| West India Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1795–1927 1958–1962 |
| Country | United Kingdom (for service in the West Indies and subsequently West Africa) Federation of the West Indies |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | 1–3 battalions |
| Insignia | |
| Abbreviation | WIR |
The West India Regiment (WIR) was an infantry unit of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. The regiment differed from similar forces raised in other parts of the British Empire in that it formed an integral part of the regular British Army. In 1958 the regiment was revived following the creation of the Federation of the West Indies with the establishment of three battalions, however, the regiment's existence was short-lived and it was disbanded in 1962 when its personnel were used to establish other units in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. Throughout its history, the regiment was involved in a number of campaigns in the West Indies and Africa, and also took part in the First World War, where it served in the Middle East and East Africa.
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The West India Regiments were initially raised in 1795. The original intention was to recruit both free blacks from the West Indian population together with purchased slaves from the West Indian plantations.[1]
In 1807 all serving black soldiers recruited as slaves in the West India Regiments of the British Army were freed under the Mutiny Act passed by the British parliament that same year.[2] In 1808 the Abolition Act caused all trading in slaves to be "utterly abolished, prohibited and decleared to be unlawful".[1] In 1812 a West African recruiting depot was established on Blance Island in Sierre Leone to train West African volunteers for the West India Regiments. By 1816 the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the reduction of the West India regiments to six enabled this depot to be closed.[3] Thereafter all recruitment for the various West India Regiments that fought in World War I and World War II were West Indian volunteers, with officers and some senior NCOs coming from Britain.
The WIR soldiers became a valued part of the British forces garrisoning the West Indies, where losses from disease and climate were heavy amongst white troops. The black Caribbean soldiers by contrast proved better adapted to tropical service. They served against locally recruited French units that had been formed for the same reasons. Free black Caribbeans soldiers played a prominent and often distinguished role in the military history of Latin America and the Caribbean.[4]
The new West India Regiments saw considerable service during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, including participation in the British attack on New Orleans. In 1800 there were 12 battalion-sized regiments with this title. The numbers were reduced after 1815 but during most of the remainder of the nineteenth century there were never less than two West India Regiments. In 1888 these were merged into a single regiment comprising two battalions. A third battalion was raised in 1897, but was disbanded in 1904.
The 1st West India Regiment from Jamaica went to the Gold Coast of Africa to fight in the Ashanti War of 1873-4.[5]
The regiment served in West Africa throughout the 19th century. In the early part of the twentieth century one battalion was stationed in Sierra Leone and the other was in Jamaica recruiting and training, the battalions exchanging every three years.[6] The regiment fought in the Anglo-Ashanti Wars.
On the outbreak of war in August 1914, the 1st Battalion of the WIR was stationed in Freetown where it had been based for two and a half years. A detachment of the Regiment's signallers saw service in the German Cameroons, where Private L. Jordon earned a DCM and several other men were mentioned in dispatches.[7] The 1st Battalion returned to the West Indies in 1916.
The 2nd Battalion were sent from Kingston to West Africa in the second half of 1915. They took part in the capture of Yaoundé in January 1916. The Regiment was subsequently awarded the battle honour "Cameroons 1914-16". The 2nd Battalion, which had been divided into detachments, was brought together in Freetown in April 1916 and sent to Mombassa in Kenya, to take part in the East African campaign against German colonial forces based in German East Africa.[8]
The five hundred and fifteen officers and men of the 2nd Battalion formed part of a column that took Dar es Salaam on 4 September 1916. After garrison duty, the battalion subsequently played a distinguished part in the Battle of Nyangao (German East Africa) in October 1917. For their service in East Africa the WIR earned eight Distinguished Conduct Medals, as well as the battle honour "East Africa 1914-18".
Following their active service in German Africa the 2nd Battalion of the West India Regiment was shipped to Suez in September 1918. It was then transferred to Lydda in Palestine where it spent the two remaining months of the War.[9] Two battalions of a newly raised regiment also recruited from black Caribbean soldiers: the similarly named "British West Indies Regiment" (see below), saw front line service against the Turkish Army during the Palestine Campaign. General Allenby sent the following telegram to the Governor of Jamaica: "I have great pleasure in informing you of the gallant conduct of the machine-gun section of the 1st British West Indies Regiment during two successful raids on the Turkish trenches. All ranks behaved with great gallantry under heavy rifle and shell fire and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operations".[10][11]
After the war, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the West India Regiment were amalgamated into a single 1st Battalion in 1920. This was disbanded in 1927. The reasons for disbandment were primarily economic. The West Indies had long been a peaceful military backwater with limited defence requirements and the substitute role under which the WIR had provided a single battalion as part of the garrison in Britain's West African possessions had become redundant as local forces were raised and expanded there.
In 1958, with the foundation of the Federation of the West Indies, it was decided to raise the West India Regiment once again. Initially, the 1st Battalion was formed from the nucleus of the Jamaica Regiment. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were also formed by 1960. However, the Federation was short lived, and the regiment again disbanded by 1962, with the constituent battalions becoming the infantry regiments of the two largest islands:
Overall the WIR had a good record for discipline and effectiveness, although there were three separate mutinies between 1802 and 1837. A factor in these (and a weakness in the WIR throughout its history) was that it did not always attract a high calibre of British officer. Prevailing social attitudes meant that service with "black infantry" was not a popular option during the nineteenth century and many of the more capable officers saw their time with the WIR as simply a stepping stone to more sought after assignments. It needs to be remembered that a British officer on secondment to a colonial outfit was out of sight and out of mind as far as the Colonel of his parent British regiment, who had the most influence on his promotion and preferment, was concerned. The attraction of colonial service was a matter of extra monetary allowances. Long serving British officers and non-commissioned officers, who had built up ties of mutual respect with their men, had mostly dispersed or retired by the end of World War I and in its final years of service the WIR was led by officers seconded from other British regiments for relatively short assignments.[12]
Private Samuel Hodge of the 2nd WIR was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1866 for courage shown during the capture of Tubab Kolon in the Gambia. Private Hodge was the second black recipient of this decoration—the first being Able Seaman William Hall of the Royal Navy. In 1891, Lance Corporal William Gordon of the 1st Battalion WIR received a VC for gallantry during a further campaign in the Gambia. Promoted to sergeant, Jamaican-born William Gordon remained in employment at regimental headquarters in Kingston until his death in 1922.
For the first half century of its existence the WIR wore the standard uniform (shako, red coat and dark coloured or white trousers) of the English line infantry of the period. The various units were distinguished by differing facing colours. One unusual feature was the use of slippers rather than heavy boots. In 1856 a very striking uniform was adopted for the regiments modelled on that of the French Zouaves. It comprised a red fez wound about by a white turban, scarlet sleeveless jacket with elaborate yellow braiding worn over a long-sleeved white waistcoat, and dark blue voluminous breeches piped in yellow. This distinctive uniform was retained for full dress throughout the regiment until 1914 and by the band until disbandment in 1927. It survives as the full dress of the band of the modern Barbados Defence Force.
Surprisingly limited use was made of the long serving regulars of the West India Regiment during World War I. However, in 1915 a second West Indies regiment was formed from Caribbean volunteers who had made their way to Britain. Initially, these volunteers were drafted into a variety of units within the British Army, but in 1915 it was decided to group them together into a single regiment, named the British West Indies Regiment. The similarity of titles has sometimes led to confusion between this war-time unit and the long established West India Regiment. Both were recruited from Caribbean blacks and a number of officers from the WIR were transferred to the BWIR. ent played a significant role in the First World War especially in Palestine and Jordan where they were employed in combat roles against the Turkish Army.[13] A total of 15,600 men of the British West Indies Regiment served with the Allied forces. Jamaica contributed two-thirds of these volunteers, while others came from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas, British Honduras, Grenada, British Guiana (now Guyana), the Leeward Islands, St Lucia and St Vincent. Nearly 5,000 more subsequently volunteered to join up.[14]
Another West Indies regiment was formed in 1944, this time called the Caribbean Regiment. This consisted of members of the local militia forces, as well as direct recruits. The regiment conducted brief training in Trinidad and the United States of America, before being sent to Italy. Once there, the regiment performed a number of general duties behind the front lines—these included the escort of 4,000 prisoners of war from Italy to Egypt. Subsequently, the regiment undertook mine clearance around the Suez Canal. The regiment returned to the Caribbean in 1946 to be disbanded, having not seen front line action—this was due to inadequate training and partly because of the political impact in the British West Indies if it had incurred heavy casualties.
As noted above, the West India Regiment provided detachments for service in West Africa for over a hundred years. This began when the 2nd WIR was sent to Sierra Leone to quell a rebellion of 'settlers' (freed slaves) in 1819. Upon completion of their service, some soldiers of this and subsequent WIR regiments remained in West Africa and intermarried with other Sierra Leone Creole Settlers, whose descendants today are the Sierra Leone Creole people.