British Colonial Auxiliary Forces

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1939 Army List, Dominion and Colonial Regiments index
1945 Army List, Order of Precedence of the British Army, with most colonial units omitted

The British Colonial Auxiliary Forces referred to the various military units of Britain's colonial empire which were not considered part of the British military proper. Though the first colonial units established in the British Empire were militia formations in Britain's American colonies, by the Victorian era these units were modelled after the regular armed forces of Britain and consisted of professional soldiers. They supplied a reserve force either to be called up in war time to reinforce regular British Army garrisons for home defence, or in some cases were entirely responsible for home defence. Many units, however, took part in active campaigns outside of the role of home defence in various conflicts the British Empire was involved in, including the two world wars.

Some of the reserve colonial units, especially in the strategically-important imperial fortress colonies (consisting of Halifax, Gibraltar, Bermuda and Malta), were funded by the War Department out of Army Funds and considered part of the British Army (by example, the Bermuda Militia Artillery was grouped with the Royal Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers with the Royal Engineers in the official Army Lists, which also listed the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and Bermuda Militia Infantry officers, whereas most colonial units did not appear at all), whereas others that did not receive Army Funds were considered auxiliaries (British military units, but not part of the British Army). This had originally been true of various other military forces in the United Kingdom before the mid-Nineteenth Century, following which the Board of Ordnance was abolished and its military corps (the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and Royal Sappers and Miners) and previously-civilian Commissariat, stores and transport departments were all absorbed by the British Army and the Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Forces were more closely integrated with the British Army through a succession of military reforms.

Many colonial units started out as auxiliaries and later became regular units and forerunners to the current militaries of those colonies which have become politically independent. While most of the units listed here were army units, colonial marines were raised at various times, as were colonial naval and air force reserve units. Today, only four British Overseas Territories regiments remain (not including cadet corps): the Royal Bermuda Regiment; the Royal Gibraltar Regiment; the Falkland Islands Defence Force; and the Royal Montserrat Defence Force. The British Government is currently (2020) working with the local governments of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands to raise reserve military units in those territories, also, with recruitment for the new Cayman Islands Regiment starting in January, 2020.[1][2][3]

List of Colonial Auxiliary Forces[edit]

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Aden[edit]

Africa[edit]

America[edit]

Antigua[edit]

Australia[edit]

Main articles: Colonial forces of Australia and Colonial navies of Australia

Barbados[edit]

Bermuda[edit]

British Guiana[edit]

  • British Guiana Volunteer Force (BGVF)

British Honduras[edit]

  • The Prince Regent's Royal Militia (1817-1866)
  • The Belize Volunteer Force (1866-1868)
  • The Belize Volunteer Corps (1868-1883)
  • The Belize Light Infantry Volunteer Force (1897-1905)
  • British Honduras Volunteers (1905-1916)
  • British Honduras Territorial Force (1916-1928)
  • British Honduras Defense Force (1928-1944)
  • British Honduras Home Guard (1942-1943)
  • British Honduras Volunteer Guard (1943-1973)
  • Belize Volunteer Guard (1973-1977)

Burma[edit]

  • Burma Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve[6]

Canada[edit]

Main article: Colonial militia in Canada

Ceylon[edit]

Dominica[edit]

Falkland Islands[edit]

Fiji[edit]

Gibraltar[edit]

Gold Coast[edit]

Grenada[edit]

Guernsey[edit]

High Commission Territories[edit]

Hong Kong[edit]

India[edit]

Main article: British Indian Army
Cavalry
Infantry
  • The Agra Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • The Allahabad Rifles
  • The Assam Bengal Railway Battalion
  • The Baluchistan Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • The Bangalore Contingent
  • The Bengal and North West Railway Battalion
  • The Bengal Nagpur Railway Battalion
  • The Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway Regiment
  • The Bombay Volunteer Rifles Corps
  • The Calcutta and Presidency Battalion
  • The Calcutta Presidency Battalion
  • The Cawnpore Rifles
  • The Chota Nagpur Regiment
  • The Coorg and Mysore Company
  • The Coorg and Mysore Rifles
  • The Dehra Dun Mounted Rifles
  • The East Coast Battalion
  • The East Indian Railway Regiment
  • The Eastern Bengal Company
  • The Eastern Bengal Railway Battalion
  • The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Regiment
  • The Hyderabad Rifles
  • The Kolar Goldfields Battalion
  • The Lucknow Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Rifles
  • The Madras Guards
  • The Malabar Volunteer Rifles
  • The Malwah Bheel Corps
  • Meywa Bheel Corps
  • The Midlands Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • The Moulmein Volunteer Rifle Corps
  • The Mussourie Battalion
  • The Nagpur Rifles
  • The Naini Tal Volunteer Rifles
  • The Nilgiri Malabar Battalion
  • The Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles
  • The North West Railway Battalion
  • The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Battalion
  • The Poona Rifles
  • The Shillong Volunteer Rifles
  • The Simla Rifles
  • The South Andaman Volunteer Rifles Corps
  • The South Indian Railway Battalion
  • The Yercaud Volunteer Rifle Corps

Iraq[edit]

Jamaica[edit]

Jersey[edit]

Kenya[edit]

Leeward Island[edit]

Malaya[edit]

  • Malay States Volunteer Rifles (1915–1936)
  • Malayan Naval Volunteer Reserve

Malta[edit]

Mauritius[edit]

  • Mauritius Territorial Force
  • Mauritius Defence Force
  • Mauritius Regiment

Montserrat[edit]

New Zealand[edit]

Nigeria[edit]

Rhodesia/Nyasaland[edit]

St Christopher Nevis[edit]

Singapore[edit]

St Lucia[edit]

St Vincent[edit]

Sudan[edit]

Trinidad/Tobago[edit]

Uganda[edit]

West Indies[edit]

Zanzibar[edit]

Medals[edit]

References & External links[edit]

  1. ^ TCI to build its own military regiment, by Olivia Rose. Turks and Caicos Weekly News. 16 December, 2019
  2. ^ "Government of the Cayman Islands: Regiment Begins Recruiting". Archived from the original on 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  3. ^ Cayman Islands Regiment Officers Selected , Loop. 29 January, 2020
  4. ^ Mary Beacock Fryer (1980). King's Men: The Soldier Founders of Ontario. Toronto: Dundurn. pp. 32, 77, 85, 94, 101, 105, 131, 135, 143, 348, 361. ISBN 9780919670518.
  5. ^ Charles Oscar Paullin and Frederic Logan Paxson (1914). "Guide to the Materials in London Archives for the History of the United States Since 1783, Issue 90, Part 2". Washington DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 538.
  6. ^ The Burma Navy under the SLORC.
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