FALKLANDS SHORT HISTORY OF A LONG DISAGREEMENT PART 2: 1833 – 1982

Contemporary accounts from Charles Darwin and Captain Robert FitzRoy, of HMS Beagle, suggest that settlers of various nationalities were encouraged to colonise the Falklands during the 19th century. The Falkland Islands Company was founded in 1851 to exploit the wild cattle descended from herds imported by the French, while sheep farming became the basis of the economy. In 1861, Argentina emerged after years of civil war as a country that welcomed immigration from Italy, Germany and Spain, and by the mid-20th century it had grown to become one of the topten wealthiest nations. In 1892, the Falklands was recognised to be a self-supporting British colony of about 2,000 people.

During the mid-19th century, the British Army order of battle consisted of the Regular Forces managed by the War Office and Militia Forces raised to maintain law and order under the control of county lord-lieutenants and governors in the colonies. In 1859, the War Office raised the Volunteer Force of rifle and artillery corps and placed them under War Office control in 1871. Governor Richard Moody had formed the ‘Stanley Volunteers’ during the Crimean War (1853-56). The