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The West India Regiment.
1st West India Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Whyte's Regiment of Foot.
Carolina Corp and Royal Rangers (Malcolm's) drafted into the regiment in 1796.
Amalgamated with the 2nd West India Regiment in 1888.
Battle Honours
"Dominica 1805"
"Martinique 1809"
"Guadeloupe 1810"
"Ashantee 1873-74".
"West Africa 1887"
Campaigns and Civil Actions
Dominica (1805)
Danish Virgin Islands (1807) - now the US Virgin islands.
Marie Galante (1808) - small island near Guadeloupe
Martinique (1809)
Guadeloupe (1810)
New Orleans (1814)
Guadeloupe (1815)
Barbados (1816)
British Guiana (1823) - now Guyana
Gambia (1831)
British Guiana (1842)
Gold Coast (1848) - now Ghana
Gambia (1853)
Sierra Leone (1855)
Gambia (1855)
British Guiana (1856) - now Guyana
Gambia (1861)
Gold Coast (1863-64) - now Ghana
Jamaica - Morant Bay rebellion (1865)
British Honduras (1872) - now Belize
Gold Coast (1873-74) - now Ghana
Sierra Leone (1887)
Mutiny
Trinidad (1837) - On the 18th June new recruits who had been liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy mutinied. They had not been given the opertunity to volenteer to join the army but had been "pressed". About 40 of the recruits were killed and 2 were executed by firing squad. As a result of this the British Army discontinued the practice of wholesale drafting of freed enslaved Africans.
2nd West Indian Regiment
Raised in 1795 as Myer's Regiment of Foot.
St. Vincent Rangers drafted into the regiment in 1796.
Amalgamated with the 1st West India Regiment in 1888.
Battle Honours
"Ashantee" 1873-1874.
Campaigns and Civil Actions
St. Vincent (1796)
St. Martin (1801)
Santo Domingo (1809)
St. Mary's (1814) - USA
Rio Pongo Expedition (1820)
Gold Coast (1823-24) - now Ghana
Gambia (1849)
Gambia (1855)
British Guiana (1856) - now Guyana
Gambia (1861)
Sierra Leone (1861)
Gold Coast (1863-64) - now Ghana
Gold Coast (1873-74) - now Ghana
Sierra Leone (1883)
Mutiny
Jamaica (1808) - A small detachment of new recruits mutinied at Fort Augusta. Twenty -one were killed during the mutiny and the rest captured by the reminder of the regiment. A further seven of the mutineers were executed after being court-martialled. Two officers were killed by the mutineers. As new recruits these men were purchased by the British Government as enslaved Africans and had rebelled to obtain their freedom.
3rd West Indian Regiment
Raised in 1795 as Keppel's Regiment of Foot.
Disbanded in 1825.
Reformed in 1840.
Disbanded 1870.
The 3rd West India Regiment was also known unofficially as "Buckmaster's Light Infantry". It came by this name from Buckmaster, the tailor, who used to issue “Light Infantry uniforms” to the officers of the corps without any authority from the Commander-in-Chief.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
St. Lucia (1803)
Danish Virgin Islands (1807) - now the US Virgin islands.
Martinique (1809)
The Saintes (1809)
Guadeloupe (1810)
Reformed.
Gambia (1849)
Sierra Leone (1855)
Gambia (1855)
Gold Coast (1863-64) - now Ghana
4th West Indian Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Nicholl's Regiment of Foot.
Disbanded in 1819.
Re-formed 1840.
Disbanded in 1869.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
Martinique (1809)
Guadeloupe (1810)
Gibralter (1817-1819)
Reformed.
Gold Coast (1863-64) - now Ghana
British Hondurus (1866) - now Belize
Gambia (1866)
Note: A detachment of the regiment was known to have served in St.Kitts.
Battle honours
"Martinique" 1809, "Guadeloupe" 1810.
5th West Indian Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Howe's Regiment of Foot.
Disbanded in 1817.
Re-formed in 1863.
Disbanded in 1865.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
New Orleans (1814)
6th West Indian Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Whitelock's Foot.
Disbanded in 1817.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
Belize (1798)
Surinam (1803)
Guadeloupe (1810)
7th West Indian Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Lewe's Foot.
Disbanded in 1802.
Re-formed in 1802 from various drafts from the disbanded Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth West
Indian Regiments.
Disbanded in 1816.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
None.
8th West Indian Regiment.
Raised in 1795 as Skerrett's Regiment of Foot.
Disbanded in 1796.
Re-formed in 1798 with drafts from the Loyal Dominican Rangers.
Reduced in 1802 after a mutiny in Dominica.
Re-raised later in 1802 with drafts from the disbanded 11th West Indian Regiment.
Disbanded in 1816.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
St. Martin (1801)
Reformed.
Trinidad, Monthly Return (1st February
1808)
Martinique (1809)
The Saintes (1809)
Guadeloupe (1810)
9th West Indian Regiment.
Originally raised in Guadeloupe in 1794 as a French regiment, known as the Guadeloupe
or Drault's Rangers; became a British Regiment in 1798.
Disbanded in 1802.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
None.
10th West Indian Regiment.
Originally raised in Martinique in 1794 as a French regiment, known as Soter's Royal
Island Rangers; became a British Regiment in 1798.
Disbanded in 1802.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
None.
11th West Indian Regiment.
Originally raised in Demerara and known as the South American Rangers; became a British
Regiment in 1798.
Disbanded and renumbered the 8th West India Regiment in 1802.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
None.
12th West Indian Regiment.
Raised as O'Meara's Rangers; became a British Regiment in 1798.
Disbanded in 1802.
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
None.
The West India Regiment.
Formed from the amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments in 1888 and
consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions.
3rd Battalion raised in 1897.
3rd battalion disbanded in 1904.
2nd Battalion disbanded in 1920.
Regiment disbanded in 1927.
Reformed in 1958 when the Federation of the West Indies was formed (mainly from the
Jamaican Defence Force).
Disbanded in 1962 when the Federation was disolved.
Battle Honours.
"Sierra Leone 1898-99"
"Cameroons 1914-16"
"East Africa 1914-18"
"Palestine 1917-18"
Campaigns and Civil Actions.
1st Battalion
Gambia (1892)
Ijebu campaign (1892)
Sierra Leone (1892-1893)
Gambia (1894)
Sierra Leone (1898-1899)
World War I (1914-1918)
2nd Battalion
Gambia (1891)
Gold Coast (1895) - now Ghana
Cameroons (1915-1916)
German East Africa (1916-1918) - now Tanzania
Palestine (1918-1919)
3rd Battalion
Sierra Leone (1898)
Gambia (1901)
Regimental Colours.
Regimental Colours of the 1st Battalion West India Regiment.
The Regiment paraded for the last time on the 31st January 1927 at Up Park Camp, Jamaica. The Regimental Colours were trooped for the last time and then crated to be shipped back to the England.
At 10:30 a.m. on Friday the 18th February 1927 the colours were taken to Buckingham Palace and presented to King George V. They were later transferred to St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where they still hang on display with other colours of the British Army.
The colours display 132 years of loyal service with the battle honours of:
"Dominica 1805"
"Martinique 1809"
"Guadeloupe 1810"
"Ashantee 1873-74".
"West Africa 1887"
"Sierra Leone 1898-99"
"Cameroons 1914-16"
"East Africa 1914-18"
"Palestine 1917-18"
Freemasons.
A Freemason Lodge was formed by some of the members of the 1st Battalion, West India Regiment. The Warrant of the Lodge was granted on 27th. October, 1905, to Brothers Sydney C. Thompson, Herbert W. Coneybeare and John A.McCleod as the first W.M. and Wardens. The name given to the Lodge was "The South Carolina Lodge, Ist. West India Regiment, No. 390 I.C." (external site).
Further information about the West India Regiment can be found by clicking on the links below:
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Regiments of the British West Indies. ©
Copyright 1999
Sunday, 21 October 2001