 |
| Badge of the British West Indies Regiment |
By James Patton
In the second episode of the short-lived BBC series The Crimson Field there is a minor plot line involving a British patient who is Black. This made me wonder: did any Black soldiers actually serve with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), or was this dramatic license, history seen through 21st-century eyes?
It is well known that many thousands of Black soldiers served on the Western Front with the French and the U.S. armies, and also that predominantly Black units raised in the West Indies and Africa served with the British Army, some of them even trained in the U.K. The all-white 1st South African Infantry Brigade brought an African "labor corps" with them to France, but these men weren’t soldiers.
Beginning in the fall of 1914, volunteers from all parts of the Caribbean sought to join the British Army, even encouraged to do so by activists like Marcus Garvey, who preached that if they showed their loyalty to the king they would "earn" the right to be treated as equals.
 |
| Command Staff & NCOs of a BWIR Unit |
En route to the U.K., hundreds of West Indian volunteers suffered from frostbite when they were routed through Halifax in the winter of 1914–15. Some had to be returned home as no longer fit to serve, with no compensation or benefits. Still others came to Britain as stowaways. From the Stratford Express (London) 19 May 1915, page 3:
THE DOCKS - Black Men for the Front at West Ham Police Court to-day (Wednesday).
Nine Black men, natives of Barbados, West Indies, were charged with being stowaways on the S.S. Danube.
Mr. JW Richards, who prosecuted for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, said that the S.S. Danube made a voyage from Trinidad to England, and the day after leaving Trinidad the ship called at Barbados. It was presumed that the men came aboard there for the day. Afterwards they were found on the vessel.
Mr. Justice Gillespie: In a dark corner, I suppose? (Laughter).
Mr. Richards continued that the men were put to work, and they did not cause any trouble. He was told that the men were desirous of enlisting in the Army.
Mr. Justice Gillespie: What, do they want to enlist in the Black Guards? (Laughter).
Det. Sergt. Holby said he had made enquiries at the local recruiting office and they told him they could not enlist because of their colour, but if application was made to the War Office no doubt they could enlist in some regiment of Black men.
Mr. Justice Gillespie: Remanded for a week.
West Indians living in the U.K. were mostly signed up under the Derby Scheme, where recruiting agents visited men in their residences to badger them into joining. There are 1915 photographs on the Internet which show Black enlistees in both the Essex Regiment and the Prince of Wales’ Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment.
The War Office became concerned with the numbers and placed a stop on the enlistments, even vowing to deport any more arrivals. Discussions between the Colonial Office and the War Office were unsuccessful, but the king intervened, and on 19 May 1915, approval was granted to raise a regiment of West Indians, including those living in the U.K. On 26 October 1915, the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) was formed at Seaford, W. Sussex. All previous Black enlistees were transferred to the BWIR.
 |
| BWIR Troops on the Albert-Amiens Road, Somme Sector |
On the Western Front the BWIR soldiers were given labor duties, particularly stevedoring.
This poem by one of the troops, "The Black Soldier's Lament," showed the bitterness with which this was borne:
Stripped to the waist and sweated chest
Midday's reprieve brings much-needed rest
From trenches deep toward the sky.
Non-fighting troops and yet we die.
Toward the end of the war British soldiers were given a 50 percent pay rise, but the War Office denied this to the West Indians. This was later reversed by the Colonial Office who feared the resentment it had caused would result in violence at home after demobilization.
The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the BWIR served in Egypt and Palestine, the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th Battalions served in France and Flanders, the 5th Battalion was a reserve draft unit, the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Battalions also served in France and Flanders but were transferred to Italy in 1918. A total of 397 officers and 15,204 other ranks served in the BWIR. There were 185 killed or died of wounds, 697 wounded, and 1,071 died due to sickness. Members received 81 medals for bravery, and 49 were mentioned in dispatches. The BWIR was disbanded in 1921.
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.
 |
| BWIR Unit in Palestine |
There was another unit with Black soldiers in the BEF, raised from the Bermuda Militia Artillery, which was founded in 1895 because there were over 500 guns on the island and insufficient British regulars who could be spared to man them.
On 31 May 1916, 201 officers and men under the command of Major T. M. Dill left for France. Later on, a reinforcement of 62 officers and men left Bermuda on 6 May 1917. The unit, titled the Bermuda Contingent, Royal Garrison Artillery, served at ammunition dumps and delivered ammunition to active batteries. They were at the Somme from start to finish but were then moved to stevedoring until April 1917, when they were attached to the Canadian Corps in ammunition supply, working with them right through Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, where three men were killed, several wounded, and two received the Military Medal. The unit was demobilized on 31 December 1918.
They were employed on heavy ammunition dumps, and great satisfaction was expressed with their work. Though called upon to perform labour of the most arduous and exacting nature at all times of the day and night, they were not only willing and efficient but also conspicuous for their cheeriness under all conditions. On more than one occasion the dumps at which they were employed were ignited by hostile shellfire and much of their work was done under shellfire. Their behaviour on all these occasions was excellent, and commanded the admiration of those with whom they were serving.
— Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
 |
| Members of the Bermuda Contingent Working Alongside Australians in the Ypres Salient |
Going back to the question at the top—the writers of The Crimson Field didn’t make up their history, although it does seem that most of the Black soldiers weren’t in France as early as the summer of 1915, when the story was set, so they may have stretched a bit.
Sources include:
http://www.1914-1918.net/britishwestindiesregiment.html
http://www.cariwave.com/the_british_west_indies_regiment.htm
This made me much more aware of the role of West Indians in the British army during WWI. Also, many thanks for reminding me of The Crimson Field--I remember enjoying it greatly and am going to look it up again.
ReplyDeleteYou have captioned a photograph of the commissioned, warrant, and senior non-commissioned officers of the Bermuda Contingent of the Royal Garrison Artillery as "Command Staff & NCOs of a BWIR Unit". If you look carefully, you will note the Royal Artillery capbadges, and the bandoliers for small arms ammunition (artillerymen did not wear the infantry's 1908 carrying equipment as they only needed to carry ammunition for defensive weapons on their persons). It's not immediately clear why this article groups the Bermuda Contingent RGA with the BWIR, unless it is purely because both units recruited people of colour (in which case...assuming "people of colour" to refer to only to those with some degree of sub-Saharan African ancestry...the African units which saw a great deal of combat, though not on the Western Front, should be included). It is clearly not because both units recruited colonials as other units that did so are not included (most particularly the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, which sent two contingents to the Western Front). A great many Bermudians, white and coloured, served in non-Bermudian units of the British Army, as well as in the other armed services during the war, and many others also served in the Dominion of Canada's forces, as is readily apparent from a glance at the list of Bermudians killed in the war (the first of whom, W.E. Smith, served in the Royal Navy, dying in the sinking of HMS Aboukir on the 22nd of September, 1914). Bermuda is not in the West Indies, of course, though it was often thought of as such by non-Bermudians after it and Newfoundland were left out of the confederation of the rest of British North America into the Dominion of Canada (Newfoundland became a Dominion in its own right, of course). The reason Bermuda was left out was doubtless its role as an Imperial Fortress. Halifax, NS, was also an Imperial fortress, but military control of Nova Scotia passed to the new Dominion government following confederation, and the Halifax naval yard was transferred to the new Royal Canadian Navy circa 1905. The Imperial government would have wanted to retain naval and military control of Bermuda, which was its most important base in the Americas. This also explains why the War Office was willing to bank roll the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, which served a strategic role in defending Bermuda as a base for the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station (later America and West Indies Station). Neither was intended to be movable, and the contingents sent overseas were in addition to their tasks within the Bermuda garrison (reinforcing the regular artillery and infantry units in defending the colony in wartime).
ReplyDeleteFurther to my last: incidentally, the Bermuda Militia Artillery, which in peacetime normally embodied only for annual training, was embodied for that purpose when war was declared in 1914 and remained embodied for full-time service for the duration of the war. Its phased demobilisation was completed, as you note, on 31st of December, 1918, when it returned to its peacetime training schedule, but (the bulk of) its overseas contingent had not yet returned to Bermuda. One of its gunners reported that they were at a place called "Cuckoo" when the Armistice was declared. A portrait of another of its gunners is dated "Germany, 1919". The contingent returned to England in April, 1919, and four commissioned officers, an acting Warrant Officer II, an acting CQMS, and 194 other ranks returned together on the SS Ulua, arriving on the 11th of July, 1919. The contingent was demobilised on the 11th of August, 1919, other than thirty who re-engaged as regulars for twelve months local service.
ReplyDelete