Vincent Geoffrey Gomes Pereira of the British West Indies Regiment

Vincent Geoffrey Gomes Pereira was born in British Guiana in 1894 (there is conflicting evidence about this date).

He appears in the 1911 census for England & Wales, when he was a seventeen-year-old student living at a boarding school in Mayfield, Sussex. His birthplace is shown as British Guiana but he is identified as a Portuguese national. He was not the only Guianese-born student at the school, nor was he the only Pereira, fourteen year-old Ernest, born in St. Vincent, was most probably a younger brother.^[1]1911 England census, Ancestry.co.uk

Aged nineteen (?), he was on board the RMS Danube when it arrived at Plymouth on 5^th September 1915. His name is misspelt as V G Perrina.^[2]www.ancestry.co.uk, UK and Ireland, incoming passenger lists, 1878-1960 His age as shown on the passenger list does not quite tally with his age as shown in the 1911 census. It was the mis-spelling of his surname that, initially, led to me not identifying him on the Commonwealth War Graves website

According to Find a Grave, he served in Egypt and Palestine^[3]http://www.findagrave.com. Whilst his service in Egypt is not in doubt, it seems unlikely he was ever in Palestine as he had died before the British pushed eastwards out of Egypt into Palestine. At some point, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a military hospital in Tooting, south-west London. From there, he was transferred to St. Columba’s, a small (50-bed) private hospice in Hampstead, London NW3, that specialised in providing care for terminally ill patients with TB. He died there on 16^th September 1916, aged twenty-four (other sources say twenty-two, but the inscription on his gravestone must have been approved by his parents who would be best placed to know) and is buried in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, plot C2421.

The inscription on his headstone reads: ‘To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.’

An obituary appeared in the Hampstead News on 28^th September:

For the first time in the history of the hospital a funeral took place from St. Columba’s last week. It was a military funeral and the dead soldier was borne to the grave by men of the 13th Suffolks.

Private Vincent Geoffrey Pereira, who was twenty two years of age, was the son of a medical man in Essequibo, British Guiana, and was himself employed as a solicitor’s clerk in the country of his birth. On the outbreak of war, he and another brother joined the West Indian contingent, and was sent to England for training. When this was completed, he went to Egypt, but there developed pulmonary tuberculosis. After treatment at the Egyptian Government Hospital, Alexandria, he was transferred to the Tooting Military Hospital, and his case being found hopeless, he became an inmate of St. Columba’s five weeks ago, and died there last Saturday week. When it was known that he was hopelessly ill, arrangements were made by the West India Committee for his mother to come from British Guiana to spend the last days with him, but before she could start upon the journey young Pereira had passed away. Though no relatives were with him at the end, he was surrounded by all that loving care could give, and the Council of St. Columba’s were glad to pay the last mark of respect, and permit the funeral to be carried out (on Wednesday) from the hospital. The coffin was taken into the hall and covered with the Union Jack. Miss Macneil, the present hon. Superintendent, placed the wreath sent by the dead man’s parents and inscribed “In loving memory of a devoted son.” at the head; the Matron added a handsome wreath of of laurel leaves tied with the National colours from the Members of the Council of St. Columba’s; and a third, inscribed “To the memory of Private V G Pereira who gave his life to King and Country.” sent by the West Indian Contingent Committee was placed at the foot. Others from the Tooting hospital, Agnes Wilson, Mrs Bamford and family, and Mrs Wallbridge, etc. found places on the funeral car.

The firing party, provided by the War Office, was drawn up at the entrance, and from those gathered in the hall, including the Superintendent, members of the medical and nursing staff, and of the Council, the coffin was reverently lifted and placed in the car by comrades, and preceded by the “Suffolks” with arms reversed made its way to St. Mary’s cemetery (Kensal Green) where the internment was made.

The mourners were Mr A E Aspinall (hon. secretary of the West Indian Contingent Committee), Mr C Earle (representing St. Columba’s), friends of the family of the deceased, a Sister from Tooting Hospital, a school fellow of Private Pereira and his brothers. At the Cemetery, after the service, the buglers sounded the “Last Post” and volleys were fired over the grave.

Much gratitude has been expressed for the “great kindness” shown to Private Pereira while an inmate at the Home of Peace.^[4]Hampstead News, 28^th September, 1916,  Findmypast

He was awarded the War Medal and the Victory Medal.

A war gratuity of £3 10 shillings (about £170 in 2026 prices) was paid to his father, Dr. Manuel Gomes Pereira in 1920.  This was in addition to the £19 1 shilling and 3 pence (presumably the pay that he was owed when he died) that had been paid out in July 1917.

On 14^th July 1922 the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser reported the unveiling of a war memorial at Xaverian College, Mayfield. Vincent Gomes Pereira’s name was among the old boys of the school commemorated.^[5]Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, 14^th July 1922 , Findmypast

When I identified him some time after my book The British West Indies Regiment – Black Soldiers at Seaford and Beyond was published, I kicked myself as I felt he was a man who should have been included in the book. But, although he certainly served in the BWIR, trained at Seaford, and died serving his King and country^[6]Technically, it may be that ‘his country’ was Portugal but he clearly considered himself British enough to enlist in the Army to fight against Germany and its allies. Portugal was, … Continue reading, on reflection, his ethnicity is uncertain.  The fact that he described himself as Portuguese on the census return offers a clue as to his heritage.

When slavery was abolished in 1834, the Guianese plantocracy needed another source of labour to work in the plantations. They came up with the idea of importing indentured labourers, initially from East India, later from the Portuguese colony of Madeira. British Guiana soon had a sizeable population of Portuguese nationals; between 1834 and 1882 over 30,000 arrived in the colony. It seems likely that Vincent Pereira’s parents or grandparents were from Madeira – likely, but not proven. Although ‘European’, the population of Madeira is a very diverse with African ancestry well in the mix. Most Privates in the BWIR were Black or of mixed heritage but, without access to Vincent Pereira’s specific family tree, I can only speculate as to  his heritage. I would hazard a guess that he was of ‘mixed heritage’ but guesswork is no substitute for properly researched history.

I am sharing his story  as I believe it is interesting regardless of his heritage. Perhaps someone will come forward with more information, but, for now, I have told his story as far as I can.