Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps - Formation of The BVRC

Formation of The BVRC

Although Bermuda had maintained its own militia from 1612 til the end of the American War of 1812, it had been allowed to lapse thereafter due to the large garrison of regular soldiers that had been established following US independence. The reason for the military garrison in Bermuda was ultimately the protection of the Royal Naval dockyard on Ireland Island. At the time, the primary defence was seen to be by the coastal artillery, mounted in various batteries and fortifications and manned by the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). A voluntary reserve was created for the RGA at the same time, titled the Bermuda Militia Artillery. If, despite the best efforts of the artillery, enemy vessels succeeded in landing military forces on Bermuda (which was most likely to be achieved using small boats to cross over the reefs to reach beaches on the South Shore), the infantry was expected to tackle them, in the worst scenario, making a fighting withdrawal into the forts and the dockyard itself.

The BVRC was formed under an act of the Colonial Parliament, passed in 1892. Captain E.S.B. Evans-Lombe, of the Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment, arrived in November, 1894, to oversee the raising of the Corps, and became the first Adjutant. The BVRC was originally divided into three companies (A, B, and C), one each located in the West End, the centre, and the East End of Bermuda. Headquarters was located centrally, where a fourth Company, D, was added. Twelve officers were appointed, including the Commanding Officer, Major Sir Josiah Rees, three for each of the original three companies, a Surgeon-Lieutenant and a Chaplain. To these were added four Permanent Staff, attached from the Regular Army, including Captain Evans-Lombe, a Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), and two Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO). The mandated strength of the Corps was 300, all ranks. The lowest rank in the BVRC, as with other rifle regiments, was Rifleman, which was equivalent to a private in a normal infantry regiment (the first rifle regiments had been distinguished from infantry units by their weapons, their tactics, and their green (camouflage) uniforms. When the Enfield rifle replaced the musket as the standard weapon of the British Army, there ceased to be any distinction between the equipment and tactics of the infantry and those of the rifle and light infantry regiments).

Recruitment into the BVRC was restricted to white males, aged 17 to 50, although the barrier to non-whites was achieved by requiring volunteers to be members of a rifle club. All of the private rifle clubs, at the time, restricted their membership to whites. The terms of service for the Bermudian volunteers were similar to those of Volunteers in Britain. Enlistment was voluntary, and a member could leave the Corps by giving fourteen days notice, except while embodied for active service, or training on a military camp-when he also became subject to Military Law. Whereas Volunteers in Britain were originally expected to pay for their uniforms and equipment (including their rifles), Bermudian volunteers were issued these. The uniform was rifle green with black buttons, in conformity with other rifle regiments throughout the Empire, but khaki uniforms were issued from 1898. A minimum attendance at drills, and completion of annual inspection and musketry tests, was required for a volunteer to be returned as 'efficient'. The Corps could be called out in times of War, or in response to an invasion, but volunteers could not be sent overseas without their consent.