New South Wales Marine Corps
military unit
The New South Wales Marine Corps was a battalion-sized unit of the British Marine Forces created to guard convicts aboard the First Fleet to Australia, and to preserve "subordination and regularity" in the colony of New South Wales. Established in 1786, the unit served in New South Wales from 1788 to 1792, and was instrumental in establishing the colony's rule of law. Study of the complete New South Wales Marine complement indicates they were chosen from the Plymouth and Portsmouth Divisions, with only one exception. Beginning with guards arriving with the 2nd and 3rd fleets but officially with the arrival of HMS Gorgon on 22 September 1791, the New South Wales Marines were relieved by a newly formed British Army regiment of foot, the New South Wales Corps.
Establishment
The New South Wales Marine Corps was raised on 31 August 1786, with assent from King George III, for a force of 160 enlisted marines and accompanying officers to attend the British colony of New South Wales "for the purpose of enforcing subordination and obedience in the settlement [at Botany Bay], as well as for defence of that settlement against the incursions of the natives." Volunteers for the corps were required to have had a satisfactory prior record of service in the His Majesty's Marine Forces, to be at least 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall, and under 40 years of age.
Recruits were offered a two-guinea incentive payment if they volunteered for the corps. A further inducement was that although enlistment as a British marine was traditionally for life, members of the New South Wales Marine Corps could seek an honourable discharge after three years of colonial service. With an eye to the likelihood of delays in setting out, the three-year term began on arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales, rather than the dates of enlistment in England. Marines who chose this option had no automatic right of return to military service after discharge, but in practice, few were refused re-entry when their service expired.
Rates of pay were in accordance with those of the British marines, including the routine provision of a subsistence allowance, equivalent to two-thirds of daily pay.
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This entry incorporates text from “New South Wales Marine Corps” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.