West India Regiments
The West India Regiments were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced to a single unit of two battalions. This 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 a new regiment was created 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 and Tobago. Throughout their history, the regiments were involved in a number of campaigns in the West Indies and Africa, and also took part in the First World War, where they served in the Middle East and East Africa.
History
Origins and early basis of recruitment
Eight West India Regiments were commissioned between 24 April and 1 September 1795. About 78 men from the Carolina Corps, established in 1779, were incorporated into the 1,000 man 1st West India Regiment. Soldiers were mainly acquired by recruiting free Black men from the West Indies and purchasing enslaved men from West Indian plantations. Between 1795 and 1808, an estimated 13,400 slaves were purchased for service in the West India Regiments at the cost of about £925,000. This constituted about 7% of the enslaved Africans imported into the British West Indies during this period. The eighth of the newly raised regiments was disbanded the following year but the quality of the new corps led to a further five West India Regiments being raised in 1798.A revolt of the 8th West India Regiment in 1802 occurred when its soldiers took over the Fort Shirley garrison on Dominica for three days in protest over working conditions, and fears over being potentially sent to work in the cane fields.
All serving black soldiers recruited as slaves in the West India Regiments of the British Army were freed under the Mutiny Act 1807 passed by the British parliament that same year. In 1807, the Slave Trade Act caused all trading in slaves to be "utterly abolished, prohibited and declared to be unlawful". In 1812 a West African recruiting depot was established on Bance Island in Sierra 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 led to the closure of this depot. Thereafter, all recruitment for the various West Indian 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 Caribbean soldiers played a prominent and often distinguished role in the military history of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Nineteenth century
The new West India Regiments saw considerable service during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1800, there were 12 battalion-sized regiments located in the British West Indies. Three companies of the First WIR repulsed a French attempt to recapture the island of Marie-Galante in August–September 1808, together with members of the first Corps of Colonial Marines recruited from local fugitive slaves.The Regiments were later involved in the War of 1812, both on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, taking part in the British attack on New Orleans. After the Slave Trade Act 1807, there was a shortfall of around five thousand members at the start of the War of 1812, and the war offered hope of new recruitment from Black slaves fleeing the United States. However, only eight joined the regiments from the Chesapeake Bay area in 1814, and a further thirteen on the coast of Georgia early in 1815, the great majority of refugees who offered military service preferring the newly formed Corps of Colonial Marines, whose officers later rejected government orders for transfer to the Regiments.
Following the end of the War of 1812, numbers were progressively reduced. Members of two of the disbanded regiments were settled in the eastern part of Trinidad, the 6th in 1817 and the 3rd in 1819, forming the main Muslim population in Trinidad before the first arrival of indentured Indian immigrants in 1845. During most of the remainder of the nineteenth century there were never less than two West India Regiments. The 1st West India Regiment from Jamaica went to the Gold Coast of Africa to fight in the Ashanti War of 1873–4. Both the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments served under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley during this campaign, acquitting themselves well in difficult conditions.
In 1837, 60–100 disaffected African soldiers of the 1st West India Regiment mutinied in St. Joseph, Trinidad. They had recently been conscripted into the regiment after being liberated from illegal slave ships by the Royal Navy. The mutineers seized arms and ammunition, killing one enlisted soldier and setting fire to the officers' quarters. The Army and Trinidad Militia quickly suppressed the mutiny, killing twelve mutineers; six others committed suicide to avoid capture. Three ringleaders of the mutiny, including Daaga, were subsequently executed, while two others were sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted to penal transportation to Australia.
Summary
Formation of West India Regiment
On 1 October 1888, the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments were merged into a single regiment comprising two battalions. Each battalion consisted of eight companies plus a regimental depot for recruiting and other administrative matters situated in Kingston Jamaica. There was little direct interchanging between the two battalions since one was always serving in West Africa and one in the West Indies at this time.A third battalion was raised in 1897, but was disbanded in 1904. Enlistment for the West India Regiment during this period involved a commitment for twelve years of full-time service. This was in contrast with most other infantry regiments of the British regular army, where recruitment was for seven years "with the colours" followed by five years with the reserves.
Later years
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. The regiment fought in the Anglo-Ashanti Wars of 1873-74 and 1896, the Yoni Expedition and the Sierra Leone Hut Tax War of 1898.World War I
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 signalers saw service in the German Cameroons, where Private L. Jordon earned a DCM and several other men were mentioned in despatches. The 1st Battalion returned to the West Indies in 1916.The 2nd Battalion was 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.
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 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. Two battalions of a newly raised regiment also recruited from black Caribbean soldiers: the similarly named British West Indies Regiment, 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".
Post war
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. During the final post-war period only the regimental band served outside Jamaica, attending ceremonial functions in Toronto and London.The actual disbandment of the reduced West India Regiment took place at the Up Park military camp in Jamaica on 31 January 1927, in a ceremony attended by the Governor and a large crowd. A smaller event took place two weeks later at Buckingham Palace when eight officers who had served with the WIR handed over the regimental colours to King George V.