First Colonial Defence Committee Meeting

Date: April 22, 1885 • Location: London, United Kingdom

The first meeting of the Colonial Defence Committee, a standing committee of the British Colonial Office, was held to discuss the defence of Barbados.

The Colonial Defence Committee (CDC) was a standing committee of the British Colonial Office between 1885 and 1908. During the second half of the 19th century British Army troops were being progressively withdrawn from colonial garrisons, with the intention being that colonial governments would replace them with locally raised troops. Russian victory in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War led to increased concerns for the security of the British colonies and a short-term Royal Commission looked into colonial defence. It was replaced by the CDC, which first met on 22 April 1885.