Militia (British Empire)

[2][citation needed] In the Somers Isles, or Bermuda (originally named Virgineola), a self-governed (rather than Crown) colony settled in 1609 (as a result of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture, the flagship of the Virginia Company of London, and originally considered part of the Virginia Colony), with no native population, the Militia followed a trajectory more like that in Britain, finally becoming moribund after the War of 1812, by when the build-up of regular forces had removed the demand for the militia.

Nevertheless, during the first century of its settlement, Bermuda's militia had remained the colony's sole defence, manning its fortifications and coastal batteries and calling up all available manpower in times of war.

[citation needed] Large numbers of Irish prisoners of war and civilians were transported to Bermuda after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, where they were highly antagonistic to the English population.

Governor William Sayle tried to prevent such an occurrence from taking place by issuing three edicts: the first was that a nightly watch would be raised throughout the colony; second, that all slaves and indentured servants in Bermuda be disarmed of their weapons; and third, that any gathering of two or more slaves or indentured servants be dispersed by whipping (a ban was also placed on the further transportation of Irish prisoners of war and civilians to Bermuda).

Perennially short of manpower, the crews of Bermuda's merchant fleet (most of which turned to privateering whenever war broke out) were required, by local law, to contain a percentage of black sailors, most of whom were enslaved.

[citation needed] Bermuda's seasonal occupants of the Turks Islands also raised militias there, as their lucrative salt trade invited attacks from enemies, foreign (France and Spain) and domestic (the Bahamas).

The BMA (a sub-unit of the Royal Artillery) and BVRC, which were embodied for the duration of the First World War and each sent two contingents to the Western Front, were both re-organised as Territorial units in the 1920s but their names were not modified to reflect this.