Sea Cadet Corps History
1856 A clergyman who had returned from the Crimean War was so concerned at the number of single-parent and orphaned boys resulting from the loss of so many soldiers and sailors, that he established an orphanage at Whitstable, enlisting the help of sailors who had returned from the war. A number of similar orphanages, including ones at Whitby, Brixham and Deptford, soon followed and, by the end of the 19th century there were 'Brigs' or 'Brigantines' in several towns, some independent, some loosely organised into 'Naval Lads’ Brigades'.
1899 Her Majesty Queen Victoria graciously presented a £10 note to the Windsor Naval Lads’ Brigade for the purchase of uniforms. Because of the close relationship between the Windsor Naval Lads’ Brigade and the Windsor Branch of the Navy League (see below), the anniversary of this event, 25 June, has been declared the birthday of the Sea Cadet Corps.
1910 The Navy League, a pressure group formed in 1895 with the aim of influencing maritime thinking in Parliament and reminding the country of its naval history and dependence on the sea, decided also to sponsor a small number of these independent Units as the Navy League Boys' Naval Brigade. This slowly expanded with the addition of other formations such as Sea Scout Groups.
1914 The Navy League applied to the Admiralty for recognition of its 34 Brigades.
1919 Admiralty recognition was granted subject to an annual efficiency inspection by an Officer on the staff of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, and the title Navy League Sea Cadet Corps was adopted. There were five other Sea Cadet Corps, all much smaller.
1937 Lord Nuffield gave £50,000 to fund the expansion of the Corps.
1939 At the start of the war there were nearly 100 Units with some 10,000 cadets.
1942 The Navy League's 1941 scheme for training Sea Cadets in TS BOUNTY for service in the wartime Navy caught the Admiralty's imagination. The Admiral Commanding Reserves took over the training role in January 1942, HM King George VI became Admiral of the Corps, Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR and the Corps was renamed the Sea Cadet Corps (SCC). A huge expansion to 400 Units and 50,000 cadets coincided in many towns with Warship Weeks so that newly-formed Units took the names of adopted warships. The Admiralty now paid for uniforms, equipment, travel and training while the Navy League funded sport and Unit headquarters.
Thousands of Bounty Boys progressed into the Navy as communications ratings, many returning to their Units after the war ended. In the same year the Girls' Naval Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls with Units mainly in southern England.
1943 All Units were given Unit numbers in alphabetical order from ŕ Aberdare" to 虍 York". Thereafter Units were numbered in sequence as they were affiliated to the Navy League, reaching 430 by the end of the war.
1947 Both the Admiralty and the Navy League wished to continue their involvement with, and a measure of control over, the SCC and they agreed a continuation of their wartime co-sponsorship. The conditions were now embodied in an agreement between them known as the Sea Cadet Charter. Amongst other items, the Admiralty undertook to support a maximum of 22,000 cadets, to supply uniforms, boats, training facilities, travel expenses and limited pay to adult staff who retained their appointments in the RNVR (and, in a later re-organisation, of the RNR). The Sea Cadet Council was set up to govern the Corps with membership from the Navy League and the Royal Navy. A retired Captain took on the task of supervision, first as Secretary to the Council and later as Captain Sea Cadet Corps. From the same date the Girls' Naval Training Corps expanded throughout the country. By the late 1950s there were more than 50 Units and the name had been changed to the Girls' Nautical Training Corps.
1955 The Commandant General Royal Marines asked permission to form a Marine Cadet section which could be fitted into the existing organisation and the Sea Cadet Council agreed to this. Within 10 years the Marine Cadet section had expanded from the original 5 Detachments to 40.
1963 It was proposed to amalgamate the three Girls' Corps into one national body, to be called the Girls' Venture Corps. The Girls’ Nautical Training Corps (GNTC), not wishing to lose its naval identity, asked the Navy League to take over its sponsorship and in 1964 it was affiliated to the SCC. In many cases, the GNTC shared premises with local Sea Cadet Units.
1976 The Navy League was renamed the Sea Cadet Association since support of the SCC and GNTC had now become its sole purpose. At the end of the year the title of Admiral Commanding Reserves lapsed and his functions, including responsibility for the SCC, were transferred to the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command (CINCNAVHOME) in Portsmouth. The Sea Cadet Charter was revised and replaced by a Memorandum of Agreement.
1980 On 31 March the Ministry of Defence (Navy) approved the admission of girls into the SCC within the overall ceiling of 22,000. The GNTC ceased to exist as a separate body and its Units were admitted to the SCC to form Girls' Nautical Training Contingents. The number of Contingents, originally set at 120, was raised to 150 in 1983.
1986 All limits on Contingent numbers were removed by the Admiralty Board and replaced by a limit of 35% of girls in the Corps overall. By late 1991 over 300 Units contained girls.
1992 The successful integration of the male and female cadets and their adult leaders over the previous eleven years led to the logical step of discontinuing the separate Girls' Nautical Training Contingents from 1 January. Sea Cadets, male and female, now became entitled to identical training. Adult Sea Cadet staff, male and female, became entitled to the same opportunities, insignia, rank, nomenclature and pay. In its Golden Jubilee year the SCC numbered some 400 Units once more with a rising total membership of around 16,000. Beyond the UK, there were Units in Malta and the Falkland Islands, as well as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. This year saw the formal introduction of Junior Sea Cadets aged from 10 to 12 years into the Corps.
1994 At a conference in Portsmouth an International Sea Cadet Association was formed to encourage international exchanges, to foster the Sea Cadet ethos world-wide and to stimulate the formation of new Corps. Founder members were: UK, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, Holland, Japan, South Africa, Sweden and the USA.
1995 The Sea Cadet Association was reconstituted as a company as well as a national charity.
1997 The Captain of the Sea Cadet Corps assumed the title Commodore of the Sea Cadet Corps (abbreviated in 2001 to Commodore Sea Cadets).
2004 The Sea Cadet Association merged with The Marine Society to form The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) which became the new parent body of the SCC and the nation’s largest maritime charity.
2005 Fifty years after the formation of the Marine Cadet section, there were for the first time 100 Units with Marine Cadet Detachments.
2007 The appointment of head of the SCC was assumed by a serving Royal Navy Captain, known as the Captain Sea Cadets and Director of Operations (CSC).
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