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The Militia of the British Dominions, Self-Governing Colonies, and Crown Colonies were the principal military forces of the Dominions, Self-governing colonies (those with elected local legislatures) and Crown Colonies (those without elected local legislatures, and ruled directly by the Imperial Government via its appointed Governors and Councils) of the British Empire.
The English had raised militia forces in their colonies in the New World immediately upon establishing them in the first decade of the 17th century. Whereas militias in England remained little used, outside the period of the English Civil Wars, during the following century, those in the North American colonies were to play significant roles. In many actions fought with Native Americans and European rivals, the militia were the primary English force in the field, as professional full-time military forces were usually far away. Even when the English colonies around the world became the British Empire, and regular forces began to become available for garrison duty, militias were still a vital part of Great Britain's military power in the Americas, and British victory over Spain and France during the Seven Years' War, and its resulting hegemony in North America, could not have been realised without the colonial militias and their Native allies. It was the presence of their militia that allowed the thirteen American colonies to launch the secessionist American War of Independence.[ citation needed ]
The colonies of Australia did not have militia, nor officially did New Zealand.
In 1843 a local militia that had been formed in Wellington without official sanction [1] was immediately disbanded. [2] [ citation needed ]
In the Somers Isles, or Bermuda (originally named Virgineola), a self-governed (rather than Crown) colony settled in 1609 (as a result of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture , the flagship of the Virginia Company of London, and originally considered part of the Virginia Colony), with no native population, the Militia followed a trajectory more like that in Britain, finally becoming moribund after the War of 1812, by when the build-up of regular forces had removed the demand for the militia. Nevertheless, during the first century of its settlement, Bermuda's militia had remained the colony's sole defence, manning its fortifications and coastal batteries and calling up all available manpower in times of war.[ citation needed ]
Large numbers of Irish prisoners of war and civilians were transported to Bermuda after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, where they were highly antagonistic to the English population. In 1661, the Bermudan government alleged that a plot was being hatched by a conspiratorial alliance of Blacks and Irish to kill all the English populace on the island. The Irish were perceived as the chief instigators of this plot by the Bermudan government. Governor William Sayle tried to prevent such an occurrence from taking place by issuing three edicts: the first was that a nightly watch would be raised throughout the colony; second, that all slaves and indentured servants in Bermuda be disarmed of their weapons; and third, that any gathering of two or more slaves or indentured servants be dispersed by whipping (a ban was also placed on the further transportation of Irish prisoners of war and civilians to Bermuda).[ citation needed ]
Enslaved Bermudians continued to serve in the colonial militia, however, which was to lead a unique judgment on their rights as British subjects. By the 18th century, virtually all Bermudian men were engaged in the maritime trades, including building and crewing ships. The colony's dependence on its seamen was such that the Royal Navy excluded them from impressment, to which all other seamen in the British Empire were liable. Perennially short of manpower, the crews of Bermuda's merchant fleet (most of which turned to privateering whenever war broke out) were required, by local law, to contain a percentage of black sailors, most of whom were enslaved. British law at the time required that all crewmen of British vessels be British subjects, although the status of the enslaved Bermudan population remained unclear. Following the arrest of a Bermudian vessel by a Royal Navy warship due to its enslaved crewmembers, Bermudian ship owners protested to the courts that their service in the militia meant that Bermuda's slaves should be considered British subjects, and this view was upheld by the courts.[ citation needed ]
Bermuda's seasonal occupants of the Turks Islands also raised militias there, as their lucrative salt trade invited attacks from enemies, foreign (France and Spain) and domestic (the Bahamas). The fortifications built in Bermuda by the militia (including the Castle Islands Fortifications), starting in 1612, remain the oldest English colonial structures in the Americas, as well as the first stone fortifications, the first coastal artillery, and the oldest surviving fortifications built by the English in the New World. The militia manned these fortifications with standing bodies of artillerymen until the fortifications were taken over by the regular British Army following the American War of Independence, with some, like Fort St. Catherine's, used well into the 20th Century.[ citation needed ]
With the build up of regular forces of the Bermuda Garrison, the Parliament of Bermuda allowed the Militia Act to lapse following the War of 1812 as the Militia had come to be seen as superfluous. The national (ie, British) government was unable to compel the colonial government to raise reserve forces again until the 1890s, when the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) were raised (the latter being a Volunteer Force, rather than Militia, unit). These would be joined in the 1930s by the Bermuda Militia Infantry (BMI) and the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE). The BMA (a sub-unit of the Royal Artillery) and BVRC, which were embodied for the duration of the First World War and each sent two contingents to the Western Front, were both re-organised as Territorial units in the 1920s but their names were not modified to reflect this. The BMI and BVE were raised as territorials, and their names were always misnomers. All four were embodied for the duration of the Second World War, sending contingents and individuals to parent corps or other forces or units overseas. The 1949 Defence Act re-organised the Bermudian territorials, with only the BMA and the BVRC retained (the latter re-named the Bermuda Rifles). The Bermuda Militia Artillery (which converted to infantry in 1953, but retained the same name and continued to be badged as Royal Artillery) and Bermuda Rifles amalgamated in 1965 to form the Bermuda Regiment (since 2015, the Royal Bermuda Regiment).[ citation needed ]
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Militia units in Canada dates back to New France when French units were formed after 1669. The Companies of Canadian Volunteers were raised for the Invasion of Quebec 1775. The Companies of Canadian would become a unit of three companies leading French Canadian troops in 1777 and remained active until 1783.
The British colonial militia units in Canada were most notable during the War of 1812 and remained in use into late 19th Century (last enrollment in 1873) and officially ending in 1950.
A militia is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional and/or part-time soldiers; citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel; or, historically, to members of a warrior-nobility class. When acting independently militias are generally unable to hold ground against regular forces; militias commonly support regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or conducting irregular warfare, instead of undertaking offensive campaigns by themselves. Local civilian laws often limit militias to serve only in their home region, and to serve only for a limited time; this further reduces their use in long military campaigns. Militias may also, however, serve as a pool of available manpower for regular forces to draw from, particularly in emergencies.
While the defence of Bermuda remains the responsibility of the government of the United Kingdom, rather than of the local Bermudian Government, the island still maintains a militia for the purpose of defence.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed on the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the mostly black Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) and the almost entirely white Bermuda Rifles, and the only remaining component of the Bermuda Garrison since the 1957 withdrawal of regular units and detachments from Bermuda.
The British Army is listed according to an order of precedence for the purposes of parading. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being highest. Under ordinary circumstances, the Household Cavalry parades at the extreme right of the line. Militia and Army Reserve units take precedence after Regular units with the exception of The Honourable Artillery Company and The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.
Bermuda has organised several different forms of militia between the 1612 and 1815. The roles of the militias included defence of the colony in complement with the activities of the British Army and Royal Navy.
Between 1612 and 1687, Bermuda had a series of militias under the Virginia Company, the Somers Isles Company, and the British Crown. In 1687, the first Militia Act was enacted.
Bermuda Militia, under Militia Acts 1687–1813. Although the Bermuda Parliament had been formed in 1620, prior to 1687, the Bermudian Militia was raised and organised without reference to a Militia Act. The Crown took over the administration of the Colony from The Somers Isles Company in 1684.
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the Bermuda Rifles in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965.
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 the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda. Militia Artillery units of the United Kingdom and Colonies were intended to man coastal batteries in times of war, which were manned by under-strength numbers of regular army gunners in peace time. The unit was embodied during both world wars, fulfilling its role within the garrison, and also sending contingents overseas to more active theatres of the wars.
'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 Royal Bermuda Regiment.
In the United Kingdom, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscripted soldiers left the service in 1963.
The British Colonial Auxiliary Forces were the various military forces of Britain's colonial empire which were not considered part of the British military proper.
The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory and Imperial fortress of Bermuda by the regular British Army and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison evolved from an independent company, to a company of Royal Garrison Battalion during the American War of Independence, and a steadily growing and diversifying force of artillery and infantry with various supporting corps from the French Revolution onwards. During the American War of Independence, the garrison in Bermuda fell under the military Commander-in-Chief of America. Subsequently, it was part of the Nova Scotia Command until 1868, and was an independent Bermuda Command from then until its closure in 1957.
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.
Colonel Sir Richard Masters Gorham KB, CBE, DFC, JP was a prominent Bermudian parliamentarian, businessman and philanthropist, who served as a pilot during the Second World War when he played a decisive role in the Battle of Monte Cassino, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore DFC was an American-born Bermudian First World War fighter pilot, and commander of the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers and the Bermuda Flying School during the Second World War.
Prospect Camp, also referred to as Prospect Garrison, was the main infantry camp of the Bermuda Garrison, the military force stationed in the Imperial fortress of Bermuda. It also contained Fort Prospect, Fort Langton, and Fort Hamilton, as well as being the base for mobile artillery batteries, manned by the Royal Artillery. Outlying parts of the camp were disposed of in the early decades of the Twentieth Century as the garrison in Bermuda was reduced. The core area, including the barracks, passed to the local government when the garrison was withdrawn in 1957.
The Bermuda Base Command was a command of the United States Army, established to defend the British Colony of Bermuda, located 640 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It was created in April 1941 when United States Army troops were sent to the island.
The Bermuda Militia Infantry was raised in 1939 as a part-time reserve of the British Army's Bermuda Garrison.
The Bermuda Cadet Corps was a youth organisation in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, sponsored originally by the War Office and the British Army. Modelled on the Cadet Corps in England, now organised as the Army Cadet Force and the Combined Cadet Force, it was organised separately under Acts of the Parliament of Bermuda. It was one of three Cadet Corps that historically operated in the British territory, with the others being the Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps, of which only the Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps remains. After more than a century of existence, the Bermuda Cadet Corps was disbanded in 2013 and replaced by the resurrected Junior Leaders programme of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.