George Blackman, a Barbadian member of the fourth division, when recounting conditions to a journalist rolled up his sleeve to show his armpit: "it was cold. Most of them went to war without guns.Ĭonditions were appalling. The commanding officers were all white, and no black officer could occupy a position higher than sergeant.Īrriving in the war zone, they found that the fighting was to be done by white soldiers, and that West Indians were to be assigned the dirty and dangerous work of loading ammunition, laying telephone wires and digging trenches. This should not be confused with the West India Regiment, founded in 1795, which was normally stationed in the British colonies in the Caribbean themselves.īWIR troops being inspected in Jamaica.
In 1915, the British West Indies Regiment was formed by grouping together the Caribbean volunteers. Very many had to return home no longer fit to serve as soldiers, with no compensation or benefits. Their initial journey to England was perilous, with hundreds of soldiers suffering from severe frostbite when their ships were diverted via Halifax in Canada. Initially, the Secretary Of State for War Lord Kitchener believed that Black British soldiers should not be allowed to join the forces, but King George V's intervention - combined with the need for men - made it possible. They were encouraged to do so by activists like Marcus Garvey, on the basis that if they showed their loyalty to the King they would show they have the right to be treated as equals. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, thousands of Caribbeans volunteered to join the British army.
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