Putting the 'story' into 'history'
Who is this man, and why will I be talking about him at the Black Cultural Archives on Sunday, 8th March?
To find out, join me for the book launch of: The British West Indies Regiment: Black Soldiers at Seaford and Beyond.
As this will be International Women’s Day we are expecting a very special guest of honour!
FREE EVENT – TICKET DETAILS TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE, SHORTLY
On the 20th January 1916 the War Diary of the 1st Battalion of the British West Indies Regiment reported that:
39 Officers and 1,559 other ranks entrained at Seaford, Sussex to proceed overseas
Charles Milton Walker was among them:
Born in British Guiana (now Guyana) on 23rd May 1896, Milton (as he was known by his family) was nineteen years old. He was not the youngest of the men leaving Seaford that day but he was among the youngest. He came from a military background, his father had served in the West India Regiment for almost a decade, which may help explain why Milton had been so keen to enlist (his service number, 272, indicates that he had been among the first to join up).
None of the men leaving Seaford, as far as we know, has left any written record of their feelings as they set off for service overseas, but it is easy to imagine the mixture of excitement and trepidation they must have felt on the train journey across southern England to Plymouth where a ship, HMT Marathon, was waiting to take them on the next stage of their journey. They may also have felt relief at leaving the training camp at Seaford where seventeen of their comrades had died, including one, Reginald Fitzherbert Laing, who died the day before they set off.
The train carrying the men, paused at Exeter before making its way to Plymouth. The following day the men were on their way, bound for Alexandria and service in Egypt. What happened next is told in:
You can read the story of Charles Milton Walker and his brothers, Leonard and Clarence, in this book by his daughter, Maria Downer:
Over a few short months from September 1915 to January 1916, around two thousand Black soldiers from various British colonies in the Caribbean area passed through the small Sussex town of Seaford. They were members of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the newly formed British West Indies Regiment, a Regiment whose very existence had been fiercely opposed by the War Office where the prevailing view was that Black men had no place in the British Army. They were being trained in readiness to play their part in the battles that were raging a few short miles away across the English Channel, but only a handful saw active service in France.
Nineteen of them died in Seaford and are buried in Commonwealth War Graves in a cemetery there. It has frequently been asserted that, housed in poorly constructed huts and unaccustomed to the English weather, the men who died in Seaford succumbed to pneumonia. In fact, pneumonia was the principle cause of death of only seven of them. The death certificates of these nineteen men tell a more complicated story, one that this new book reveals for the first time.
In addition to tracing their journey to Seaford and describing their time there, this book tells the stories of men who left Seaford on 20th January 1916 to set sail, not for France as they had hoped and expected, but for Alexandria. The War Office opposed the idea of Black men, who they believed to be inherently inferior, being allowed to take shots at White men, even if they were German. In the warped racial hierarchy of the time it was considered more acceptable to deploy the men of the BWIR in Egypt where they would be faced by Arab and Turkish forces, men who were almost equally inferior, and definitely not White.
Initially denied a combat role, men of the BWIR played a big part in the successful campaign in the Middle East, a campaign that saw Allied forces advance out of Egypt, into Israel and on to the capture of Jerusalem. Some men were also deployed in separate campaigns in East Africa (present day Kenya and Tanzania) and Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).
They served with distinction and drew praise from their commanding officers. But they also encountered racism, in particular when the War ended and they were sent to Italy to await demobilisation and return to their homes in the colonies.
Men in the BWIR were awarded a range of medals: five Distinguished Service Orders, nineteen Military Crosses, eleven Military Crosses with Bar, and forty-nine mentions in dispatches. The Imperial War Museum identify the man on the left as Lance Corporal Leekham but this is probably incorrect, the man’s true identity is not known. Several of the men who received medals or were mentioned in dispatches are known to have trained at Seaford.
In total, around 15,600 men served in the BWIR from its formation in 1915 to its disbandment in 1919. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website identifies 1,499 men from the Regiment who died (the Imperial War Museum offers a slightly lower number). Most, as the book shows, died as a result of illness or disease contracted on active service – malaria was a particular killer. Few of those who returned to their homes in the Caribbean were unscathed by the experience, as existing pension records show.
The service of these men has been largely ignored by the history books and it is time that omission was rectified. This book seeks to play a part in that.
Today is a day for quiet reflection as we honour the sacrifices of all members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty in all conflicts and wars since those who laid down their lives in the First World War. This is the day in 1918 when the guns fell silent on the Western Front after more than four years of fighting.
But if today is about ‘remembering’, then it should not only be about the Western Front, the 1914-18 war was indeed a World War and few places were untouched by it.
I followed a link on the BBC website this morning to an article entitled ‘What role did the British Empire play in the war?’ I thought this ‘Bitesize’ article would be illuminating. It was, but perhaps not in the way I had hoped.
I learnt that ‘British colonies sent over two and a half million men to fight for Britain during the war.’ They came from ‘India’ (which the article adds, at that time included Pakistan and Bangladesh) and ‘colonies as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Rhodesia (which is now Zimbabwe) also sent thousands of soldiers.’ ‘Bitesize’ history indeed.
Perhaps it is unfair to expect the full story from a self proclaimed ‘bitesize’ piece, but that shouldn’t stop us from filling in some of the gaps. Britain’s colonies in the area of the the Caribbean sent around 15,600 men to serve in the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR), a small number in the grand scheme of things but that doesn’t mean their contribution should be forgotten.
There is a book by Dominiek Dendooven which covers the presence of the BWIR on the Western Front and there will soon be a book covering the contribution of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the BWIR (we are spending today proof reading it!). These men, around two thousand of them, trained at a camp at Seaford in Sussex and then went on to serve in campaigns in Egypt and Palestine and also in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and in East Africa, a few also served in Flanders. They served with distinction but many never returned to their homes and are commemorated from Dar-es-Salaam to Basra and many places in between. Their stories have never previously been told.
Today, we remember all of them.
We have new articles this month from regular contributors, John Ellis and Audrey Dewjee. The fact we are in Black History Month is purely coincidental, at Historycal Roots, every month is Black History Month!
John tells us of three more Black soldiers in World War One.
I know that John was irritated by criticism of the film 1917 when it was released in 2019. It garnered high praise for its technical brilliance (seemingly shot in one continuous take although, in fact, there were some barely noticeable edits), and for its unvarnished depiction of the horror of war. One reviewer said:
This film is overwhelming. I have nothing further to add, other than the compelling need for eternal remembrance to those who sacrificed their lives in any way, we can not fathom.
But there were those who criticised the ‘unrealistic’ inclusion of Black and Asian soldiers which allegedly arose from a need to appear ‘woke’:
All movie producers these days are under pressure to kneel before the “Woke” generation and showcase minorities, even if it couldn’t have happened.
When I asked Google A1 about this I got the following response:
The 2019 film ‘1917’ features black soldiers, but their presence with integrated British infantry units was largely an artistic choice to reflect that the war was a global conflict, rather than an accurate depiction of military integration at the time While black soldiers did serve in the war, they were typically in separate units or labor corps, with a few exceptions like Walter Tull, a black officer in the Middlesex Regiment.
Sadly more and more people will get their ‘history’ filtered by AI rather than from the whole series of articles that John has written on the subject. AI can be helpful, of course, but clearly there are huge risks if we come to rely on it.
John’s latest article is here:
https://www.historycalroots.com/three-black-soldiers-in-world-war-one/
Not content with that, John has also written about Private C Calvert, who served in the Middlesex Regiment in WW1. We would not know of Private Calvert were it not for a very brief item that appeared in the Daily Mirror on 1st September 1915:
https://www.historycalroots.com/private-c-calvert-of-the-middlesex-regiment-in-ww1/
And, John has also found time to write about yet another Black soldier in World War One. You can read about Michael Cipriani here:
Audrey takes us further back into British history, to the proclamation issued by the Lord Mayor of London on 14th September 1731:
‘for the future no Negroes or other Blacks be suffered to be bound apprentices at any of the Companies of this City’.
As you will read, the Aldermen of the City of London were clearly having second thoughts about granting the Freedom of the City of London just one week earlier to John Satia. Originally from Barbados, Satia had been brought to England as a servant and subsequently served an apprenticeship. Completing the apprenticeship ‘entitled’ him to the Freedom of the City, which was duly granted on 14th September 1731.
Keen that London shouldn’t have it all its own way, Audrey introduces us to John Moore who gained the Freedom of York even earlier, on 29th September 1687. As freemen these men would have been entitled to vote in General Elections and may well have done so.
You can read Audrey’s article here:
Enjoy reading these articles and remember, the next Black History Month – November 2025 – is just days away!
On Saturday the 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army sustained 57,000 casualties, still the bloodiest day in British military history.
In just under five months, The Somme would claim 300,000 British troops and an estimated 1 million casualties on all sides.
John Ellis has identified the presence of a number of Black British troops at the Somme, just putting ‘somme’ into the website’s search box brings up many articles:
https://www.historycalroots.com/?s=somme
But perhaps today of all days should just be a day of quiet reflection on the ultimate sacrifice made by so many men of all races, nationalities and creeds.
Lest We Forget
.
Well, perhaps you should!
For the past four years Barbara Ellis has produced a ‘Lest We Forget’ calendar commemorating the contribution of men and women of colour from the Caribbean to the British war effort in the two World Wars. We have them all.
You won’t be able to read the text in the following images but they give you an idea of the overall approach.
We have kept them because, in addition to being a wall calendar for the year, they each contain a wealth of Black British history. For each month there is a meticulously researched article about a particular person or on a theme. Honestly, if you could take the articles from the four years and put them together, you would get a great book about Black British history full of stories that are new to you.
The calendar costs £10 but, for obvious reasons, Barbara will sell the few she has left for £5. If you are interested you can contact her here:
babarasellis4(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com
Please be patient as we know that she is lucky enough to be on holiday at the moment.
While we have your attention, a subscriber asked if we could make the link to the list of prisoners of colour in Newgate gaol produced by John Ellis more accessible – your wish is our command! Here it is:
Black or of colour inmates remanded into Newgate Gaol between May 1817 and January 1882
A decade ago we worked on a project to identify Black soldiers who served in the First World War and who were commemorated in the UK. We had some successes, as a result of our work the ‘lost’ grave of Lionel Turpin was located and his final resting place in a Leamington cemetery is now marked. The project also led us to the story of the Walker Brothers and a book that tells their story:
We were helped in our work by two books, recently published at the time, Black Poppies by Stephen Bourne and Black Tommies by Ray Costello, but there was still a sense that this was a hidden history and that there were those who wished to deny the presence of Black soldiers in Flanders – if they were there at all, they were there simply as labourers, not as fighting troops. Thanks to the work of John Ellis our website now contains the stories of a number of men of colour who served in combat roles (just type ‘somme’ into the search box to find them).
The photo we feature below is further proof of a Black presence at the Battle of the Somme in 1916:
John Ellis provides some context:
This unit is D Company of the 1st/4th Gloucestershire Regiment (City of Bristol Battalion). They were formed from civilian volunteers living in Bristol when WW1 broke out. They went to France in 1915 and in July 1916 they participated in the Battle of the Somme. The photo was taken after a successful attack on the German trenches They have taken trophies: A German machine gun. German helmets and swords. Within a few days they went back into battle. The Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916. Over 400,000 British soldiers were killed. So many of the men in the photograph would have been wounded or killed after it was taken.
Only a few of the men in the photo have been identified. Most are unknown. Including the Black soldier sitting behind the machine gun among his comrades.
The photograph comes from the collection of amateur historian, Ian Chard, who reached out to the BBC in an attempt to find out who some of the men were. You can read more about the story here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67945251
As we approach Remembrance Day the photograph offers a timely reminder of the diversity of those who have served Britain.
On 11th March 1916 the SS Verdala left Jamaica with 1,160 recruits on board, men who had enlisted to fight for Britain in the ‘Great War’. As the ship steamed out of the harbour, even the Governor of Jamaica, Sir W H Manning, didn’t know the precise details of the planned voyage other than that England was the ultimate destination. What transpired shook many Jamaicans’ faith in the colonial authorities.
The Verdala was ill-suited for the voyage that lay ahead and nine of the men who left Jamaica with high hopes of contributing to the war effort died long before the ship reached England. Hundreds of others were permanently disabled.
You may be familiar with the story, the broad outlines are relatively well-known, but even with well-known stories there is often more that can be learned. We think our latest article will contain new information for even the most well-read of this site’s followers. You can read it here:
https://www.historycalroots.com/an-ill-fated-voyage-the-ss-verdala-march-1916/
In case you think John Ellis has been resting on his laurels since the start of 2023 I am here to disabuse you of that notion, the apparent hiatus in activity stems from my delays in uploading the material he has sent to me. There are three new pages from him that, between them, illustrate the diversity that has long existed in the British Armed forces.
Perhaps the saddest story of the three is that of Charles Girling who was born in St.Domingo in about 1781. Originally colonised by the Spanish in 1496, the island that came to be known as Hispaniola was to be heavily contested by competing colonial powers, with the English and French vying with the Spanish for influence and control of the area before Toussaint L’Ouverture came on the scene.
Charles Girling enlisted in a British regiment, the 20th Light Dragoons, in 1798 when the regiment was in Jamaica. In 1802 the regiment returned to England and Charles Girling went with them. But by 1805 Charles had been admitted to the notorious Bethlem Royal hospital (‘Bedlam’) afflicted by ‘lunacy’ (a diagnosis that could cover a wide variety of issues) and, having been declared ‘incurable’ in May 1806, he spent his remaining time in institutions until he died in 1807. His story is not a happy one but John has done a remarkable job in tracking Charles’ progress through the several institutions responsible for his care.
The stories of William Perera and the Jacotine brothers, Harold and Eric, date from World War One. All three were born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and served in the British Army. Harold Jacotine was killed in action in April 1918 but his brother and William Perera both survived the war and returned to Ceylon. Eric Jacotine would later return to England, settle in London, become a taxi driver and raise a large family.
