Category: World War One and Beyond

An unknown Black Soldier at the Battle of the Somme

A decade ago we worked on a project to identify Black soldiers who served in the First World War and who were commemorated in the UK. We had some successes, as a result of our work the ‘lost’ grave of Lionel Turpin was located and his final resting place in a Leamington cemetery is now marked. The project also led us to the story of the Walker Brothers and a book that tells their story:


We were helped in our work by two books, recently published at the time, Black Poppies by Stephen Bourne and Black Tommies by Ray Costello, but there was still a sense that this was a hidden history and that there were those who wished to deny the presence of Black soldiers in Flanders – if they were there at all, they were there simply as labourers, not as fighting troops. Thanks to the work of John Ellis our website now contains the stories of a number of men of colour who served in combat roles (just type ‘somme’ into the search box to find them).

The photo we feature below is further proof of a Black presence at the Battle of the Somme in 1916:

John Ellis provides some context:

This unit is D Company of the 1st/4th Gloucestershire Regiment (City of Bristol Battalion). They were formed from civilian volunteers living in Bristol when WW1 broke out. They went to France in 1915 and in July 1916 they participated in the Battle of the Somme. The photo was taken after a successful attack on the German trenches They have taken trophies: A German machine gun. German helmets and swords. Within a few days they went back into battle. The Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916. Over 400,000 British soldiers were killed. So many of the men in the photograph would have been wounded or killed after it was taken.

Only a few of the men in the photo have been identified. Most are unknown. Including the Black soldier sitting behind the machine gun among his comrades.

The photograph comes from the collection of amateur historian, Ian Chard, who reached out to the BBC in an attempt to find out who some of the men were. You can read more about the story here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-67945251

As we approach Remembrance Day the photograph offers a timely reminder of the diversity of those who have served Britain.

The ill-fated voyage of the SS Verdala

On 11th March 1916 the SS Verdala left Jamaica with 1,160 recruits on board, men who had enlisted to fight for Britain in the ‘Great War’. As the ship steamed out of the harbour, even the Governor of Jamaica, Sir W H Manning, didn’t know the precise details of the planned voyage other than that England was the ultimate destination. What transpired shook many Jamaicans’ faith in the colonial authorities.

Recruits marching through the streets of Kingston on their way to the Verdala[1]From ‘Jamaica and the Great War’ by Herbert G De Lisser
On the eve of departure from Kingston[2]De Lisser, Op.cit.

The Verdala was ill-suited for the voyage that lay ahead and nine of the men who left Jamaica with high hopes of contributing to the war effort died long before the ship reached England. Hundreds of others were  permanently disabled.

You may be familiar with the story, the broad outlines are relatively well-known, but even with well-known stories there is often more that can be learned. We think our latest article will contain new information for even the most well-read of this site’s followers.  You can read it here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/an-ill-fated-voyage-the-ss-verdala-march-1916/

References

References
↑1 From ‘Jamaica and the Great War’ by Herbert G De Lisser
↑2 De Lisser, Op.cit.

A fine start to 2023

In case you think John Ellis has been resting on his laurels since the start of 2023 I am here to disabuse you of that notion, the apparent hiatus in activity stems from my delays in uploading the material he has sent to me. There are three new pages from him that, between them, illustrate the diversity that has long existed in the British Armed forces.

Perhaps the saddest story of the three is that of Charles Girling who was born in St.Domingo in about 1781. Originally colonised by the Spanish in 1496, the island that came to be known as Hispaniola was to be heavily contested by competing colonial powers, with the English and French vying with the Spanish for influence and control of the area before Toussaint L’Ouverture came on the scene.

Charles Girling enlisted in a British regiment, the 20th Light Dragoons, in 1798 when the regiment was in Jamaica. In 1802 the regiment returned to England and Charles Girling went with them. But by 1805 Charles had been admitted to the notorious Bethlem Royal hospital (‘Bedlam’) afflicted by ‘lunacy’ (a diagnosis that could cover a wide variety of issues) and, having been declared ‘incurable’ in May 1806,  he spent his remaining time in institutions until he died in 1807. His story is not a happy one but John has done a remarkable job in tracking Charles’ progress through the several institutions responsible for his care.

https://www.historycalroots.com/from-st-domingo-to-bedlam-trumpeter-charles-girling-of-the-20th-light-dragoons/

The stories of William Perera and the Jacotine brothers, Harold and Eric, date from World War One. All three were born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and served in the British Army. Harold Jacotine was killed in action in April 1918 but his brother and William Perera both survived the war and returned to Ceylon. Eric Jacotine would later return to England, settle in London, become a taxi driver and raise a large family.

https://www.historycalroots.com/faugh-a-bella-private-william-perera-a-sri-lankan-in-the-royal-irish-fusiliers-during-the-first-world-war/

https://www.historycalroots.com/an-admirable-spirit-private-harold-jacotine-of-the-coldstream-guards/

Harold Jacotine

A remarkable find: Cyril Mellonius on Pathé News

Welcome to our first post of 2023 and, almost inevitably, it features a ‘find’ by John Ellis.

In November 2019 we published an article by John that featured Cyril Mellonius, you can read it here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/a-sri-lankan-in-the-die-hards-private-cyril-lorenz-mellonius-a-somme-veteran-of-the-middlesex-regiment/

Now he has stumbled across some remarkable Pathé News footage on You Tube which shows a group of Ceylonese men (Cyril must surely be among them) marching to enlist in London in January 1916. It is black and white (obviously), silent and grainy (and you have to get past the irritating adverts at the beginning) but it gives us a fascinating glimpse of the men John wrote about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7JHDAuy94M

A good start to the year!

A black soldier in Edgeware (London) in 1919

John Ellis’s latest post features a soldier who was born in Mauritius, was conscripted into the British Army in February 1918 whilst working in Paris, saw active service with a Dorset regiment in Flanders and was attacked by a racist mob on the streets of London in April 1919. That shorthand introduction to the story of Robert Bissessur raises an intriguing series of questions but I want to focus here on the last part of the story.

The fact that there were ‘race riots’ (i.e. attacks on black people by racist white mobs) in Britain in 1919 is well documented. David Olusoga[1]Black and British – A Forgotten History  is just one of many historians to write about the issue. Olusoga identifies nine cities where violence occurred. The first of the ‘riots’ took place in Glasgow in January, riots followed in South Shields, London (Docklands), Hull, Barry, Newport and Cardiff in south Wales and Liverpool. The riots in Cardiff were arguably the most ferocious (three men died) and those in Liverpool are possibly the best known – a Bermudan sailor, Charles Wootton (or Wootten), was hounded to his death in what Olusoga describes as a lynching.  I have never previously seen Edgeware in London mentioned in this context and yet this is where Robert Bissessur and some fellow black soldiers were attacked by a mob.

The incident actually took place in Praed Street which certainly wouldn’t be considered ‘Docklands’ but is quite close to Paddington station  and to the Paddington canal basin. Praed Street is little more than a stone’s throw from Cato Street, scene of the 1820 Cato Street conspiracy, on the other side of the Edgeware Road, and only a little north of the site of the infamous Tyburn gallows, so the area is steeped in history. By the 1830s Cato Street was said to be ‘full of the lowest class of Irish’ and when Charles Booth did his poverty survey in the 1890s they were still there.[2]Conspiracy on Cato Street – A tale of liberty and revolution in Regency London by Vic Catrell It is unlikely much had changed by 1919.  So, we can safely assume the area would have been rough and ready by the time Charles and his fellow black soldiers visited.

The story of the riot featured in a number of newspapers, one going so far as to describe what transpired as having the hallmarks of an attempted lynching. John’s article includes an extensive quote from the African Telegraph and Gold Coast Mirror‘s 1st April 1919 edition but several other newspapers also carried the story.

John has also sent me newspaper cuttings that refer to an incident in Winchester near to the Army camp where white and black soldiers (like Robert Bissessur) were waiting to be demobbed. Clearly racial tension was widespread in 1919, just how widespread probably merits further discussion, for now, we will leave that for another day.

You can read John’s article about Robert Bissessur here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/robert-bissessur-a-man-of-colour-in-the-dorset-regiment-in-the-first-world-war/

References

References
↑1 Black and British – A Forgotten History
↑2 Conspiracy on Cato Street – A tale of liberty and revolution in Regency London by Vic Catrell

A newly discovered image of Cyril Adolphus Stuart

In 2021 we published an article by John Ellis about Cyril Adolphus Stuart. Recently, John  stumbled across a photo of Cyril and we have added it to the original article.  Published in the Daily Mirror in its 8th March 1915 edition, the photo includes the King in the background (mounted, second right) and, in a separate picture,  the Queen presenting Cyril with his prize.

The caption under the photo reads “King George, always at home with his soldiers, acted on Saturday as starter in the big military race run at Aldershot, when over 500 soldiers competed. The Queen very graciously presented the prizes. The race was won by Private Stewart [sic], a coloured soldier from Jamaica.”

Within six months Cyril was dead, he died of his wounds on 11th August 1915.

You can view the amended article here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/admired-very-much-cyril-stuart-1895-1915-an-old-salopian/

1917: From First World War to culture war

The film ‘1917’ was released in cinemas in January 2020 to generally good reviews. It scored highly on specialist film review sites like Rotten Tomatoes (it scored 89% on the ‘tomatometer’ based on 461 reviews and 88% based on over 25,000 audience ratings) and IMdB (where it scored 8.3/10 based on 529,000 reviews). The Rotten Tomatoes summary had this to say:

‘Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy.’

The ‘top review’ on IMdB said:

Don’t listen to the critics saying this movie is boring. This movie is one of the most tense and exciting movies I’ve seen in years. Amazing cinematography and overall amazing experience of a movie.

By way of comparison, ‘No Time to Die’, the latest film in the James Bond franchise, scored 83% on the tomatometer and 7.4 /10 on IMdB.

What has this to do with Historycal Roots you may ask? Is this now a film review site?

To answer the second question – no, it isn’t. But there were those who attempted to enlist the film into their spurious ‘culture war’ against ‘woke history’.

One of those who spoke out against the film was actor, Laurence Fox. He expressed himself unsettled by the ‘oddness of casting’  when a Sikh character appeared in the film and that this ‘broke his immersion in the film.’ He went on ‘there is something institutionally racist about forcing diversity on people in that way.’ He made these remarks on the high profile TV programme, Question Time, at a time, surely no coincidence this, when he was attempting to launch a career in politics.

When challenged, Fox admitted ‘I’m not a historian I don’t know’ (making him well suited to a career in politics some might say), which does rather beg the question why he made the comments in the first place (jumping on a passing bandwagon seems the most obvious explanation for his ill-informed remarks).

Sikh historian Peter Singh suggested that Fox should ‘check his facts’, adding: ‘Laurence Fox is incorrect with his facts as Sikhs did fight with British forces, not just with their own regiments.’

One way Fox could educate himself would be to take a look at the Historycal Roots website and in particular at articles by John Ellis’ (over a dozen of them) and Bill Hern, about black and Asian soldiers in World War One.

This post was prompted by another soldier ‘discovered’ by John. James Eversley did not make it to France but John has identified plenty of others who did. As John says ‘it seems to me that there were plenty of bullets and shrapnel flying about in WW1 and it does not seem to have been particularly discerning about the ethnicity, nationality and social class of the squaddie it hit. They all shed the same blood in the same mud.’

James Eversley

No.5130 Private James Thomas Fitz-Evan Eversley was born at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in August 1889. He was the son of Thomas Fitz-Evan and Elizabeth (nee’ Regis) Eversley, of Concord Village, Saddle Main Road, San Juan, Trinidad. Educated at St. Mary’s College, Trinidad, he travelled to Britain with the volunteers of the ‘Second Merchant’s Contingent’ in December 1915 (Private Valleton Redman was in the same contingent); subsequently enlisting at Mansion House, London, in the 4/4th Battalion, City of London Regiment, (Royal Fusiliers). He died of sickness at Brompton Hospital, London, in June 1916, and was buried with full military honours at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green (Mary Seacole is buried in the same cemetery). Whilst his grave does not have an individual marker, he is commemorated on the Screen Wall bearing the names of casualties of both world wars.

Sources: Trinidad 1919 Year Book. (West India Committee, 1919). Trinidad-1919-Year-Book-extract.pdf (westindiacommittee.org) caribbeanrollofhonour-ww1-ww2.yolasite.com/army-ww1.php#E Lives Of The First World War 1914-1918. Findmypast.co.uk Soldiers Died in the Great War database © Naval and Military Press Ltd 2010. www.cwgc.org

For Private Valleton Redman see: https://www.historycalroots.com/private-valleton-redman/

A rich tapestry

This post alerts you to two new pages, both articles by John Ellis, that have been added to our site recently. These two articles illustrate the rich diversity of the black contribution to British history (as does virtually all the content on the site!).

In reverse chronological order, this article https://www.historycalroots.com/admired-very-much-cyril-stuart-1895-1915-an-old-salopian/ tells the story of Cyril Stuart, a young man of mixed heritage who attended one of the best public schools in England. He lost his life in the First World War.

Cyril Stuart in 1914, standing, far left (1)

Jumping back over a century, John reports on a clutch of black soldiers who served in the 18th Hussars regiment, including several who were involved in the thick of the action at the Battle of Waterloo https://www.historycalroots.com/black-soldiers-of-the-18th-hussars-1799-1821/.

John’s painstaking research continues to shine a fresh light on neglected areas of British history.

Black soldiers in World War One

It was 2015 when the individual members of the Historycal Roots’ team first got involved in the search to identify black soldiers who served in World War One (in fact Historycal Roots didn’t exist as an entity before 2016). The project we worked on was specifically aimed at identifying black servicemen who were commemorated in the UK. One of our successes was to find the exact location of the grave of Lionel Turpin. It was an unmarked plot when we visited but, finally, in 2019 a stone was placed to mark his final resting place.

One of the first things we did back in 2015 was see what had been written about the subject and two books, both relatively recently published at the time, very quickly became our starting point. ‘Black Poppies’ by Stephen Bourne had been published in 2014 and ‘Black Tommies’ by Ray Costello was published in 2015. Two of us travelled to Manchester to hear Ray speak and we were thrilled to chat with him afterwards, the first of several very pleasant and fruitful meetings.

Both books had the sense of new ground being broken; how different they would look now, not least because of the ongoing efforts of John Ellis published on this site. One of John’s latest discoveries would have fitted perfectly into the scope of that 2015 project, Private Valleron Redman served as a member of the Royal Fusiliers and is buried at Compton Chamberlayne cemetery in Wiltshire.

Like nineteen members of the British West Indies Regiment who are buried in Commonwealth War Graves at Seaford in Sussex, Private Redman never saw active service. It was the harsh and unfamiliar climate that he succumbed to rather than enemy action – he died of pneumonia in February 1916. Read his story here: http://historycalroots.com/private-valleton-redman/.

We have published a number of other of John’s ‘finds’ recently, their stories demonstrate the diversity of those who served both in terms of their origins and the roles they performed, you can find them here:

Antonia da Costa http://historycalroots.com/antonio-da-costa-a-sapper-from-trinidad-at-the-somme/

Francis Gittens http://historycalroots.com/francis-owen-gittens-a-soldier-from-trinidad-at-the-somme/; and

Roy van Twest http://historycalroots.com/a-cingalese-machine-gunner-at-the-somme-sergeant-roy-van-twest/

As long as there are untold stories, John will research them!

Charles Harold: A St.Vincent seafarer and soldier

Audrey Dewjee recently wrote about Bertie Robinson, the black footman at Harewood House. Bertie was born on the tiny Caribbean island of St.Vincent. John Ellis has now written about a seafarer who also started life on St.Vincent (a decade after Bertie), Charles Harold, who enlisted in the British Army in 1915, served in France and Italy and eventually lost his life whilst working as a merchant seaman during World War Two.

You can read Charles Harold’s story here:http://historycalroots.com/charles-harold-of-st-vincent-soldier-and-seafarer/