Bermuda Cadet Corps

Bermuda Cadet Corps
2000 Queen's Birthday Parade, Hamilton, Bermuda
Founded	1901
Country	Bermuda (United Kingdom)
Role	Volunteer Youth Organisation British Army
Garrison/HQ	Bermuda Garrison
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	Queen Elizabeth II

The Bermuda Cadet Corps was a youth organisation in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, sponsored originally by the 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 (with the Girls Nautical Training 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.

History

Cadet Corps (Saltus Grammar School), ca. 1901

Bermuda Cadet Corps in Second World War

In 1901, Saltus Grammar School in Pembroke, raised a Cadet Corps, which was attached to the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC). On the 12 April 1901, the General Commanding the Bermuda Garrison 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).^[1] The Cadet Corps (Saltus Grammar School) often trained alongside the BVRC, as on the 24 May 1902, when the cadets assembled at Fort Hamilton 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. On the 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 Institue, 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) was consequently made up of whites only. 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.

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 was withdrawn from use in 1953 and the BMA converted to the infantry role. By this time, there was a Cadet Corps at Berkley Institute, the highest-rated school for blacks in Bermuda. This was not considered part of the Bermuda Cadet Corps, however. 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, this was created as a Scottish bagpipe and drum band, wearing Highland dress, 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 Bermuda Cadet Corps was re-organised at the same time. 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.

Disbandment

The Bermuda Regiment operated its own Junior Leaders programme for many years, the members of which wore the Bermuda Regiment cap badge, and was based with the rest of the regiment at 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.^[2][3][4] A bill was tabled in the House of Assembly of Bermuda in 2015 to formalise the organisation of the Royal Bermuda Regiment's Junior Leaders. The Bermuda Cadet Corps Act 1944 was repealed.^[5]

References