Sea Cadet History
The Sea Cadet Corps has one of the longest continuous histories of any youth organisation in the country.
1856: The first Naval Lads Brigade was founded in a Methodist Sunday School in the Kent port of Whitstable. Sailors returning home from the Crimean War (1854-1856) formed this and later Brigades to help war orphans.
1910: The Navy League 'took over' the Brigade and formed the Navy League Boys' Naval Brigade, which slowly expanded.
1919: The Admiralty decided to recognize the Brigades, which were renamed the Navy League Sea Cadet Corps.
1942: The Admiralty took over the Navy League's scheme for training Sea Cadets in T.S. Bounty for service in the wartime Navy. Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR and the Corps was renamed The Sea Cadet Corps. New units - formed as part of a huge expansion - took the names of adopted warships (in our case T.S. Salisbury). The Admiralty and the Navy League split the funding. Thousands of so-called Bounty Boys progressed into the Navy as Communications ratings, many returning to their units after the war.
1943: Units were given unit numbers in alphabetical order from "1" Aberdare to "381" York. Thereafter, units were numbered in sequence as they were affiliated to the Navy League, reaching 430 by the end of the war. (TS Salisbury is unit number 296)
1947: An agreement was signed by the Admiralty and the Navy League, known as the Sea Cadet Charter. Amongst other things, the Admiralty undertook to provide limited pay to adult staff. The Sea Cadet Council was set up to govern the Corps, with members from the Navy League and the Royal Navy.
1955: Marine Cadet sections were approved and incorporated into the Corps.
1976: The Navy League was renamed the Sea Cadet Association. The Charter was revised and replaced by a Memorandum of Agreement.
1980: The Girls Nautical Training Corps (GNTC) ceased as a separate body and girls were admitted to the Sea Cadet Corps.
2004: The Sea Cadet Association merged with the Marine Society to form a new charity ‘The Marine Society & Sea Cadets’.
