Sea Cadets date back to the Crimean War when sailors returning home from the campaign in 1856 formed Naval Lads’ Brigades to help those orphans, created by the conflict, who ended up on the back streets of sea ports.
By 1899, Sea Cadets received Royal recognition when Queen Victoria presented the Windsor unit with £10 for uniforms – an event now known as the birthday of the Sea Cadets – celebrated on June 25th.
In 1919 the Admiralty officially recognised the 34 brigades and changed the name to the Navy League Sea Cadet Corps. Lord Nuffield’s (founder of Morris Motors) donation of £50,000 enabled the Sea Cadets to expand and by the outbreak of the Second World War there were 100 units in the UK supporting 10,000 cadets with training in seafaring skills. As the war took hold the Navy League purchased an old sailing vessel – TS (Training Ship) Bounty – on which the ‘Bounty Boys’, as they became known, undertook pre-service training with 1000’s going on to active service.