British Army commitments, 1842

In 1842 the United Service Magazine of London published a list of the Distribution and Stations of the British Army (available free as a Google ebook). This gives an intriguing snapshot of British military priorities and resources at the time.

British Isles

One thing that's immediately obvious is the worldwide commitment of the army, with only 52 of the 148 regiments listed based in the British Isles. Given the relatively small size of the army compared to her European rivals, this presumably reflects the absence of a clear threat to the homeland, and confidence in the Royal Navy, the “Senior Service” which received more resources, and prestige.
The home forces included all the Guards units, and the bulk of the cavalry.

A Royal Horse Guard in parade dress outside Windsor castle (New York Library digital archive)

Mainland Britain

1st & 2nd Life Guards (Hyde Park & Windsor)
Royal Horse Guards (Regent's Park)
2nd , 3rd and 6th Dragoon Guards (Nottingham, Birmingham & Glasgow)
1st , 2nd, 4th and 6th Dragoons (Manchester, Exeter, Brighton and Piershill)
8th and 11th Hussars (Hounslow & York)
13th Light Dragoons (Ipswich)
17th Lancers (Leeds)

Grenadier Guards (1st ,2nd & 3rd Battalions) (Windsor, Wellington Barracks, London & Winchester)
Coldstream Guards (1st & 2nd Battalions) (St John's Wood & St George's Barracks, London)
Scots Fusilier Guards (1st & 2nd Battalions) (Portman St., and The Tower, London)

6th , 11th, 15th, 16th, 24th, 32nd, 34th, 53rd, 58th, 60th, 61st, 65th, 66th, 67th, 72nd, & 73rd  Regiments of Foot (Gosport, Weedon, Chester, Portsmouth, Devonport, Leeds, Northampton, Edinburgh, Chatham, Manchester, Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Plymouth, Bolton, Newport respectively)

Ireland

4th , 5th & 7th Dragoon Guards (Dublin, Dublin & Cahir)
10th Hussars (Ballincollig)
12th Lancers (Dundalk)

8th , 36th, 37th, 45th (& Reserve Battalion), 54th, 56th, 64th, 69th, & 76th Regiments of Foot

Given Britain's clear dominance of the seas, the Army was deployed either where an invader could come by land, or to protect naval ports. In the first category the two dominant commitments were India and Canada. 

India

The last stand of the 44th (East Essex) on the retreat from Kabul

Twenty nine regiments are based in India, backed up by the massive army of the East India Company. Or rather the three armies of the Presidencies of Bombay, Bengal and Madras. These units comprised mainly local troops with British officers, and were, technically, separate from the British Army as such. Since 1839 the British/ British Indian armies had been locked in the disastrous Afghan War, with in 1842 the massacre on the retreat from Kabul. In total, 4,500 British and Indian soldiers, and 12,000 allied civilians had been killed. In 1845, the British forces would be in action again, this time against the Sikh empire, although this time they emerged (just) victorious.

Bengal

3rd  Dragoons
9th & 16th Lancers

3rd , 9th, 10th, 13th, 21st, 29th, 31st, 44th, 50th, 62nd Regiments of Foot

Bombay

14th Light Dragoons

2nd , 22nd, 28th, 40th, 78th, 86th Regiments of Foot

Madras

15th Hussars

4th , 25th, 39th, 41st, 57th, 63rd, 84th, & 94th  Regiments of Foot

Ceylon

90th & 95th  Regiments of Foot
Ceylon Rifle Regiment

The Americas

After India, the biggest commitment was Canada. War with the United States was regarded as a distinct possibility in 1842, and referred to several times in articles in the magazine. The previous war had ended only 27 years before and there had been several incidents since. In 1837, insurgents had smuggled arms into Canada from the US, only for Canadian militia to cross the border and burn their ship. As recently as 1839 there had been a dispute over the Maine/ New Brunswick border. Whether the force would have been sufficient is debatable, as in the war against Mexico only 6 years later the United States was able to field 32,000 soldiers and 50,000 militia, although of course Britain could have reinforced from the homeland. Having said that, British contingency plans never depended purely on a static defence of Canada and the Royal Navy would have been deployed from it's bases in the Caribbean, especially Bermuda. Hence the deployments throughout the area.

The Canadian deployment had a much lower proportion of cavalry compared to that in India, presumably related to the terrain.

Canada

1st Dragoon Guards
7th Hussars

1st (2nd Battalion), 14th, 23rd, 23rd (Reserve Battalion), 43rd, 68th, 70th, 71st, 71st (Reserve Battalion), 74th, 81st, 83rd, 85th, 89th and 93rd Regiments of Foot

New Brunswick

30th & 52nd Regiments of Foot

Newfoundland

Royal Newfoundland Companies

Nova Scotia

82nd  Regiment of Foot
Rifle Brigade (Reserve Battalion) 
Rifle Brigade (2nd Battalion) 

Bermuda

20th  Regiment of Foot

St Vincent

33rd  Regiment of Foot

Barbados

46th  & 92nd Regiments of Foot

British Guiana

47th  Regiment of Foot (Berbice)
1st West Indian Regiment

Trinidad

59th  Regiment of Foot

Jamaica

60th  Regiment of Foot (2nd Battalion)
2nd West Indian Regiment

The Mediterranean
 

British interests in the Mediterranean centred on her island bases, with the obvious exception of Gibraltar. As well as being a crucial naval base, this had a land border with a Spain that had already coveted Gibraltar for over a hundred years. For much of the 1830s Spain had been racked with civil war (the Carlist Wars) and as recently as 1842 there had been a coup attempt in Madrid. In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that Gibraltar was strongly garrisoned.

The forces in Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante and the Ionian Islands perhaps require some explaining. These had been Venetian possessions before conquered by France during the Napoleonic Wars, Several rapid changes of ownership followed before they became a British protectorate at the Congress of Vienna. British rule was certainly hugely better than French or Venetian, but after Greek independence in 1830 a movement developed to join the mainland, which they eventually did in 1864. A this time Corfu, especially, was a very useful British naval base in the eastern Mediterranean, especially for British intervention in the short Egyptian/ Ottoman war in 1839-41.

Gibraltar

1st (1st Battalion), 5th, 7th, 48th & 79th Regiments of Foot

Malta

19th and 88th Regiments of Foot
Rifle Brigade (1st Battalion)
Royal Malta Regiment

Corfu

38th, 77th and 97th  Regiments of Foot ( 97th Reserve Battalion)

Cephalonia

42nd  Regiment of Foot

Ionian islands

42nd  Regiment of Foot (Reserve Battalion)

Zante

97th  Regiment of Foot

Africa

Mauritius

12th , 35th and 87th Regiments of Foot

Sierra Leone

3rd West Indian Regiment

South Africa (Cape of Good Hope)

27th , 75th, 91st (& Reserve Battalion) Regiments of Foot
Cape Mounted Riflemen (Cape of Good Hope)

St Helena

St Helena Regiment

The Far East

The 18th (Royal Irish) at the Battle of Amoy in China, 1841

The large garrison in China was a result of the Opium war, which had started in 1839, and only ended in 1842. Since the 1750s a massive amount of tea and other goods had been imported to Britain from China, but access to Chinese markets in return was extremely restricted, creating a huge trade imbalance (sound familiar?). The unfortunate British response was to export opium, for which there was a huge Chinese market. Initially this was actually welcomed by the Chinese government (as long as they got their cut via taxes), but the massive increase in opium production and importation led to increased tensions and eventually war, which the British won easily, gaining Hong Kong as a colony. All this, of course, required British troops.

Otherwise, the largest British deployment was in New South Wales. This does not necessarily mean Australia, and in fact probably doesn't. In 1840, New Zealand had controversially become a British territory, initially assigned to New South Wales and in 1841 becoming a separate colony, but possibly that change is not reflected in this list. Certainly annexation had been far from popular with some of the Maori chieftains, though others had argued that too many European settlers had been let in previously, and New Zealand was inevitably going to be  British or French. Anyway, small scale revolts and skirmishes started almost immediately, and resulted in two major British-Maori wars in the 1860s.

Aden

17th  Regiment of Foot

China

18th , 26th, 49th, 55th and 98th Regiments of Foot

New South Wales

51st , 80th, 96th & 99th Regiments of Foot

Gibraltar of the West - Bermuda in the 1860s

After losing the southern American colonies in the American Revolution, Britain started developing Bermuda as a naval base.The other alternative was Halifax in Nova Scotia, which had an excellent harbour. - but one significant disadvantage, it could be reached overland from the United States. Nonetheless, until 1868 Bermuda was part of the Nova Scotia command, for much of that time more or less an outpost of Halifax. For the Navy this had the advantage that ships could be rotated between the two, Halifax being regarded as much healthier. In the same way, ships were often sent north to Bermuda from the Caribbean when there was sickness in the crew. Even then, disease was often a problem. In 1868 an outbreak of fever and diarrhoea struck the Bermuda garrison - out of 3,519 men 1,665 were admitted to hospital. The official report at the time stated...
"This outbreak of fever was attributed by the Principal Medical Officer "to the "effects of a sudden change from the cold bracing climate of New Brunswick "to the hot relaxing climate of Bermuda." The exemption of the Royal Artillery from fever is attributed to their having previously served at Gibraltar, and thus being more inured to the heat, and to their duties being lighter than those of the other troops."

The population of Bermuda was also unaffected. At least the scale of the outbreak led to many improvements in conditions at the barracks, as well as recommendations that troops arrive during the autumn so that they can acclimatise slowly.

Bermuda and the American Civil War

    Bermuda´s military value had been amply demonstrated during the war of 1812, when privateers from Bermuda captured 298 American ships, and Bermuda was a staging post for amphibious operations such as the capture of Washington. Very much the same considerations were voiced by Sir Alexander Milne, the commander of the North American and West Indian Squadron during the American Civil War,

 "If Bermuda were in the hands of any other nation,the base of our operations would be removed to the two extremes, Halifax and Jamaica, and the loss of this island as a Naval Establishment would be a National misfortune."

HMS Challenger in Bermuda 1865. Like many of the Victorian steam corvettes she had a story to tell. In 1862 she had been part of the force that occupied Vera Cruz in Mexico, whilst in 66 and 68 she was in action in Fiji. But her contribution to history is as the worlds first oceanographic ship on the Challenger Expedition. The Space Shuttle Challenger was named after her.

Thus Bermuda was essential during the War between the States as a projection of the British navy, but it was also greatly valued by the Confederates as a "neutral" port, where they could trade war supplies, or even just stock up on coal. The Globe Hotel was so established as a centre for Confederate agents there is a museum commemorating this there today. For example, in March 1862 the SS Bermuda passed through with a cargo of guns and ammunition, whilst on 3 April 1863 the steamer General Beauregard with a cargo of "Enfield rifles, 1 field battery of guns complete, 500 bags saltpetre, blankets etc was in the harbour. The prosperity generated made the Confederacy very popular amongst Bermudan traders, and there was a large community from the Southern States.

 The USS Sonoma & Tioga off Bermuda

Conversely, the United States were far from popular. Not least after the actions of Commander Charles Wilkes, who seems to have been almost determined to cause a war. In command of a small squadron, the Wachusett, Sonoma and Tioga , he sailed into St Georges harbour, and not only refused to leave for a week but ordrered the two gun boats in his squadron to blockade the harbour, even firing on a Royal Mail cutter, the Merlin. It was Wilkes who later cuased the "Trent Affair" by stopping and boarding the British mail packet Trent and seizing two Confederate commissioners aboard.

The Dockyard

 

 HMS Vixen, an armoured gunboat, in Bermuda dockyard.

    Bermudas´s location was militarily perfect, but there were  disadvantages. For a start, there were not many deep water channels suitable, although eventually a suitable site was found on Ireland Island, on the extreme western tip of Bermuda. Unfortunately, the main settlement was St. Georges, at the eastern end of the island, whilst the official capital, government buildings and garrison headquarters were at Hamilton, in the centre. Nonetheless by 1864 the Duke of Somerset could report that.....

    "During the last twenty years much has been done to render Bermuda an important naval Station, more especially while Rear-Admiral Hutton was Superintendent. The old floating depots for provisions, naval stores, &c. have been abandoned, and a fine dock and victualling yard have been built with a basin of more than sixteen acres, and a jetty for coaling ships, at a cost of about £112,000: the construction of a first-class dock would complete the establishment. Bermuda lies in a central position, which is the key to the North American United States in case of war: it is a convenient distance from Halifax to vessels which might be injured in the Gulf Stream, and it is convenient also with regard to the West India Islands. Engineers have, however, contended that there are natural difficulties which are insurmountable, "owing," as one of them says, "to the ground being so porous and uncertain. You may go through a solid piece of rock, five, six, or ten feet, and you may come into a cavern connected with the ocean sixty or seventy feet deep: the openings in the rock are something very extraordinary. In Bermuda there are caves which will astonish you: the connexion between the rock and the sea is surprising : you cannot go fifty feet without getting to something which would upset your arrangements."
    United Service magazine 1864

    This porous rock was a problem. Maintenance of a fleet "on station" required a dry dock, but the nature of the rock made this impossible. The ingenious, but hugely expensive, alternative, was to make a floating dock, in England, and float it down to Bermuda.

    By 1869 though it could be reported that
    "The floating dock at Bermuda which was launched last year, and is so far successful, is paid for, having cost altogether about .£300,000. It is a most ingenious construction, and 18 well worth the money spent upon it It will be most useful, as it is much better to repair ships at Bermuda, if possible, instead of sending them home."
    Colburns United Services Magazine 1869

 The floating dock arriving at Bermuda

    The dock was towed to Madeira, where HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince took over and continued the voyage to Bermuda, with the paddle frigate HMS Terrible lashed astern to act as a rudder, the voyage lasting 39 days. This was partly because of the sheer power needed to tow the dock, but it also sent a message that Britain had bigger and better ironclands than the United Staes, and was committed to defending her American and Atlantic territories.

Defences

    All of this made Bermuda an obvious target for attack, and from the 1850s to 1860s fortifications were substantially upgraded, and the garrison increased. Given that since the 1840s a string of American government spies had been making reports on the islands defences, and how they might be overcome, the concern was probably warrented. The main centres were;

a) St Georges garrison
The original, on the Eastern side of the island.

b) The dockyard garrison
Protecting the Naval dockyard, with ranges for training of marines.

 The barracks on Ireland Island, 1848

c) Prospect camp
By 1860 this was the site of the main garrison on the island, with barracks, training areas and a fort, Fort Prospect, manned by the Royal Garrison Artillery. As well as Fort Prospect there were two other forts, Fort Hamilton and Fort Langton, sited to give overlapping fire. Fort Hamilton, completed in the 1870s, was on a site of 10 acres and carried 18 guns and was surrounded by a moat.

In fact Bermuda was dotted with fortifications.

 In the East, at St Georges, there was Fort St Catherine, the largest on the island. like much of the defences, expanded and upgraded during the 1860s. Designed to cooperate with St Catherine were Fort Victoria, whose 18x 32 pound cannon commanded the approaches to the dockyard, and Fort Albert, built in 1840, a moated pentagon redoubt with 4 heavy guns, two eight inch howitzers and two ten inch mortars. In 1865 the heavy guns of Fort Albert were replaced with modern ten inch rifled muzzle loaders.

At the dockyard end of the island  there was Fort Scaur, sited to prevent attack on the docks from the landward side, with a dry moat and "disappearing carriages". These were pulled back out of sight of the enemy for reloading, and the whole fort was designed to present a miminal target to the enemy.

    There was a martello tower at Ferry Reach, with a garrison of 24 men and one officer and two ammunition stores, one on Ordinance Island (!), connected by a causeway to the main island, and one at East Broadway, near Hamilton.

During this period the number of troops had also been increased substantially, and by 1865 there were over 6,000 troops on the island. Regiments included, at various times,  the 2nd battalion of the 2nd Queens Regiment, and the 15th, 30th and 61st Regiments.

Bermuda continues to be a British Overseas Territory today, although, ironically, it was an important base for American units during WW2.