Bermuda Garrison
Encyclopedia
The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda
by the regular British Army
, and its local militia
and voluntary
reserves from 1701 to 1957. The Garrison existed primarily to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard
(HM Dockyard Bermuda) and other facilities in Bermuda which were important to Imperial
security. When the HM Dockyard was closed (a process that was carried out between 1951 and 1957).
Although the last professional soldiers (a detachment of the Duke of Cornwall´s Light Infantry) were withdrawn in 1957, and the Garrison ceased to exist, two part-time components - the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (retitled´Bermuda Rifles) - continued to exist until 1965, when they amalgamated to create the current Bermuda Regiment.
colony of Bermuda was settled accidentally in 1609 by the Virginia Company
, when its flagship, the Sea Venture
was wrecked off the archipelago. Although most of the settlers eventually completed their journey to Jamestown, Virginia
, the company remained in possession of Bermuda, with Virginia's borders officially extended far enough out to sea to include Bermuda in 1612, In the same year, a Governor and more settlers arrived to join the three men left behind from the Sea Venture. From then until 1701, Bermuda's defence was left entirely in the hands of her own militias.
Bermuda's militia included a standing body of artillery men to garrison the forts built by the local government. The earliest of these forts built were the first stone fortifications (and buildings) in the English New World, the first coastal artillery, and are today the oldest English New World fortifications still standing. Together with St. George's town
, the forts near the town (including the Castle Islands Fortifications
) are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
In addition to the full-time artillerymen, all of the colony's men of military age were obliged to turn out for militia training and in case of war. They were organised as infantry and mounted units.
in 1763, the Independent Company was removed. A company of the 9th Foot was detached from Florida, reinforced with a detachment from the Bahamas Independent Company, but this force was withdrawn in 1768, leaving only the militia.
all of her continental bases between the Canadian Maritimes and the West Indies. As a result, the Admiralty
began purchasing land around Bermuda, especially at the under-developed West End, with a view to establishing a dockyard and naval base there. The Royal Naval establishment began with facilities in the town of St. George's
in 1795, and by 1812 the island hosted an Admiralty and a dockyard, as well as a naval squadron during the winter. These facilities were to play a major role in the American War of 1812, and Bermuda would develop into the Royal Navy's largest and most important base in the Western Hemisphere.
Following the French Revolution
, a detachment of the 47th Foot was detached to Bermuda in 1793. Regular troops would continue to be stationed in Bermuda from then 'til 1957. With a regular garrison, Bermudians lost interest in maintaining militias. The Militia Acts were allowed to lapse and, other than a brief resurgence during the American War of 1812, the Bermuda Government would not raise local forces until pressed by the Secretary of State for War to create the Bermuda Militia Artillery
and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
eight decades later (although there were a number of attempts to maintain militia without the contribution of the Bermuda Government).
With the build up of the Dockyard, there was a corresponding increase in the size of the Army garrison that was to protect it. This included the construction of numerous fortifications and coastal artillery batteries, manned by the Royal Artillery
(Royal Garrison Artillery, or RGA), and camps
where infantry troops were stationed.
From the beginning, the Royal Engineers were an important part of the Garrison, improving pre-existing fortifications and batteries, building new ones, surveying the island, building a causeway to link St. George's Island to the Main Island, a lighthouse at Gibb's Hill, and various other facilities.
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps
would operate two depots to supply munitions to the defensive artillery, one at Ordnance Island, Ordnance Island
, the other on a wharf on East Broadway, at the outskirts of the City of Hamilton
.
The St. George's Garrison was a large base including barracks and a hospital to the East and North of St. George's town. Used primarily by the RGA, this large base served the surrounding forts and batteries. As with the fortifications built previously by the colony's militia, the fortifications clustered most thickly at the East End of Bermuda, near St. George's. This was because the primary passage through the surrounding reefline brought vessels close to the Eastern shores of St. David's Island and St. George's Island. There were forts and batteries at other strategic locations throughout Bermuda, however. The infantry had a large camp at the centre of Bermuda, on the outskirts of Hamilton called Prospect Camp. A second camp, Warwick Camp
, was added primarily to provide rifle ranges to the soldiers of the Garrison, and the Dockyard's own Royal Marine detachment (and those of the ships stationed there).
Various other smaller sites were used by the Army over the history of the garrison.
In 1895, with the UK Government having tried for years in vain to encourage the Bermudian Government to raise part-time units to allow the reduction of the regular component of the garrison, the local parliament raised the Bermuda Militia Artillery
and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
as reserves for the RGA and the regular infantry. The trend from then on was to reduce the regular soldiers, and to shift an increasing part of the burden of the garrison on the part-time units.
In addition to components of the army garrison, the Royal Marines
, part of the Royal Navy
, maintained detachments at the Royal Naval Dockyard which included both infantry elements and gunners of the Royal Marine Artillery.
On the declaration of the First World War, the BVRC was embodied. The BMA was already embodied for annual training and moved onto a war footing, both units taking up their war time roles. The Commanding Officer of the 2 Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment was acting Governor of Bermuda as the actual Governor and Commander-in-Chief (Bermuda's Governors, from the time the bases were built up, were normally military officers), Lt. Gen. Sir George Bullock was off the island, and oversaw Bermuda's being placed on a war footing.
The 2 Lincolns were soon sent to France, being replaced by a succession of West Indian and Canadian battalions. The BVRC raised a contingent of 88 men for the Western Front in 1914, which joined the 1 Lincolns the following June. A second contingent of 37 men joined them in 1916. The BMA also sent a contingent of 201 men to the Front in 1916, serving as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery draft to the front, and a second contingent also followed this. Following the war, both units were demobilized (twice, in the case of the BMA), but both built up again.
By the Second World War, the BMA were the only artillery unit left in Bermuda, though a regular infantry unit remained at Prospect Camp. Both part-time units were again mobilized, along with two more-recently formed units, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers
and the Bermuda Militia Infantry. Home Guard units were also raised for the duration. The regular army detachment (a series of units rotated through the island) operated the headquarters of the Garrison at Prospect Camp.
The BVRC, BMI, and the regular army infantry detachment split Bermuda between them, each taking responsibility for guarding and patrolling its own section. In addition to maintaining guards at the Dockyard and Darrell's Island, the infantry soldiers guarded the trans-Atlantic cable facilities, beaches and inlets, patrolled the island, and operated motor boat patrols.
The BMA manned the Examination Battery in St. David's, which guarded the primary entrance through the reefs to Bermuda's harbours from the open Atlantic. By 1939, this was the only fixed battery left in use in Bermuda, though others were theoretically able to be returned to use. Similar 6" guns were fixed at the Dockyard, but it was felt that a capital ship
could potentially bombard the Dockyard from of the South Shore, out of range of both batteries. As a result, a new battery was built on a hilltop within Warwick Camp, with two 6" guns mounted there. These too were manned by the BMA.
The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers filled two roles, operating spot lamps at the batteries which were meant to light targets for the BMA gun crews, and providing signals detachments for all branches of the garrison.
The BVRC sent a draft to the Lincolns (with volunteers from the other local units attached for the transit) in 1940, following which concern of denuding the garrison meant a moratorium was placed on any further drafts overseas by the local units (although many soldiers were released from their units to train as pilots at the Bermuda Flying School on Darrell's Island. The school only accepted volunteers from amongst those already serving in one of the local army units. Eighty-eight men were sent to the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm before the school closed in 1942, following which it was reorganised as a recruiting arm for the Royal Canadian Air Force, sending 200 aircrew trainees to that unit. The Bermuda Flying School was headed by Major Montgomery-Moore, DFC
, who was also the Commanding Officer of the BVE.
In addition to the British Army and Royal Naval units in Bermuda during the War, a Royal Canadian Navy
base, HMCS Somers Isles, operated at the former Royal Naval site at Convict Bay, and four airbases were operated in Bermuda - one by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm
, the Royal Air Force used RAF Darrell's Island, the US Navy operated flying boats from the US Naval Operating Base, and the US Army Air Force and the RAF shared an airfield built by the US Army, Kindley Field.
Although air and naval units based in Bermuda played an active part in the War, the Axis Powers never dared to launch a direct attack on the colony. With the US entry into the war in 1942, and the considerable build up of US Army artillery and infantry forces in Bermuda, as well as the decreased danger posed by German surface ships and submarines, the moratorium preventing local units sending drafts overseas was lifted.
The BVRC sent a second detachment to the Lincolnshire Regiment, and the Bemuda Militia (Artillery and Infantry together) sent a draft which formed the training cadre and the core of the new Caribbean Regiment
.
was withdrawn in 1957. The last coastal artillery, the Examination Battery on St. David's Head, was removed from use in 1953, and the BMA converted to the infantry role (but remained nominally part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery). The last Imperial Defence Plan was issued the same year. After that, the local units no longer had a role under Imperial defence planning. The Bermuda Government maintained both units (the BMA being largelly Black, the BVRC restricted to Whites) 'til 1965, when they were amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment
.
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
by the regular British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, and its local militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and voluntary
Territorial Army
The Territorial Army is the part time volunteer force of the British Army. With around 35,500 members, the TA forms about a quarter of the overall manpower strength of the British Army. TA members regularly volunteer to serve overseas on operations, either with TA units, or as individuals...
reserves from 1701 to 1957. The Garrison existed primarily to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard
Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...
(HM Dockyard Bermuda) and other facilities in Bermuda which were important to Imperial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
security. When the HM Dockyard was closed (a process that was carried out between 1951 and 1957).
Although the last professional soldiers (a detachment of the Duke of Cornwall´s Light Infantry) were withdrawn in 1957, and the Garrison ceased to exist, two part-time components - the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (retitled´Bermuda Rifles) - continued to exist until 1965, when they amalgamated to create the current Bermuda Regiment.
1609 to 1701
The EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
colony of Bermuda was settled accidentally in 1609 by the Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
, when its flagship, the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
was wrecked off the archipelago. Although most of the settlers eventually completed their journey to Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
, the company remained in possession of Bermuda, with Virginia's borders officially extended far enough out to sea to include Bermuda in 1612, In the same year, a Governor and more settlers arrived to join the three men left behind from the Sea Venture. From then until 1701, Bermuda's defence was left entirely in the hands of her own militias.
Bermuda's militia included a standing body of artillery men to garrison the forts built by the local government. The earliest of these forts built were the first stone fortifications (and buildings) in the English New World, the first coastal artillery, and are today the oldest English New World fortifications still standing. Together with St. George's town
St. George's, Bermuda
St. George's , located on the island and within the parish of the same names, was the first permanent settlement on the islands of Bermuda, and is often described as the third successful English settlement in the Americas, after St. John's, Newfoundland, and Jamestown, Virginia. However, St...
, the forts near the town (including the Castle Islands Fortifications
Castle Islands Fortifications, Bermuda
Several of the islands strung across the South entrance of Castle Harbour, Bermuda were fortified in the early days of the territory, hence the harbour's name. When official settlement of the archipelago by England began in 1612 the first permanent town, St...
) are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
In addition to the full-time artillerymen, all of the colony's men of military age were obliged to turn out for militia training and in case of war. They were organised as infantry and mounted units.
1701 to 1768
In 1701, the threat of war led the English government to post an Independent Company of regular soldiers to Bermuda, where the militia continued to function as a standby in case of war or insurrection. Despite the small regular detachment, the militia remained Bermuda's primary defence force. Following the conclusion of the Seven Years' WarSeven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
in 1763, the Independent Company was removed. A company of the 9th Foot was detached from Florida, reinforced with a detachment from the Bahamas Independent Company, but this force was withdrawn in 1768, leaving only the militia.
1793 to 1815
Regular troops had been stationed in Bermuda during the American War of Independence, but were withdrawn afterwards. US independence cost the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
all of her continental bases between the Canadian Maritimes and the West Indies. As a result, the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
began purchasing land around Bermuda, especially at the under-developed West End, with a view to establishing a dockyard and naval base there. The Royal Naval establishment began with facilities in the town of St. George's
St. George's, Bermuda
St. George's , located on the island and within the parish of the same names, was the first permanent settlement on the islands of Bermuda, and is often described as the third successful English settlement in the Americas, after St. John's, Newfoundland, and Jamestown, Virginia. However, St...
in 1795, and by 1812 the island hosted an Admiralty and a dockyard, as well as a naval squadron during the winter. These facilities were to play a major role in the American War of 1812, and Bermuda would develop into the Royal Navy's largest and most important base in the Western Hemisphere.
Following the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, a detachment of the 47th Foot was detached to Bermuda in 1793. Regular troops would continue to be stationed in Bermuda from then 'til 1957. With a regular garrison, Bermudians lost interest in maintaining militias. The Militia Acts were allowed to lapse and, other than a brief resurgence during the American War of 1812, the Bermuda Government would not raise local forces until pressed by the Secretary of State for War to create the Bermuda Militia Artillery
Bermuda Militia Artillery
The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in Bermuda.-Foundation:...
and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was created in 1894 as an all-white racially segregated reserve for the British Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison...
eight decades later (although there were a number of attempts to maintain militia without the contribution of the Bermuda Government).
19th Century
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
(Royal Garrison Artillery, or RGA), and camps
Camp
-Outdoor accommodation and recreation:* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site* Summer camp, typically organized for groups of children or youth* A term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to describe a cottage...
where infantry troops were stationed.
From the beginning, the Royal Engineers were an important part of the Garrison, improving pre-existing fortifications and batteries, building new ones, surveying the island, building a causeway to link St. George's Island to the Main Island, a lighthouse at Gibb's Hill, and various other facilities.
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was a corps of the British Army. It dealt only with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment until 1965, when it took over most other supply functions, as well as the provision of staff clerks, from the Royal Army Service...
would operate two depots to supply munitions to the defensive artillery, one at Ordnance Island, Ordnance Island
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, the other on a wharf on East Broadway, at the outskirts of the City of Hamilton
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
.
The St. George's Garrison was a large base including barracks and a hospital to the East and North of St. George's town. Used primarily by the RGA, this large base served the surrounding forts and batteries. As with the fortifications built previously by the colony's militia, the fortifications clustered most thickly at the East End of Bermuda, near St. George's. This was because the primary passage through the surrounding reefline brought vessels close to the Eastern shores of St. David's Island and St. George's Island. There were forts and batteries at other strategic locations throughout Bermuda, however. The infantry had a large camp at the centre of Bermuda, on the outskirts of Hamilton called Prospect Camp. A second camp, Warwick Camp
Warwick Camp (Bermuda)
Warwick Camp was originally the rifle ranges and a training area used by units of the Bermuda Garrison based elsewhere in the colony. Today, the Camp is the home of the Bermuda Regiment. The base was located on a strip of land obtained during the mid-Nineteenth century by the War Office along the...
, was added primarily to provide rifle ranges to the soldiers of the Garrison, and the Dockyard's own Royal Marine detachment (and those of the ships stationed there).
Various other smaller sites were used by the Army over the history of the garrison.
In 1895, with the UK Government having tried for years in vain to encourage the Bermudian Government to raise part-time units to allow the reduction of the regular component of the garrison, the local parliament raised the Bermuda Militia Artillery
Bermuda Militia Artillery
The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in Bermuda.-Foundation:...
and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was created in 1894 as an all-white racially segregated reserve for the British Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison...
as reserves for the RGA and the regular infantry. The trend from then on was to reduce the regular soldiers, and to shift an increasing part of the burden of the garrison on the part-time units.
In addition to components of the army garrison, the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, part of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, maintained detachments at the Royal Naval Dockyard which included both infantry elements and gunners of the Royal Marine Artillery.
First World War
The 2 Lincolns were soon sent to France, being replaced by a succession of West Indian and Canadian battalions. The BVRC raised a contingent of 88 men for the Western Front in 1914, which joined the 1 Lincolns the following June. A second contingent of 37 men joined them in 1916. The BMA also sent a contingent of 201 men to the Front in 1916, serving as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery draft to the front, and a second contingent also followed this. Following the war, both units were demobilized (twice, in the case of the BMA), but both built up again.
Second World War
Bermuda Volunteer Engineers
The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was a part-time unit created between the two world wars to replace the Regular Royal Engineers detachment, which was withdrawn from the Bermuda Garrison in 1928.-The Military Garrison in Bermuda:...
and the Bermuda Militia Infantry. Home Guard units were also raised for the duration. The regular army detachment (a series of units rotated through the island) operated the headquarters of the Garrison at Prospect Camp.
The BVRC, BMI, and the regular army infantry detachment split Bermuda between them, each taking responsibility for guarding and patrolling its own section. In addition to maintaining guards at the Dockyard and Darrell's Island, the infantry soldiers guarded the trans-Atlantic cable facilities, beaches and inlets, patrolled the island, and operated motor boat patrols.
The BMA manned the Examination Battery in St. David's, which guarded the primary entrance through the reefs to Bermuda's harbours from the open Atlantic. By 1939, this was the only fixed battery left in use in Bermuda, though others were theoretically able to be returned to use. Similar 6" guns were fixed at the Dockyard, but it was felt that a capital ship
Capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...
could potentially bombard the Dockyard from of the South Shore, out of range of both batteries. As a result, a new battery was built on a hilltop within Warwick Camp, with two 6" guns mounted there. These too were manned by the BMA.
The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers filled two roles, operating spot lamps at the batteries which were meant to light targets for the BMA gun crews, and providing signals detachments for all branches of the garrison.
The BVRC sent a draft to the Lincolns (with volunteers from the other local units attached for the transit) in 1940, following which concern of denuding the garrison meant a moratorium was placed on any further drafts overseas by the local units (although many soldiers were released from their units to train as pilots at the Bermuda Flying School on Darrell's Island. The school only accepted volunteers from amongst those already serving in one of the local army units. Eighty-eight men were sent to the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm before the school closed in 1942, following which it was reorganised as a recruiting arm for the Royal Canadian Air Force, sending 200 aircrew trainees to that unit. The Bermuda Flying School was headed by Major Montgomery-Moore, DFC
Distinguished Flying Cross
The Distinguished Flying Cross may refer to:*Distinguished Flying Cross , including Commonwealth countries*Distinguished Flying Cross...
, who was also the Commanding Officer of the BVE.
In addition to the British Army and Royal Naval units in Bermuda during the War, a Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
base, HMCS Somers Isles, operated at the former Royal Naval site at Convict Bay, and four airbases were operated in Bermuda - one by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
, the Royal Air Force used RAF Darrell's Island, the US Navy operated flying boats from the US Naval Operating Base, and the US Army Air Force and the RAF shared an airfield built by the US Army, Kindley Field.
Although air and naval units based in Bermuda played an active part in the War, the Axis Powers never dared to launch a direct attack on the colony. With the US entry into the war in 1942, and the considerable build up of US Army artillery and infantry forces in Bermuda, as well as the decreased danger posed by German surface ships and submarines, the moratorium preventing local units sending drafts overseas was lifted.
The BVRC sent a second detachment to the Lincolnshire Regiment, and the Bemuda Militia (Artillery and Infantry together) sent a draft which formed the training cadre and the core of the new Caribbean Regiment
Caribbean Regiment
The Caribbean Regiment was formed in World War II. The regiment which went overseas in July 1944 and saw service in the Middle East and Italy....
.
1945 to 1957
Following the war, the BVE and BMI, as well as the Home Guard, ceased to existed. The BMA and BVRC were both demobilised, reduced to skeleton staffs. Both were quickly built back up to strength, and conscription, which had been used during the war, was re-introduced for both units (the BVRC suitably being retitled simply Bermuda Rifles). In 1951, it was announced the Dockyard would be closed (though part of it, HMS Malabar, would function til 1953). The Army garrison was to be closed, too, but regular troops remained in Bermuda 'til a detachment of the Duke of Cornwall's Light InfantryDuke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by The Rifles....
was withdrawn in 1957. The last coastal artillery, the Examination Battery on St. David's Head, was removed from use in 1953, and the BMA converted to the infantry role (but remained nominally part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery). The last Imperial Defence Plan was issued the same year. After that, the local units no longer had a role under Imperial defence planning. The Bermuda Government maintained both units (the BMA being largelly Black, the BVRC restricted to Whites) 'til 1965, when they were amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment
Bermuda Regiment
The Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the all white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the mostly black Bermuda Militia...
.