Lives of the First World War
Discover, explore and remember millions of personal stories from the First World War
HMT Verdala Jan 1916 British West Indies Regiment (Jamaica)
HMT Verdala Jan 1916 British West Indies Regiment (Jamaica)
'Third Battalion growing fast. One hundred men were enlisted at Swallowfield camp yesterday'. Remembering the 3rd Battalion (2nd Jamaica War Contingent - 22 officers, 1100 men) of the British West Indies Regiment who sailed from Jamaica on 7 January 1916 (having earlier collected men from The Bahamas) arriving in Plymouth on 20 or 26 January 1916. 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. The 3rd battalion transferred to Alexandria, Egypt on 24 February, arriving 8 March 1916. 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 // incomplete.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jamwgw/contin.htm
Created by: , Deborah102878
-
Born 1896
British Army 2989 Lance Corporal British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
British Army 2989 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Milton Arthur Urquhart -
Died 1918
Other Empire Force 1548 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 3470 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Philip Adolphus Ferguson -
Died 1918
British Army 3507 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Cecil Albert Williams -
Born 1896
Other Empire Force 1241 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 2618 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about William Theophilus Elliston -
British Army 2904 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Richard Gordon -
Born 1889
Other Empire Force 1984 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 3413 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Robert Jackson -
Died 1916
Other Empire Force 907 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 2849 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Isaac B Graham -
Born 1888
Other Empire Force 2524 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 3691 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Joseph Turpin -
Born 1896
Other Empire Force 1699 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 3177 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Herman Bernal Higgins -
Born 1891
British Army 3122 Private British West Indies Regiment
Other Empire Force 2532 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 3122 Lance Corporal British West Indies Regiment
More about Alexander Constantine Brown -
Born 1893
Other Empire Force 1549 Private Jamaica War Contingent
British Army 2753 Private British West Indies Regiment 2nd Battalion
More about Alfred Scott -
British Army 2832 Corporal British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about S Latibeaudiere -
Born 1893
Other Empire Force Jamaica Constabulary
Other Empire Force Kingston Infantry Volunteers
Other Empire Force 1429 Private Jamaica War Contingent
…
More about Ewart Charles Samuels -
Born 1879
British Army 3256 Private British West Indies Regiment
More about Joseph Augustus Plummer -
Born 1890
Died 1916
British Army 3516 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Thomas Joseph Whittaker -
Born 1882
Air Force (RAF/RFC) Temporary Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps
British Army Lieutenant British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
Air Force (RAF/RFC) Lieutenant Royal Air Force
More about Caryl Charles Barrett -
Born 1885
Died 1916
British Army 3234 Private British West Indies Regiment 3rd Battalion
More about Ethelbert Gillespie