[1][2] Despite short-lived attempts to raise militias without the aid or funds of the local government, a permanent reserve would not exist 'til the first of the three units authorised in 1892, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC), was raised in 1894 as a reserve for the regular infantry force (which normally numbered one battalion posted to Prospect Camp.

By the middle of the 19th century, they had emplaced roughly five hundred artillery pieces around Bermuda; vastly more than there existed trained gunners to man.

[4][5][6][7] In 1900 the Royal Engineers Submarine Mining Companies also assumed responsibility for operating electric searchlights defending harbours.

[8] The BVRC and the BMA sent two drafts each to the Western Front during the First World War (the former, in 1915 and 1916 to the Lincolnshire Regiment; the latter in 1916 and 1917 to the Royal Garrison Artillery).

The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers (BVE) was raised in 1931 to take on the role of operating electric search lights at the batteries (in 1940, they also took on responsibility for signals within the garrison).

The territorial units in Bermuda were mobilised on 3 September 1939, on the declaration of war against Germany by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Serving soldiers were embodied full-time for the duration of the war, and conscription was quickly introduced to add to their numbers.

On 6 October 1939, the Bermuda Militia Infantry was created at St. David's Battery under Lieutenant JTO Redmond, BVRC, who was appointed Officer Commanding.

In 1941, a platoon was posted near Flatts Village on the Main Island, taking the position over from the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

This moratorium had been put in place following the drafting of a June, 1940 contingent from the BVRC to the Lincolnshire Regiment (a handful of volunteers from the BMA and BVE travelled to England with it, detaching there to join their parent corps).

At the time, German naval activity, including commerce raiding by capital ships, posed a significant threat to Bermuda.

The Bermuda Militia contingent arrived on two ships on the 13th and 23 April 1944, to form the training cadre of the new regiment at Fort Eustis, a US Army base near Williamsburg, Virginia.

Colonel H. Wilkin, OBE, MC, they prepared as a training cadre for the arrival of detachments from the West Indian islands, each under its own officers.

With more experience, and a generally higher degree of education, many of the Bermudian men were made non-commissioned officers and distributed around the regiment.

Oran was handed over to Free French Forces before their arrival, and the Regiment was instead sent to Italy in July 1944, where it was employed in general duties behind the front line.

In October it escorted 4000 German prisoners of war from Italy to Egypt, where it was used in mine clearance work around the Suez Canal area.

A Guard of Honour was provided by B Company, BMI, for the Opening of Parliament in 1945, the first time this duty had fallen upon one of the local territorials.

The Contingent left Bermuda on the 10 May, 1946, travelling to New York City on a BOAC flight, and onward to England aboard the Queen Mary.