West India Regiment

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Units of the West India Regiment 1874

The West India Regiments (WIR) were British Army infantry units that were recruited and usually stationed in the British colonies in the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927 .

history

In 1795 the British dug up settlers and black slaves for the West India Regiment in the Second Maroon War in Jamaica and the other West Indies . In 1807, all black slaves serving in the regiment became a mutiny act of the British Parliament. declared to be free men. The West India Regiments were in service throughout the 19th century, including 1807–1814 during the Napoleonic Wars and 1874–74 during the Ashanti Wars . The Jamaica Constabulary Force was also formed from the disbanded 3rd  Battalion of the West India Regiment. In 1888 the two then existing West India Regiments were merged. Unlike other colonial troops of the British Empire, this regiment was an integral part of the regular British Army and also served during the First World War together with the British West Indies Regiment, which was formed from volunteers in 1915, in West Africa and East Africa . In 1927 the West India Regiment was disbanded for the time being.

The West Indies united on January 3, 1958 with the exception of the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas to form the West Indies Federation . They revitalized the West India Regiment . However, the federation only existed until May 31, 1962. The units of the West India Regiment were split between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chapter V: The Story ; In: Herbert T. Thomas: The Story of a West Indian Policeman , Gleaner Verlag, 1921, p. 35.
  2. ^ History of the Jamaica Defense Force , accessed August 3, 2016.

literature

  • Roger Norman Buckley: Slaves in Red Coats: The British West India Regiments, 1795-1815 . Yale University Press, New Haven 1979.
  • Brian Dyde: The Empty Sleeve — The Story of the West India Regiments of the British Army . Hansib Caribbean, 1997, ISBN 978-976-8163-09-7 .
  • Humphrey Metzgen: Caribbean wars untold: a salute to the British West Indies . University of West Indies Press, 2007, ISBN 978-976-6402-03-7 .