For aficionados of the British Empire, this volume presents a feast of nostalgia and a detailed account in words and pictures of the Singapore Volunteer Corps, a unit which in five incarnations from 1854, was the lynchpin of the port colony's defences. The First and Second Volunteer Corps (1854-1887) were Rifle Corps; the Third (1888-1900) Artillery; while the Fourth (1900-1921)expanded to include Eurasian and Chinese volunteers, Engineers and a Machine Gun unit equipped with Maxim guns. The account of the Fifth Corps (1922-37) poignantly concludes with the original publication of this Official History just five years before Singapore fell to the Japanese - an event that was not only the most humiliating British defeat of the Second World War, but also marked the end of Empire in the Far East - of which this book is such an evocative memorial.This is the only published history of the SVC. It contains much useful information also regarding the Volunteers of the Federated Malay Stated and the Straits Settlements. Index Honours and Awards and a list of casualties for the Singapore Mutiny complete this history.