One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

APPENDIX I

349

APPENDIX I

III. LEGISLATION

IV. FROM RIFLES TO GUNS

On 14

February, 1857, the SVRC was presented with a set of colours prepared by Mrs.

Butterworth, widow of the late Governor.

On 24

June, 1857, the Singapore Volunteer Rifles

Rules and Regulations were proposed and further amended and adopted subsequently at

meetings held on 15

July, 22

August and 28

September, which provided for its structure,

participation, membership and promotion criteria, training schedules and financial management.

1857 also saw the transformation of the SVRC from a private body to a public institution,

when the Legislative Council of India passed an act dated 18

July “to provide for the good

order and discipline of certain Volunteer Corps and to invest them with certain powers.”

The

act brought the SVRC within the ambit of the military regulations currently in effect. On 26

November, 1860, Governor Orfeur Cavenagh officiated at a parade of the SVRC where it

was accorded the right to use the motto “Primus in Indis” as the first Volunteer corps to be

“enrolled in India.”

It is believed that Cavenagh himself coined the motto.

In April 1867, the Straits Settlements was transferred from the East India Company to the

Colonial Office. This did not produce any improvement in the management of their internal

or external security by the authorities though there was considerable public debate about the

defence of Singapore from external threats. Such debates did not translate into any concerted

response among the Volunteers, perhaps because little had been done to integrate them in

defence measures against external threats to the colony. As was evidenced throughout the

history of the Corps, enthusiasm waxed and waned periodically. One striking example was

when the SVRC formed a half-battery of Field Artillery in 1868 with a loan of two 12-pounder

howitzers, but closed it down in 1875 due to declining interest.

On the other hand, the

replacement of the old Enfield rifle in 1869 by the shorter Snider carbine, created new interest

and attracted more Volunteers, who enjoyed range practices at the 400-yard Race Course

Range, later Farrer Park, where some snipe shooting was also possible in those days.

SVRC, but only as a private organisation at this stage. However, the Governor became

its first Colonel and Captain Ronald Macpherson of the Madras Artillery (later Colonel

and also the first Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements) its first Commandant.

For several years after they were formed, the SVRC drilled at the Volunteer Depot in North

Bridge Road, next to the HQ of the European Police Force.

The SVRC participated in

ceremonies and supported the Police and the Fire Brigade. It remained a predominantly

European ‘club’ which initially included Eurasians. But, the Eurasians dropped out when the

European population increased and entrenched itself as an exclusive upper crust. An extended

period of relative internal stability in Singapore and peace worldwide did not offer much

scope for the Volunteers to project their indispensability to the Colonial Government, and