The Bermuda Cadet Corps was a youth organisation in the
Imperial fortress
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Lord Salisbury described Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Halifax as Imperial fortresses at the 1887 Colonial Conference, though by that point they had been so designated for decades. Later histor ...
colony
A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...
of
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest.
Bermuda is an ...
, sponsored originally by the
War Office
The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
and the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
. Modelled on the Cadet Corps in England, now organised as the
Army Cadet Force
The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...
and the
Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, sub divided into Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to ...
, it was organised separately under Acts of the
Parliament of Bermuda
The Parliament of Bermuda is the bicameral legislative body of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. Based on the Westminster system, one of the two chambers (lower house) is elected, the other (upper house), appointed.
The two chambers ar ...
. It was one of three Cadet Corps that historically operated in the British territory, with the others being the
Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps (with the
Girls Nautical Training Corps
The Girls' Nautical Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls in 1942, with units mainly in Southern England. Its objective was congruent with that of the Sea Cadet Corps, teaching girls aged 14 to ...
) and the
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...
, 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
Junior Leaders was the name given to some Boys' Service training Regiments of the British Army that took entrants from the age of 15 who would eventually move on to join adult units at the age of seventeen and a half. Their aim was to produce and ...
programme of the
Royal Bermuda Regiment
The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single Territorial Army (United Kingdom), territorial infantry battalion#British Army, battalion that was formed on the amalgamation ...
.
History

In 1901,
Saltus Grammar School in
Pembroke, raised a Cadet Corps (with Sergeant Major Bellmore as the first instructor), which was attached to the
Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the British Army, Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the ''Bermuda Rifles'' in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965 ...
(BVRC). On 12 April 1901, the Officer Commanding Troops of the
Bermuda Garrison
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-service militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison ev ...
received notification that the
Governor and military Commander-in-Chief had appointed Captain
''R.W. Appleby'' of the BVRC to be a Captain with the Cadet Corps (dated 11 February). The Cadet Corps (Saltus Grammar School) often trained alongside the BVRC, as on 24 May 1902, when the cadets assembled at
Fort Hamilton
Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which ...
before marching to the
Army Service Corps Wharf at East Broadway, from whence they were driven to
Warwick Camp to watch the riflery training of the BVRC. In 1905, the corps received a grant from the
Government of Bermuda
Bermuda is the oldest British Overseas Territory, and the oldest self-governing British Overseas Territory, and has a great degree of internal autonomy through authority and roles of governance delegated to it by the national Government (the B ...
in order that other schools might join the scheme. At the same time, the corps was officially affiliated with the BVRC.
On 24 May 1907, the Cadet Corps was delivered, along with the Headquarters and "C" Companies of the BVRC, to
St. George's to join the other two companies of the BVRC for their annual camp. The Cadet Corps was perceived by the Government as a valuable method by which to boost recruitment into the BVRC, which was struggling to maintain its mandated strength. It was thought that, following their early exposure to military service, many Cadets would choose to enlist into the BVRC upon finishing their schooling.
In 1907, the Cadet Corps was expanded with War Office approval to eight other schools in Bermuda, including civilian schools such as ''Whitney Institute'', as well as the military garrison schools, and the
Royal Naval Dockyard school. The expanded Cadet Corps remained attached to the BVRC, and its Cadets wore the BVRC cap badge. At the time, all of the schools included barred black students, and the Cadet Corps (like the BVRC, which originally recruited from private rifle clubs, none of which admitted coloured members) was consequently made up of whites only. This was despite Lieutenant-General Sir Robert MacGregor Stewart, Royal Artillery,
Governor of Bermuda
The governor of Bermuda (officially Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)) is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda.
For the purposes of this arti ...
from 1904 to 1907, having reported on 24 July 1906, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that the Colonial Secretary of Bermuda had advised in the Executive Council against forming a cadet corps for white boys that excluded coloured boys.
There was a second part-time military unit in Bermuda, the
Bermuda Militia Artillery, which recruited primarily ''coloured'' soldiers, although its officers were all white until 1953.
In 1930, the Labour Government disassociated Cadet Corps in Britain from the Government, but this was reversed by the succeeding Government in 1931, which placed them again under War Office control. The Bermuda Cadet Corps was affiliated with the National Cadet Corps in Britain in 1931 at the request of the Command Headquarters of the Bermuda Garrison.
The Bermuda Cadet Corps was very active during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when all of the part-time reserve units were embodied for the duration, and all military-aged, male British nationals in Bermuda who were not already serving or exempted (due to occupation, infirmity, or hardship) from serving were conscripted. This meant that most cadets exiting the corps on graduation from secondary school went directly into full-time military service on turning eighteen. War service was not limited to former cadets of the Corps. Bernard John Abbott, a pre-war school Headmaster and Bermuda Cadet Corps officer, was re-commissioned into the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps’ Emergency Reserve of officers with the rank of Second-Lieutenant (Acting Major) in accordance with a War Office cable of 4 May 1939. He was among the members of the contingent from the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps that went to the
Lincolnshire Regiment
The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regim ...
in England in June, 1940, and he ended the war as a staff officer in the Far East. The 25 December 1945, ''London Gazette'' recorded ''“War Subs. Maj. H. J. ABBOTT .(108051) relinquishes his commn., 26th Dec. 1945, and is granted the hon. rank of Lt.-Col.”''.
A separate unit for coloured boys was created at
Berkeley Institute in 1943, titled the ''Berkeley Institute Cadet Corps'', with the Officer Commanding being Captain J.M. Rosewarne. This was attached to the Bermuda Militia (the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the 1939-1946
Bermuda Militia Infantry collectively). A Government House notice dated 20 August 1943, and published in the 21 August 1943, issue of The Royal Gazette newspaper described this as ''the Berkeley Institute unit of the Bermuda Cadet Corps''.
The Cadet Corps was re-organised under the Bermuda Cadet Corps Act 1944. The BVRC was disbanded (along with the BMA) in 1946, with most personnel transferred to the Reserve. A skeleton staff remained to maintain facilities and equipment until both units were built back up with new recruitment in 1951, at which time the BVRC was re-titled the ''Bermuda Rifles''. Although a common ''Bermuda Local Forces'' Headquarters was created to oversee both units (not to be confused with the overall ''Command Headquarters'' which controlled both the regular and part-time army units in Bermuda), they remained separate and blacks were still restricted to the BMA, even after the last
coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...
was withdrawn from use in 1953 and the BMA converted to the infantry role. During the 1950s, it was decided the Bermuda Cadet Corps should have its own band. Through the influence of officers of Scottish heritage, some of whom had served in Scottish regiments during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, this was created as a Scottish bagpipe and drum band, wearing
Highland dress
Highland dress is the traditional, regional dress of the Highlands and Isles of Scotland. It is often characterised by tartan (''plaid'' in North America). Specific designs of shirt, jacket, bodice and headwear may also be worn. On rare occas ...
, although the remainder of the Bermuda Cadet Corps dressed as English and Welsh regiments do.
In 1965, the BMA and the Bermuda Rifles were amalgamated to form the ''Bermuda Regiment'' (since 2015, the
Royal Bermuda Regiment
The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single Territorial Army (United Kingdom), territorial infantry battalion#British Army, battalion that was formed on the amalgamation ...
). The Bermuda Cadet Corps was re-organised at the same time. Officers were commissioned into the Bermuda Cadet Corps, with the senior officer appointed as Commandant. The Bermuda Regiment provided support, including a Colour Sergeant as a Full Time Instructor (FTI). Racial segregation of the public school system also ended during the 1960s, and the Bermuda Cadet Corps, now wearing its own badge, subsequently operated through all of the colony's public and Government-aided secondary schools. The Cadet Pipe Band was left out of this re-organisation, and its members chose to continue it as a private organisation, continuing to wear the Bermuda Rifles cap badge. In the 1990s, by when its membership was entirely made-up of adults, it merged with another pipe band composed primarily of
Bermuda Police Service constables and
Bermuda Fire Service personnel. The Bermuda Pipe Band continues to take part in military parades along with the band of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.
The training requirement for a member of the Bermuda Cadet Corps was two hours per week and a two-week annual camp.
Disbandment
The Bermuda Regiment operated its own
Junior Leaders
Junior Leaders was the name given to some Boys' Service training Regiments of the British Army that took entrants from the age of 15 who would eventually move on to join adult units at the age of seventeen and a half. Their aim was to produce and ...
programme for many years, starting with nineteen boys who passed out at
Warwick Camp on 19 December 1969, thereafter forming the Junior Leaders Company. Junior Leaders wore the Bermuda Regiment cap badge, operating with the rest of the regiment from Warwick Camp. The Junior Leaders programme was absorbed into the Bermuda Cadet Corps in the mid-1990s as the Bermuda Regiment found it an unnecessary duplication to support two youth organisations. However, in 2012, due to financial constraints, the Bermuda Cadet Corps was disbanded and replaced by the resurrected Bermuda Regiment Junior Leaders. A bill was tabled in the
House of Assembly of Bermuda
The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. The house has 36 Members of Parliament (MPs), elected for a term of five years in single seat constituencies using first-past-the-post votin ...
in 2015 to formalise the organisation of the Royal Bermuda Regiment's Junior Leaders. The Bermuda Cadet Corps Act 1944 was repealed.
Bermuda Cadet Corps ranks
Notes
References
{{Reflist
British Army
British Cadet organisations
Military of Bermuda
Imperial fortress