The Officers.

and Yellow Fever.

Introduction.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, one of the more pressing reasons for recruiting Africans into the British armed forces was the mortality rate amongst European soldiers. Even with the formation of the West India Regiments the Corp of Officers were still European, British Officers transferred in from other regiments. These officers were "unseasoned" and usually succumbed to tropical diseases such as Malaria and Yellow Fever. Here is the story of some of those officers.

Charles and Frederick Cradock.

On a recent visit to Dublin, Ireland, I came across a reminder of this fact in Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

The point of interest is a memorial on a wall in the Cathedral to Lieutenant Charles Bury Cradock and his brother the Reverend Frederick Keatinge Cradock. Charles was an officer in the 2nd West India Regiment and the Fort Adjutant in Belize Town, British Honduras (now Belize). His brother was an Anglican Rector for St. John's Church in Belize Town.

Both of these men died of Yellow Fever in 1860 - Charles on the 18th August and his brother Frederick, shortly after, on the 2nd September. They were buried side by side in Saint John's Churchyard, Belize.

Despite the perceived might of the British Empire it took a long time to overcome this   viral infection that is transmitted by the female mosquito of the genus Aedes.

For these two brothers the Gun and the Bible could not defeat this foe!

Ambrose Madden.

The West India Regiment never took part in the Crimean War (1853-1856). One of the men that did was a Irishman called Sergeant Ambrose Madden, who at the time was a member of the British 41st Regiment *. 

During the Battle of Little Inkerman on 22nd October 1854 he led a small party of men into a quarry where they captured a Russian officer and 14 soldiers. he was promoted to Sergeant Major and three years later while serving in Jamaica he received the Victoria Cross (the medal had not been instituted at the time of the action in the Crimea).

In 1858 he was commissioned as an Ensign and shortly afterwards was transferred to the 2nd West India Regiment. While with the regiment he served in both Jamaica and West Africa. 

He died of Yellow Fever in Jamaica during January 1863. It is not known where he is buried but his Victoria Cross is on display in the Welch Regiment Museum.

Welch Regiment Museum
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff
CF10 2RB

Telephone: +44 (0) 29 2022 9367
email: welch@rrw.org.uk    

* The Welch Regiment (41st/69th) was combined with the The South Wales Borderers (24th Foot) in 1969 to form The Regiment Regiment of Wales

The Palmers.

Another view of Officers of Anglo-Irish decent who had connections with the West India Regiments. "The Palmer Family British Military Careers" by John P. DuLong, Ph.D.

Major James Palmer, Sr. b.1780? - d.1850

Lieutenant Colonel James Palmer, Jr. b.1797 - d.1868?

On Leave.

The British Colonies in the Caribbean were once very important economically with rich sugar islands. Therefore they had to be protected from other competing European countries such as The Netherlands and France. British Officers and other ranks not only disliked assignment to these outposts of Empire but even feared being stationed there due to the prevalence of killer diseases among the troops sent to the islands.  This did not help as often Officers were slow to join the regiments once assigned or took extended leave.

For an Officer assignment to a West India regiment was not at all prestigious. "The stigma associated with these corps became self-perpetuating; even at the end of the nineteenth century, cadets who passed lowest out of Sandhurst were posted to the West India Regiments." - Buckley, Roger Norman. 1979 (Africans in Redcoats).

An example of a permission to take leave (3 months) that was given to Lieutenant Ross, 2nd West India Regiment, 1st April 1836 to 30th June 1836.

This copy of the original document was supplied by Johanne Belanger  who is interseted in finding out more about it. Please go to the site forum to see her posting