page_title: Royal Bermuda Regiment
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Bermuda Regiment / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Seven soldiers of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment on the Western Front during the First World War: Cyril Harry Palmer, 3/17114 (BVRC 808) R. Dickens, 25334 (BVRC 1022) Albert Churm, 3/17106 (BVRC 810) Eugene Burgess, 3/17130 (BVRC 729) Cecil F. Mullin, 3/17131 (BVRC 774) Laurence Henry Mullin, 3/17105 (BVRC 964) E. Bruce.
context_page_description: The Royal Bermuda Regiment, formerly 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 mostly black Bermuda Militia Artillery and the almost entirely white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps.
context_section_description: The original Bermuda Militia had existed from 1612 to 1815, and all military-aged males were required to serve. This militia ceased to exist after the War of 1812 as the Government of Bermuda saw it as an unnecessary expense, given the buildup of regular army units that had begun as a result of the 1795 establishment of the Royal Naval base in Bermuda. During the subsequent decades, short-lived militias were raised within the Bermuda Garrison without a Militia Act or any financial contribution from the local parliament (Bermudians who enlisted in this way probably included Robert John Simmons, who later served as First Sergeant in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War as, in recommending Simmons as a valuable recruit, prominent abolitionist William Wells Brown described him as a young man of more than ordinary abilities who had learned the science of war in the British Army). Although the local government for decades resisted pleas from the governor, the War Office, and the Secretary of State for Defence to restore a part-time reserve, it was not until the Secretary of State for Defence made it a condition of his approval of American investment into the Princess Hotel and the widening of the shipping channel into St. George's Harbour that the local government authorised the creation of three units. Of these, only two were raised.
  The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery were raised in 1894 and 1895, respectively, in order to allow the Regular Army component of the Bermuda Garrison to be reduced. This was done primarily as an economic measure, though the regular units withdrawn were required for the build-up of what would become the British Expeditionary Force. Both units served through the two world wars, sending contingents to serve overseas in general non-combat duties while shouldering their responsibilities for the defence of Bermuda and its strategic assets. They were reorganised as Territorial Army units between the world wars, and joined by the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers in 1931 and the Bermuda Militia Infantry in 1939, though the two newer units (along with a wartime Home Guard) were permanently disbanded in 1946.
  The Bermuda Militia Artillery (which had absorbed the remaining Bermuda Militia Infantry personnel) and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps were demobilised in 1946, retaining only skeleton Permanent Staffs while most of their personnel were placed on the reserve. A new defence act was passed in 1949 (re-titling the BVRC as the Bermuda Rifles) and both units were brought back up to strength in 1951, with many previously discharged soldiers re-enlisting. Strength for both units was set at about 200 personnel. In 1953, when the coastal artillery batteries were taken out of use, the BMA, while still wearing the Royal Artillery cap badge, converted to the infantry role. This left the colony wastefully maintaining two separate infantry units, each of a single company commanded by a major. There was also, now, a Headquarters Bermuda Local Forces, which was a common battalion-level Headquarters Company for both the BMA and the Bermuda Rifles, though not part of either unit and with its own badge. This contained not only the headquarters, but also sub-units shared by both the BMA, such as signals and instructors. This headquarters, commanded by a lieutenant-colonel, fell under the garrison's Command Headquarters at Prospect Camp, commanded by a regular army brigadier.
  After closure of the Royal Navy's dockyard commenced in 1951 (a process that lasted until 1958, leaving only a small naval base, HMS Malabar, within the former dockyard), the military garrison, which had existed primarily to protect the Royal Navy base, was also closed. The Command Headquarters, the last regular infantry unit (a company of the DCLI), and various supporting attachments and detachments (Royal Engineers, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Army Service Corps, et cetera) was withdrawn in 1957, and the two Bermudian territorials cea
caption: Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps soldiers serving on the Western Front with the Lincolnshire Regiment, 1918
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