loading and repeating rifles.

[edit] Creation of The Volunteer Army

The response of the citizenry was to raise its own Volunteer Army. Overseen by a civilian body, this was composed of locally-organised units. The members served voluntarily, gathering in their spare time to practice drill and riflery. Members were unpaid, and, indeed, generally paid for their own uniforms and equipment. Although the militia had become largely moribund, and the yeomanry were unable to mount a useful military force, the Volunteer Army quickly became very popular, and, despite the initial reservations of professional officers, the War Office took an increasing interest in its organisation, equipment and training. With the British Army traditionally underfunded, to the benefit of the Royal Navy, the advantages of this large, but economical reserve of trained soldiery were inescapable to the generals.

[edit] The Territorial Army

By 1907, when its civilian administration teetered on the brink of insolvency, the Volunteer Army had become indispensable to British defence planning, as well as an enabler of the Regular Army's drawing its own troops away from home defence stations. Consequently, the Government took over the Volunteer Army completely, re-organising it as the Territorial Army in 1908. In addition to the introduction of terms of service for volunteers, this meant that most of the units, themselves, lost their unique identities, becoming Territorial battalions of the local Regular Army regiment. At the same time, the remaining Militia and Yeomanry units were folded into the Territorial Army.

[edit] Development of British Army 1860-1908

The British Army's response to the situation it found itself, in following The Crimea, was a series of reforms, redeployments, and re-structuring that stretched over the next fifty years. It was realised that a standing body of soldiers was required in Britain, composed of all of the combat and support elements required for either countering an invasion of Britain or for dispatch to another campaign like The Crimea. As the Government was unwilling to fund an actual increase of its manpower, the Army could only accomplish this by withdrawing units from Imperial garrisons, and by placing much of the obligation for home defence onto the Volunteer Army. Withdrawing units from much of the Empire would have resulted in native insurrections and border insurgencies, or invited attacks by powerful neighbours (this was especially true in India, with its internal intrigues, Russian and Turkish neighbours, and Afghanistan as a buffer state). The Army's solution was to withdraw or reduce garrisons in sleepy locations such as Bermuda. Bermuda, however, was far too prominent a naval base for the Army to abandon entirely. As the range and effectiveness of artillery increased, however, the number of Garrison Artillery batteries was steadily reduced. This process was accelerated at the end of the Century as the Dockyard's own ships assumed the responsibility for its defence. The infantry posted to the Island was steadily reduced, also. By the 1870s, the military garrison, at 2,200, amounted to nearly twenty percent of Bermuda's population, but in the 1880s it was reduced by 1,600. Although its size was briefly restored above 2,000 regular soldiers, the trend would remain the steady reduction from then on.

The Army also went through a major restructuring, the Cardwell reforms, that saw individual battalions grouped to form county regiments, and, in 1908, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)was formed.

[edit] Extension of Volunteers to Overseas Territories

The War Office was eager to extend the Volunteer movement to Bermuda (and other territories) to allow the Regular Army garrison to be reduced. However, although volunteer units sprang up in other territories, in Bermuda there was considerabe resistance from the Colonial Government. The Bermudian government had two concerns. Since allowing its Militia, once the only military force protecting the Colony, to lapse after the American War of 1812, it had contributed nothing, materially or financially, to the defences. Other than during a brief period of profitting from the American Civil War, Bermuda's economy had been ailing since its shipbuilding and maritime trade had begun to retreat under the assault of steam and steel. Defence infrastructure had, in fact, been the primary crutch upon which Bermuda had limped through the middle of the Century, but the Colonial Government feared being saddled, now, with the entire cost of maintaining the entire garrison. The other concern was the social discontent that would be stoked by raising either racially integrated or segregated units. The Bermuda Government dealt with its concerns by ignoring the pleas of the War Office until the 1890s, when the Secretary of State for Defence held ransom their plans to develop the emerging tourism industry with American investment into a new hotel (The Princess). Foreign ownership of land had been banned lest an enemy state (by inference, the USA) use a threat to its nationals' interests as a pretext for invasion. There were also plans to improve the shipping channel into St. George's Harbour, intended to prevent St. George's being left behind by the Age of Steam, but which also would have eased the task of a naval force landing troops. The Secretary insisted that he could not approve of either project while Bermuda contributed nothing towards its own defence. The result was that the Secretary got his Bermuda volunteer units, and Bermuda got its hotel and its shipping channel.

[edit] Raising of Voluntary Units in Bermuda

Three Acts were passed in 1892 by the Bermudian parliament, authorising the creation of three separate military units.

The Bermuda Militia Act 1892, No. 3, authorised the creation of a battery of garrison artillery. Called the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), this unit recruited part-time volunteers, and was not a Militia in the sense of the cumpulsory Militias of old. This unit assisted the Regular Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) gunners, at first, but, as its numbers and experience grew, it began providing its own firing parties, and ultimately took over completely from the Regular gunners after the Great War. The bulk of the BMA volunteers were Black, although the Officer Corps was originally restricted to Whites.

The Bermuda Militia Act 1892, No. 4. This authorised the creation of a Company of infantry, intended to be titled the Bermuda Volunteer Infantry Force, but which was actually named the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC). This numbered 300 all ranks. BVRC recruitment was effectively restricted to Whites, from the outset.

These two units began recruiting in 1895 and 1894, respectively. Both were embodied, and fulfilled their obligations to the Garrison in both World Wars. Additionally, each sent two contingents of volunteers for service on the Western Front during the Great War-the BVRC contingents being attached to the Lincolnshire Regiment, and the BMA serving as part of the larger RGA detachment to the field. Both Units also detached contingents for service overseas during the Second World War.

The third act of 1892, The Bermuda Coast Defense Act, 1892, No. 5, called for the creation of the Coast Volunteers. This was to be a unit of miners, assisting with the submarine mine defences of the colony.

[edit] The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers

The cost of the voluntary units at Bermuda was originally covered by annual stipends to the Bermuda government, from the War Office. Affected by the popular patriotic fervour, the Bermuda government began its own voluntary contributions during the Great War. From January 1928, the Bermuda Government began paying a percentage of the pay of all members of the military garrison. From January, 1930, it also agreed to pay contributions, based on the size of the local population, to the cost of Imperial defence.

The Military garrison began to be reduced considerably, following the Great War, with most of its duties falling on the part-time units, which were re-organised in line with the Territorial Army. The submarine miners were proposed to be withdrawn in 1928, and a territorial unit formed to take over the operation of the electric search lights at the remaining artillery batteries. This unit, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE), also absorbed the signals section of the BVRC, and provided wireless teams to the other units.

[edit] Bermuda Militia Infantry

By 1939, the active coastal artillery was reduced to two guns, the manpower requirements of which could hardly make maximum use of the available supply. As it was not desired to integrate the BVRC, a second infantry unit was raised, titled the Bermuda Militia Infantry, and grouped administratively with the BMA.

[edit] Second World War

Local territorials were embodied on 3 September, 1939, with the declaration of War on Germany by Britain and France. Whereas volunteers had continued to perform their civilian jobs, during the Great War, they were embodied to serve full-time for the duration of the Second World War. The strengths of the units were quickly increased as Bermuda, again, assumed a position of great importance as the point of formation of trans-Atlantic convoys. As in the Great War, the BVRC soon detached a contingent for service overseas, with the Lincolnshire Regiment. A small number of soldiers from the BMA and BVE joined with that contingent, travelling with it to England in June, 1940, before separating to join other units. Concerned of stripping the garrison, however, the War Office placed a moratorium on any further drafts being sent overseas. Some members of the local units still managed to find their ways to the sharper ends of the War, primarily by volunteering to train as pilots at the Bermuda Flying School, on Darrell's Island. Those who gained their 'wings' were sent on to the Air Ministry to be assigned to the Royal Air Force, or the Fleet Air Arm. The moratorium against drafts was not lifted 'til 1943, when the likelihood of a German attack on the Island had diminished. The Bermuda Militia (the BMA and BMI, together) and the BVRC each detached contingents for overseas service, which trained together at Prospect Camp before being sent their separate ways. The BVRC Contingent was sent to the Lincolns, as with its Great War predecessors. The Bermuda Militia Contingent was sent to North Carolina, where it formed the training cadre of a new regiment, the Caribbean Regiment, which served briefly in Italy before escorting POWs to Egypt, where it remained 'til the end of hostilities.

[edit] Post War

After the War, the BMI and the BVE, along with the Home Guard formed during the conflict, were disbanded. The BVRC and the BMA were both reduced to skeleton operations in 1946, but were brought up to strength in 1948. Conscription was re-introduced to both units, although they remained part-time. The BVRC was retitled the Bermuda Rifles. The BMA converted to the infantry role in 1953, when the last coastal artillery batteries were taken out of use. 1953 was also the year that the closure of the HM Dockyard, the defence of which was the justification of the military garrison, was announced, and the last year in which an Imperial Defence Plan, under which the local units were tasked, was released. The last Regular Army detachment was withdrawn by 1955, and the Dockyard closed in 1958. For reasons of its own, the Bermuda Government chose to maintain the two Territorial units entirely at its own expense.

[edit] Amalgamation

Many Bermudians have felt, since, that maintaining a TA infantry unit which has no military role under the (British) Ministry Of Defence, or NATO, is an unnecessary expense. Maintaining two such units was clearly an unnecessary duplication of effort. The racial disharmony which these two units exemplified was rapidly becoming politically incorrect, as the Island was affected by the equal rights movement in America. Consequently, in September, 1965, the two units were amalgamated to form the Bermuda Regiment.

[edit] Main Unit Articles

[edit] Bibliography

  • "Defence, Not Defiance: A History Of The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps", Jennifer M. Ingham (now Jennifer M. Hind), ISBN 0-9696517-1-6. Printed by The Island Press Ltd., Pembroke, Bermuda. Itself using as a source the unique, typescript "History of The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, 1891 - 1933", held at the Bermuda Library, in Hamilton.
  • "The Andrew And The Onions: The Story Of The Royal Navy In Bermuda, 1795 – 1975", Lt. Commander Ian Strannack, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.
  • "Bermuda Forts 1612–1957", Dr. Edward C. Harris, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.
  • "Bulwark Of Empire: Bermuda's Fortified Naval Base 1860-1920", Lt.-Col. Roger Willock, USMC, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.
  • "Bermuda From Sail To Steam: The History Of The Island From 1784 to 1901", Dr. Henry Wilkinson, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, UK OX2 6DP.

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