Remembering the second contingent of the 1st Battalion BWIR and a Contingent of Merchant and Planters (168 men in total) who sailed from Trinidad (109) / Barbados (29) on RMS Danube on 18/19 October, stopping at Plymouth (where BWIR were landed) and arriving at Tilbury Docks on 1 November 1915. The contingents, including servicemen from Grenada, Guyana (30) and St. Lucia were invariably given a hearty send off by their friends and well-wishers. On arrival in London, the Merchants and Planters were received by Mr AE Aspinall, Hon. Secretary of the West India Committee, who put them in touch with various recruiting centres, and assisted them in joining their respective regiments. Between October 1915 and March 1916, Seaford was used as a training camp for the men from the West Indies in preparation for fighting in Europe. Withnoe camp, Whitsand Bay, Plymouth was also an arrival camp. The new arrivals were inadequately clothed for the harsh realities of the British cold in winter and the huts badly insulated. As a result the camps became rife with diseases and men lost their lives totally unnecessarily. For those who died extra information has been collected from the Soldiers' Effects records, but for lots of these men there are only medal records because they managed to survive; (the medal rolls are however split by island and show their original battalion). So they sailed from home, served in the war and then sailed home again, with the regiment not invited to the Peace (Victory) Parade held in London July 1919. Still to find: Ralph Lionel Fabien b1887 [c1901 Student in Hertfordshire], Vicente (Vincent) Leon Farfan b1885. // Barbados BWIR service numbers from 1015; Trinidad BWIR numbers from
http://caribbeanrollofhonour-ww1-ww2.yolasite.com/1st-merchants-contingent.php
Created by: , Deborah102878
British Army Lieutenant Highland Light Infantry
British Army 852 Trooper Household Battalion
British Army 22692 Private Coldstream Guards
British Army 1055 Acting Serjeant British West Indies Regiment 1st Battalion
Died 1917
British Army 5032 Private London Regiment
British Army Second Lieutenant Essex Regiment 7th (Territorial) Battalion
British Army Second Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery
British Army Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery
British Army 12266 Acting Corporal Army Cyclist Corps
British Army 12266 Private Army Cyclist Corps
Born 1896
Died 1917
British Army 3773 Trooper Life Guards
British Army 1056 Serjeant British West Indies Regiment