British West Indies Regiment

British West Indies Regiment
Soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment on the Albert to Amiens Road, September 1916.
Active	1915–1921
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Role	Infantry
Size	15,601 (397 officers and 15,204 men)
Battle honours	Messines 1917 Ypres 1917 Polygon Wood Broodseinde Poelcappelle Passchendaele Pursuit to Mons France and Flanders 1916–18 Italy 1918 Rumani Egypt 1916–17 El Mughar Nebi Samwil Jerusalem Jaffa Battle of Megiddo 1918 Nablus Palestine 1917–18

The British West Indies Regiment was a unit of the British Army during the First World War, formed from volunteers from British colonies in the West Indies.

In 1915 the British Army formed a second West Indies regiment from Caribbean volunteers who had made their way to Britain. Initially, these volunteers were drafted into a variety of units within the army, but in 1915 it was decided to group them together into a single regiment, named the British West Indies Regiment. The similarity of titles has sometimes led to confusion between this war-time unit and the long established West India Regiment. Both were recruited from black Caribbean volunteers and a number of officers from the WIR were transferred to the BWIR.

The 1st Battalion was formed in September 1915 at Seaford, Sussex, England. It was made up of men from:

A further ten battalions were formed afterwards. High wastage led to further drafts being required from Jamaica, British Honduras and Barbados before the regiment was able to begin training. In total 15,600 men served in the British West Indies Regiment. Jamaica contributed two-thirds of these volunteers, while others came from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas, British Honduras (now Belize), Grenada, British Guiana (now Guyana), the Leeward Islands, Saint Lucia and St Vincent. Nearly 5,000 more subsequently volunteered.

The British West Indies Regiment played a significant role in the First World War especially in Palestine and Jordan where they were employed in military operations 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".