Origin In 1847, Lieutenant
Richard Clement Moody,
Governor of the Falkland Islands, formed the Falklands' militia force, consisting of two infantry platoons, and a combined mounted and artillery unit. A volunteer unit was reformed in 1854, during the
Crimean War, to guard against possible aggression by the
Russian Empire. In 1892, a steamer owned by one of the belligerents involved in the
Chilean Civil War docked at
Port Stanley. Ostensibly there to carry out repairs to its engines, the presence onboard of 200 armed soldiers was considered a security threat, and Governor Sir
Roger Goldsworthy therefore ordered that an armed volunteer force be formed. The first draft of men of the Falkland Islands Volunteer Corps were sworn in at a ceremony at the
Falkland Government House, in June 1892.
World War I During the
First World War, members of the Volunteer Corps were mobilised to man military outposts around the Islands, while 36
Falklanders enlisted in the British armed forces, 10 of whom subsequently lost their lives during the war. During the war, around 150 islanders joined the British armed forces, of which 26 were killed in action. In June 1946 a section of the FIDF took part in the Victory Parade in London.
Post-war After the end of the war, the presence of
Royal Marines as part of the Islands' defence led to the FIDF adopting their drill styles. On 28 September 1966, 19 members of an Argentine extremist group staged a symbolic invasion of the Islands by landing a
DC-4 on Stanley Racecourse, in one of the first significant
hijacking incidents; the extremist group called this action
Operation Condor. There, they took four islanders hostage. The FIDF, alongside the Royal Marines, contained the situation and the group surrendered without casualties. Initially the FIDF was tasked with defending key points in Stanley; the radio station, telephone exchange and power station. However, fearing subsequent reprisals against civilians, the Governor,
Sir Rex Hunt ordered them not to engage the Argentinian forces and to withdraw to the Drill Hall; this was only reluctantly complied with and one detachment sent a runner to query the order, but the Governor had surrendered all forces before it could be confirmed. The Argentines confiscated all of the FIDF's equipment and declared them to be an illegal organisation. For the duration of the
war, some members of the FIDF were kept under
house arrest at
Fox Bay until the Argentine surrender. The FIDF was reformed in 1983. On 28 April 2021, a new motto "Faithful in Defence" was awarded to the FIDF following approval by the Queen. == Personnel ==