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62-643: From 1895 to 1931, the only Bermudian units within the garrison were part-time infantry and artillery soldiers, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery , respectively. Each unit had been created under a separate Act of the colonial parliament , at the prompting of the Secretary of State for War , in London . A third act had also been passed authorising the creation of

124-789: A Second-Lieutenant into the Bermuda Militia Artillery on 20 December 1940, replacing Second-Lieutenant Francis J. Gosling, who had trained as a pilot at the Bermuda Flying School and was to depart for the United Kingdom in January for transfer to the Royal Air Force . Gorham would serve only briefly with the Bermuda Militia Artillery before he followed Gosling across the Atlantic to serve as an air observation post pilot, directing

186-511: 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

248-696: A barrister, completing a law degree at the University of Cambridge and being admitted to the bar at Middle Temple , London, in 1926, and the Supreme Court of Bermuda in 1927. He was a founding member in the 1930s of the Conyers Dill & Pearman law firm (that played an important role in Bermuda's development as an offshore business centre). He also became a prominent politician, the MCP for Devonshire North from 1938 until he

310-466: A full company, having lost 50 percent of its remaining strength at Gueudecourt on 25 September 1916. The survivors of the First Contingent were merged with a Second Contingent, of one officer and 36 other ranks, who had trained in Bermuda as Vickers machine gunners , which had recently arrived from Bermuda. The Second Contingent was stripped of its Vickers machine guns (which had been collected, in

372-633: A letter from the War Office ensured that they remained together as a unit, under their own badge. The contingent was attached to 1 Lincolns (although its men remained on the strength of 3 Lincolns) as an extra company, and arrived in France in July 1915, the first colonial volunteer unit to reach the Front. The contingent remained as such until the following summer, by when its strength had been too reduced by casualties to compose

434-599: A militia engineering unit of sappers and miners . This would have followed in the pattern of The Submarine Mining Militia formed in Britain in 1878 and tasked with defending major ports. They received a minimum of fifty-five days training per year, and were recruited from experienced boatmen. In Bermuda, the unit was intended to operate boat from the Royal Army Service Corps docks in Hamilton and St. George's, tending to

496-596: A position normally filled by a Captain . As a consequence, the contingent was popularly known as Bullock's Boys . The Contingent left Bermuda for England in June 1915, travelling to Canada, then crossing the Atlantic in company with a much larger Canadian draft. It had been hoped that the Contingent could be attached to the Second Battalion of The Lincolnshire Regiment (2 Lincolns), which had been on Garrison in Bermuda when

558-747: A result, the Bermuda Rifles and the Bermuda Militia Artillery were amalgamated in September, 1965, to form the Bermuda Regiment (now the Royal Bermuda Regiment ). The Royal Bermuda Regiment badge is a combination of the Maltese Cross of the BVRC badge, and the field gun of the Royal Artillery badge. The unit maintains the history and traditions of both of its predecessors (it continues to wear

620-656: Is granted the hon. rank of Lt.-Col.” . Due to fears of stripping the Garrison, a moratorium was placed on further drafts being sent overseas from Bermudian units. This moratorium was not lifted until 1943, when both the BVRC and the Bermuda Militia (the BMI and BMA together) detached contingents to send overseas. The two contingents trained together at Prospect Camp, before going their separate ways. The BVRC left Bermuda in May, 1944, to join

682-657: The Channel Islands and Malta had numbered collectively as 28th in the British Army order of precedence , but were ordered within that according to the placement of their parent corps in the regular army. This meant, that the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), as part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery , preceded the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) despite being the second of the two to be raised. Today,

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744-685: The City of Hamilton , then in Fort Hamilton , within the south-western part of Prospect Camp), 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,

806-782: The First World War , in addition to fulfilling their roles as guardians of Bermuda and its important Imperial defence assets (such as the Royal Naval Dockyard ), each of these units sent two contingents to the Western Front . Numerous other Bermudians served in other regiments and corps of the British Army, as well as in the Royal Navy and the new Royal Air Force . Large numbers of regular infantry and artillery soldiers, plus various supporting units, had been stationed in Bermuda since

868-728: The Airborne Division, training as parachutists. After the War, the BVRC men, who had travelled to Europe as units, returned individually, as each waited for his 'number' to come up. The BVRC and the BMA sent contingents to the Victory Parade in London. In 1946, however, both units were demobilised and reduced to skeleton command structures. The other two Territorials were both disbanded, but the BVRC and BMA were brought back up to strength in 1953. At that time,

930-603: The Army, under a new regiment, the Machine Gun Corps ). The merged contingents were retrained as Lewis light machinegunners , and provided 12 gun teams to 1 Lincolns headquarters. By the War's end, the two contingents had lost over 75 percent of their combined strength. Forty had died on active service, one received the O.B.E and six the Military Medal . Sixteen private soldiers from the two contingents were commissioned, including

992-629: The BMA) due to the 1928 withdrawal from Bermuda of the Royal Engineers fortress company previously tasked with that role. In 1937, it also absorbed the signals section of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps , providing signals detachments to other units of the Bermuda Garrison . Dill was promoted to lieutenant on 31 May 1937. The first commanding officer of the BVE was Captain H. D. (later Sir Harry) Butterfield, and

1054-436: The BMA. The infantry duties of the Garrison were split between these two Territorials, and the detachment from the 2nd Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) at Prospect Camp. Also as in the previous war, a Contingent was soon detached, composed of volunteers for service at sharper ends of the War. A few members of the BVE and the BMA travelled with this contingent to England (departing Bermuda in June, 1940), where

1116-428: The BVRC a decade later. The Regular Army artillery and engineering detachments to the garrison were withdrawn in 1928, with the BMA and BVE, respectively, assuming complete responsibility for their vacated roles. There would no longer be a full infantry battalion in Bermuda. Instead, a detached company would be provided from the battalion sent to Jamaica. The BVRC began mobilisation on 3 September 1939, even before news

1178-521: The BVRC members were re-enlisted into the Lincolnshire Regiment. This Contingent included two officers, Robert Brownlow-Tucker and Anthony 'Toby' Smith, who became Company Commanders in the Lincolns before the War's end. They were among four Bermudians who would reach the rank of Major with the Lincolns (although one, future Major-General Glyn Charles Anglim Gilbert , MC, never served in the BVRC, and

1240-593: The BVRC re-enlisted. In Britain, the Volunteer Force had been re-organised in 1908, absorbing the remaining militia and Yeomanry units, to form the Territorial Army (TA). Among other changes, the TA introduced terms of service. A volunteer could no longer quit with fourteen days notice, but had to complete the term for which he was enlisted, as was the case for professional soldiers in the British Army. The re-embodied BVRC

1302-566: The BVRC was retitled the Bermuda Rifles . The loss of the word 'volunteer' was probably prudent, as conscription was re-introduced to both units. In 1953, it was announced that the HM Dockyard would be closed. This meant that the military garrison, which had existed primarily to guard the naval base, would be closed, also. The last Regular Army unit (a detachment of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry)

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1364-492: The Bermuda Government, for reasons of its own, chose to maintain them entirely at its own expense. A new role began to appear as Bermuda moved into the 1960s, when increasing tension resulting from the racial division and inequity of Bermudian society occasionally spilled over into violence. By then, it was rapidly becoming politically, as well as economically, inexpedient to maintain two, racially divided infantry units. As

1426-538: The Bermuda Regiment (since 2015, titled the Royal Bermuda Regiment ), as an amalgam of the BMA and BVRC, is 28th. Nicholas Bayard Dill Sir Nicholas Bayard Dill CBE (28 December 1905 – 10 September 1993), known as Bayard Dill , was a prominent Bermudian politician, lawyer and military officer. Bayard Dill was born on 28 December 1905, at Newbold Place, his parents' home in Devonshire Parish, Bermuda . His father, Thomas Melville Dill (1876–1945),

1488-758: 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 the 4 May 1939, before volunteering to serve overseas. He was assigned to 50th Holding Battalion, in Norfolk, which became 8th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. He ended the war as a staff officer in the Far East , and the London Gazette of 25 December 1945 recorded “War Subs. Maj. H. J. ABBOTT .(108051) relinquishes his commn., 26th Dec. 1945, and

1550-573: The Corps in Bermuda and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross in France. An NCO from the overseas contingent also transferred to the RFC). By the end of the war, the BVRC had earned the battle honours Ypres 1915 , Neuve Chapelle , Loos , Somme 1916 , Ypres 1917 , Lys , Hindenburg Line , Messines 1917 , Somme 1918 . They had not seen the last of warfare, however. In 1918, the 1 Lincolns were withdrawn from France and sent to Ireland to combat

1612-454: 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

1674-566: The Lincolns in England. The contingent members were rebadged as Lincolns, and most joined 2 Lincolns in Belgium, as the Allies advanced into North-West Europe. They had travelled as part of a Company of reinforcements under the command of Bermudian Major AF 'Toby' Smith, who was killed-in-action shortly after, along with three other Bermudians. While in England, eleven of second contingent had volunteered to join

1736-681: The RAF and the Fleet Air Arm . Volunteers were only accepted from those already serving in the local forces, some of whom came from the BVE. The BVE, as with all of the local volunteer units, was demobilised in 1946 following the end of the war. Whereas the BVRC and the BMA maintained skeleton command structures until they began recruiting again in 1951, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was officially disbanded. Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC)

1798-610: The Sergeant Major of the First Contingent, Colour-Sergeant R. C. Earl, who became Commanding Officer of the BVRC after the war. Some of those commissioned moved to other units in the process, including flying ace Arthur Rowe Spurling and Henry J. Watlington, who both went to the Royal Flying Corps (at least seventeen other Bermudians served the RFC, including another BVRC rifleman, later Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore , who detached from

1860-534: The War began. When the Contingent arrived at the Lincolns depot in Grimsby, the 2nd Battalion was already in France and it was attached to 3 Lincolns instead (at least one Bermudian, though not from the BVRC, Corporal G.C. Wailes, did serve with the 2nd Lincolns). Although commanders at the Regimental Depot had wanted to break the Contingent apart, re-enlist its members as Lincolns, and distribute them as replacements,

1922-569: The West End, the centre, and the East End of Bermuda (these being the three military districts into which Bermuda was divided by the garrison, with the districts controlled respectively from Clarence Barracks on Boaz Island , Prospect Camp , and St. George's Garrison , with the overall Command Headquarters at Prospect Camp). BVRC Headquarters was located centrally (initially in the Public Buildings in

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1984-679: The army of the Irish Republic, declared in 1916 . The BVRC benefited from Army Order No.1 , which increased the pay of most soldiers in the British Army—but that same Order did not benefit the British West Indies Regiment , which was treated as being "native". At the end of the First World War, both the BVRC and BMA were demobilised and disembodied, though both were soon rebuilt through new recruitment. Many former members of

2046-695: The bases in Bermuda). Some of the land procured by the US for building the Naval Operating Base had belonged to the Dill family. Bayard Dill also served as a military officer, receiving a commission into the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE) as a second-lieutenant dated 31 May 1934. The BVE had been formed in 1931 to operate search lights at Bermuda's coastal artillery batteries (the guns being operated by

2108-491: The creation of a new volunteer unit was necessary to fulfil that of the Royal Engineers. The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was created in June, 1931. Its original strength was one captain, one subaltern, three sergeants, four corporals, and twenty-four sappers. An adjutant, a sergeant-major, and two sergeants were attached from the regular Royal Engineers. Its original role was to operate the search lights at coastal artillery batteries. The only battery left in active use by that time

2170-408: The early 19th Century, but the UK Government had been trying to reduce the expense of maintaining garrisons around the world, following the Crimean War , by encouraging the raising of volunteer units in the various colonies and protectorates . This had led to the creation of the two Bermudian units, and the size of the regular forces in Bermuda was steadily reduced from about 1870 onward. From 1919

2232-466: The fire of artillery guns , having received a Regular Army (Royal Artillery) emergency commissions on 8 July 1942. Gorham also served after the war in the Bermuda Rifles (as the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was retitled in 1949). In Bermuda, Montgomery-Moore was promoted to major in 1940, and Bayard Dill to captain. In addition to his role with the BVE, Montgomery-Moore also headed the Bermuda Flying School , which trained 80 local volunteers as pilots for

2294-403: The forts and the dockyard itself. The BVRC was formed under an act of the Colonial Parliament, passed in 1892. Captain Charles Spencer Brown Evans-Lombe, of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) , 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

2356-441: The last, Major Patrick Lynn Purcell, had left Bermuda as a BMA Lieutenant attached to the 1940 BVRC Contingent. After coastal artillery service in Sierra Leone, he had transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Lincolnshire Regiment). Additionally, one member of the 1940 contingent from the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was Bernard John Abbott, a school teacher and pre-war Bermuda Cadet Corps officer who had been re-commissioned into

2418-405: 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 mobile guns stored in gun sheds ready to be rapidly moved to remote locations as required) and manned by the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). A voluntary reserve

2480-402: The most important of which defending the Royal Navy's dockyard on Ireland Island, which was the main base of the North America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy, and oversaw the formation in Bermudian waters of trans-Atlantic convoys. Despite operating under this constraint, the BVRC quickly formed a detachment in December, 1914, to send overseas to the Western Front. This contingent

2542-434: The next two decades. When war was declared in 1914, it was embodied to fulfill its role within the Garrison. As the economy would have suffered from taking so many young men from their jobs, some soldiers continued to perform their civil jobs, before taking their turns standing sentry at the many places around Bermuda that the BVRC guarded. The primary task the BVRC was given was guarding the coastline but it filled other roles,

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2604-560: 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

2666-399: The regular infantry battalion on garrison was reduced to a wing . Excepting the years 1925 to 1929, when a full battalion was present, this remained the case 'til 1940. In May, 1928, the Royal Artillery companies and Royal Engineers Fortress Company were withdrawn entirely. The existing volunteer units were able to take on the roles vacated by the regular infantry and Royal Artillery, but

2728-413: The rifle green and black stable belt of the BVRC, and the red tunics worn by its drummers on ceremonial duties have black facings). However the Battle Honors of the BVRC were not passed on. This is due to the stand down between 1946 and 1948. Attempts to rectify this have not been successful due to strict British Army policies in regards to those honors. Originally, the part-time reserve units in Bermuda ,

2790-486: The second-in-command was Lieutenant Cecil Montgomery-Moore , DFC. In 1932, Butterfield retired, and Montgomery-Moore succeeded him. Lieutenant Bayard Dill became the new second-in-command. He was promoted to Acting-Captain on 12 July 1940, and to Temporary-Captain on 12 October. He relinquished his commission on 23 August 1944. Bayard Dill's siblings included Ruth Rapalje Dill, Thomas Newbold Dill, Laurence Dill, Helen Dill, Frances Rapalje Dill, and Diana Dill . Ruth Dill

2852-507: The stock disks of the Martini-Henry rifle: M./BER. A. for the Bermuda Militia Artillery; V./BER. for the Bermuda Volunteers Rifle Corps; M./BER. S.M. for the Bermuda Submarine Miners. Submarine mine defence was only one of many activities the Royal Engineers were involved in within Bermuda, which particularly included building forts and infrastructure. In 1900 the Royal Engineers Submarine Mining Companies also assumed responsibility for operating electric searchlights defending harbours. During

2914-446: The underwater mine defences, but the unit was never raised. Instead, the Royal Engineers 27th Company (Submarine Mining) which had been permanently reassigned from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Bermuda in 1888 (part of the company had been split off to create the new 40th Company, which remained in Halifax), continued to maintain the mine defences unaided. This unit was not raised. Unit codes were assigned to all three legislated units for marking

2976-407: The war. Some members also were detached for service overseas with other units, including the Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force. These included four Sappers who were attached to a larger BVRC contingent despatched to the Lincolnshire Regiment in June, 1940. Another was Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Gorham , DFC , who had enlisted into the ranks of the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers in 1938, and

3038-408: Was Lieutenant Nicholas Bayard Dill (later Sir Bayard), a son of Colonel Thomas Melville Dill (a former commander of the BMA). In 1937, the BVE subsequently also took on responsibility for providing signals crew and equipment to all elements of the garrison. The BVE, and the other part-time units, were mobilised at the start of the Second World War , fulfilling its role to the Garrison throughout

3100-445: Was a merchant, a Member of the Colonial Parliament (MCP) for Devonshire Parish from 1868 to 1888, a Member of the Legislative Council and an Assistant Justice from 1888, Mayor of the City of Hamilton from 1891 to 1897, served on numerous committees and boards, and was a member of the Devonshire Church (Church of England) and Devonshire Parish vestries (the latter is now termed a Parish Council). Bayard Dill followed his father into law as

3162-435: Was a prominent Bermudian lawyer, politician and soldier, who would serve as the Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery , a Member of the Colonial Parliament (MCP) for Devonshire, and Attorney General of Bermuda. His mother, born Ruth Rapalje Neilson (1880–1973), was a native of New Jersey . The Dill family had been prominent in Bermuda since the 1630s. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Newbold Dill (1837–1910),

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3224-412: Was composed of volunteers who were already serving, as well as those who enlisted specifically for the Front. The Contingent trained at Warwick Camp through the winter and spring. It consisted of Captain (temporary Major) Richard J. Tucker and 88 other ranks. As there was a shortage of officers, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief , Lieutenant-General Sir George Bullock , filled the role of Adjutant ,

3286-413: Was created for the RGA at the same time, titled the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA). 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

3348-457: 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. Although Bermuda had maintained its own militia from 1612 until 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

3410-458: Was defeated as an incumbent in the 1963 election by Lois Browne-Evans . He was also appointed to HM Executive Council of Bermuda on 23 August 1944. Bayard Dill played a key role in negotiating the agreement with the US for its military and naval bases in Bermuda during the Second World War , which were granted to the US free for ninety-nine years as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement (although Britain received no destroyers in exchange for

3472-410: Was embodied for full-time service, when the various territorial units of the Bermuda Garrison (the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC), and the Bermuda Militia Infantry ) were mobilised when the Second World War was declared. As a corporal , he was attached to the signalling division at the Royal Naval Dockyard , before he was commissioned on the 28 May 1941, as

3534-440: Was married to John Seward Johnson I , heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. Diana Dill, moved to the US, becoming an actress, and was married to actor Kirk Douglas , with whom she had two sons, Michael Douglas and Joel Douglas . Bayard married Lucy Clare Watlington on 3 July 1930. They had two sons, barrister Nicholas Bayard Dill Jr, born in 1932, and Henry David Melville Dill, born in 1934. His grandson Nick Dill

3596-420: Was re-organised as a Territorial , although it remained nominally a Volunteer unit. Its association with the Lincolnshire Regiment was made official, with the Lincolns taking on the paternal role it played with its own Territorial battalions. A third local Territorial, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE), was formed in 1931 to man Defence Electric Lights at coastal batteries, and absorbed the signals section of

3658-500: Was received of the declaration of war, when Britain issued Germany with an ultimatum to withdraw from Poland. As in the previous war, it took up positions guarding the coastlines, but its duties soon grew more numerous. Members of the Territorials were called up for the duration, and conscription was introduced to increase their strengths in October, 1940. Another infantry unit, the Bermuda Militia Infantry , had been raised in October, 1939, recruiting blacks, and linked administratively with

3720-479: 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. The BVRC continued to train and develop over

3782-493: Was the Examination Battery at St. David's Head, the guns of which were manned by the BMA. The first commanding officer of the BVE was Captain H.D. (later Sir Harry) Butterfield, and the second-in-command was Lieutenant Cecil Montgomery-Moore , DFC. Both were veterans of the First World War (Montgomery-Moore had served in the BVRC before taking a commission as a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps ). In 1932, Butterfield retired, and Montgomery-Moore succeeded him. The new 2-i-c

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3844-479: Was withdrawn by 1955, and the Dockyard closed in 1958. 1953 was also the last year of the Imperial Defence Plan, under which the Bermudian units had been tasked, and the year in which the last of the coastal artillery was taken out of use. The BMA, while still wearing Royal Artillery uniform and cap badge, converted to the infantry role. With no tasking under the War Office, and its successor, the Ministry of Defence, or under NATO, both units might have been disbanded, but

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