Of all the soldiers buried in Commonwealth War Graves in Barbados, Martin Luther Taitt served in the British Army the longest. His service number, 704, denotes that he was one of the first to enlist, probably in September 1915 when the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) was first created. He went on to serve until 1919 and died in a Military Hospital in Trinidad on 31 August 1919.
At the onset of the War there was great resistance to allowing black men to enlist in the British Army. The War Office had made very clear that any black men arriving in Britain to enlist would be repatriated immediately. This had been the case in May 1915 when 9 Bajan men stowed away on the SS Danube hoping to enlist when they arrived in Britain. Instead they were arrested, taken before a racist and cruel Magistrate and sent back to Barbados.
Ironically, before the stowaways can have reached home, George V with the backing of the Colonial Office, had intervened on 19 May 1915 forcing the War Office to reluctantly accept that black soldiers would be welcomed in the British Army. We know that some of the 9 stowaways later enlisted but that is a story for another day.
The War Office probably thought these black soldiers had been somewhat imposed on them. It is possible that in best civil service traditions they then embarked on a long drawn out path which obstructed and delayed their prompt recruitment.
To begin with there was much debate as to whether West Indian troops should be absorbed into existing units or become part of a brand new Regiment. Barbados was said to “strongly prefer” absorption into the existing British army. They were over ruled and on 26 October 1915 the BWIR was created almost exclusively for black West Indian soldiers.
I say ‘almost’ because under no circumstances was the War Office going to accept black officers. Having lost the argument and having to accept black troops they certainly were not going to sanction black officers. After all, that would give them the right to give orders to white soldiers!
A letter dated December 1915 from the War Office to the Colonial Office said:
“I am commanded by the Army Council to state that they are averse to any officers being appointed to commissions in the Jamaica contingent who are not of unmixed European blood.
If, under these circumstances, the Governor of Jamaica is unable to find the necessary number of officers, I am to add that the deficiency will be supplied from the trained and partially trained officers in this country [Britain].”
Despite this edict there were a small number of black soldiers who reached the rank of officer during World War 1. The most prominent almost certainly being Walter Tull the son of a Bajan carpenter, Daniel Tull. Walter was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 30 May 1917 and was mentioned in despatches for gallantry and coolness when leading his company in Italy. He was killed in action in France on 25 March 1918. His body was never recovered. Walter also played football for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town.
Once the decision had been made to create the BWIR a lot of ‘process’ issues cropped up such as rates of pay and terms and conditions. It was eventually decided to pay the West Indian troops the same rate as other troops although quite how any other conclusion could have been reached is puzzling. Presumably some people in the War Office held the view that a black man’s service was worth less reward than that of other soldiers?
Having settled on having a separate Regiment, thoughts then turned to how large this should be. There were doubts about whether there would be sufficient volunteers for 2 Battalions. This showed a total lack of understanding of the bravery and patriotism of West Indians. The War Office settled on 2 Battalions only after individual islands showed that they could resource them and make up for any shortfall due to natural wastage (basically death and serious illness). In the event over 15,200 West Indians (831 from Barbados) joined the BWIR which ultimately comprised 12 Battalions.
There was much debate about where the West Indian troops should sail from – their own Island or a central point in the West Indies? Would there be enough transport ships? The War Office wasn’t certain it could provide sufficient.
There was even a dispute over whether East Indians (particularly from British Guiana) could enlist in the BWIR. The conclusion was they could not as Indians were already fighting in the War i.e. they weren’t originally excluded as other West Indians had been.
Despite the War Office previously opposing the deployment of West Indian troops because they wouldn’t be able to function efficiently in the colder climate of Europe, it was decided that BWIR troops should have the same clothing allowance as British troops.
In turning down a request for additional clothing the War Office wrote in September 1915:
“While it is recognised that the men of this detachment are unused to a European winter, the council did not consider it necessary for the Colonial Government to provide additional supplies.”
There was also an element of ‘what will we do with these people when they arrive in England?’ There was a fear that the new recruits would become bored and morale would slip. There was a real risk, which came to some degree of fruition, that West Indians eager to fight the enemy would arrive in Britain and find themselves at a loose end until it was decided where and how they should be deployed.
When you add possible ongoing resistance to black troops to the inherent inefficiency in the British civil service and the difficulties in communicating between Great Britain and the West Indies it is easy to foresee that life would not be easy for the early recruits from the West Indies.
So why did Martin and thousands like him flock to volunteer? The main reason was almost certainly quite simply patriotism. West Indians were proud to be British and wanted to fight for their country. There was a sense of excitement and adventure and of course they had heard that the ‘War would be over by Christmas’ so wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out.
Some soldiers, looking ahead, felt that if they proved their worth in the War this might lead to more respect and trust being shown towards the West Indies by the British Government in the future. This theory quickly fell apart when it became obvious that black troops were not treated equally or respected. A culmination of simmering resentment took place at Taranto in Italy where black troops mutinied.
After the end of the war many troops were sent to Taranto to await demobilisation. West Indian troops were given the most menial tasks to carry out. This included cleaning out the toilets used by Italian soldiers. It was also discovered that white soldiers were being given a pay rise but black soldiers were not.
Enough was enough and on 6 December 1918 the 9th Battalion of the BWIR mutinied. The mutiny lasted 4 days and blood was shed and lives lost. Sixty soldiers were court martialled with one being sentenced to death by firing squad.
This dissatisfaction led to black soldiers at Taranto getting together and forming the Caribbean League which helped contribute to the successful fights for independence right across the West Indies over the next 50 years or so.
The significance of Taranto and World War 1 can best be summed up by a secret colonial memo from 1919. This was uncovered by researchers for a Channel 4 programme on the Taranto mutiny and showed that the British government realised that everything had changed: “Nothing we can do will alter the fact that the black man has begun to think and feel himself as good as the white.”
But for many, the lure of the Army was a guarantee of employment, shelter, food and uniform. It is likely that Martin was in this category. We don’t know a lot about him but we do know he was at least old enough to enlist in 1915, we believe he had worked previously in Panama and that his parents had passed away. That would make him older than most of his fellow recruits and his willingness to work in Panama suggests he was content to travel widely to find employment.
We know from his Army records that Martin’s next of kin was his sister Clementina. This fact probably confirms that his parents had passed away. There is evidence of a Clementine (not Clementina) Augusta Taitt born to Robert and Louisa McClean Taitt on 22 August 1886. Robert and Louisa had married in St John on 22 August 1884. It is therefore possible, but not certain, that Martin was born in St John.
A Martin Taitt was also one of 134 Bajans who were employed as contracted labourers working on the construction of the Panama Canal. The group sailed on the Royal Mail Steam Ship Solent landing in Colon, Panama on 14 January 1907 before being taken to Tabernilla later that day.
Previous attempts at building a canal had failed disastrously both in terms of loss of life and financially. A French-led project between 1881 and 1889 had seen 22,000 of its workforce die mainly through disease before the company went bankrupt in 1889. In 1888, 40,000 people were employed on the construction of the canal, 36,000 of them from the West Indies.
The Americans resurrected the project in 1907. The death rate from the previous attempt suggests that no matter what improvements in living conditions had since been made, the work would be unpleasant and dangerous. Only the most desperate would apply. Martin Taitt had no such qualms which probably also helps explain why he had no hesitation in enlisting for the Army 8 years later in 1915. The canal had been completed 12 months earlier in August 1914, leaving Martin looking for alternative employment.
We can’t be 100% certain that the Martin Taitt in Panama is ‘our’ Martin Taitt but all the circumstantial evidence points towards it being our War hero.
So, we have the perfectly plausible scenario where Martin, after 8 years back-breaking work in Panama in unpleasant conditions, needs work, has no firm roots in Barbados and possesses a mix of patriotism, sense of adventure and desperation which cause him to enlist at the earliest possible opportunity.
Martin was not part of the 1st contingent of volunteers who left Barbados for England on the His Majesty’s Troopship (HMT) Verdala on 20 September 1915. The two most likely explanations are that he either sailed from somewhere other than Barbados or he left the West Indies for Europe before the various bodies had got their acts together and achieved some form of organisation.
Martin would have been one of the first West Indians to arrive in England. Given the general reluctance on the part of the War Office to receive black soldiers and the lack of any precedent, one can imagine the situation on arrival to be chaotic. Martin would have eventually found his way to Seaford, East Sussex which had been set aside for training these new recruits from far away. They also had to await a decision on which theatre of war they would be deployed in.
Martin was assigned as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the BWIR. The 1st Battalion was split into 4 Companies as follows:
Company A – soldiers from British Guyana
Company B- soldiers from Trinidad
Company C – soldiers from Trinidad and St Vincent
Company D – soldiers from Grenada and Barbados.
The first group of West Indians arrived in Seaford on 5 September 1915. There is a very good chance Martin would have been in that group. From October 1915 large numbers began to arrive. This included, on 4 October 1915, 750 troops (including 112 Bajans) of the 1st contingent of volunteers who sailed on the HMT Verdala.
Conditions were not good and between October 1915 and January 1916, 19 West Indian soldiers died mainly from mumps or pneumonia although one of the first deaths was that of Corporal James Lawrence Brown of St Vincent. He was accidentally killed on 21 November 1915 when he lost control of his bicycle and struck his head on a tree. The Commonwealth Graves of the 19 dead can be found at Alfriston Road Cemetery in Seaford.
After training was completed and the authorities had decided how best to deploy them, the 1st Battalion of the BWIR, including Martin, set sail for Alexandria in Egypt in April 1916. After 6 months of ‘training’ most of which took place during one of the wettest winters on record, Martin must have been relieved to finally be seeing some action.
Unlike other Battalions of the BWIR, the 1st Battalion was engaged in direct combat. This was mainly because they were deployed in Egypt rather than Europe where the role of BWIR was entirely restricted to support services.
The BWIR fought with distinction against the Turkish forces in Egypt and Jordan prompting General Allenby to send the following telegram to the Governor of Jamaica:
I have great pleasure in informing you of the gallant conduct of the machine-gun section of the 1st British West Indies Regiment during two successful raids on the Turkish trenches. All ranks behaved with great gallantry under heavy rifle and shell fire and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operations.
Martin fought throughout the War before contracting malaria and being admitted to hospital on 1 October 1918. Having likely survived 8 years in punishing conditions in Panama and living through the virtual entirety of the War it was a cruel blow that Martin had caught this dreadful disease in the very month the Armistice of Mudros was signed ending hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Forces in the Middle Eastern Theatre of War.
The next we hear of Martin is, sadly, his death in a military hospital in Trinidad. He passed away on 30 August 1919 less than a year after being diagnosed with malaria. Because of his long service he had accrued a very large lump sum of £69 19s 11d (approximately over £3,200 at 2017 values). This money was paid to his sister Clementina Taitt in Barbados.
We have no idea why Martin was in Trinidad when he died. It may be that he became so unwell on the way back to Barbados that he was dropped off in Trinidad for treatment. Or it could be that he had made friends with someone in Trinidad and felt his roots were stronger there than on his home island. After all, if our supposition about Panama is accurate, he hadn’t lived in Barbados for 12 years.
What is certain is that his body was transported back to Barbados for burial at Westbury Cemetery. This was very unusual – and expensive. The British Army did not transport bodies back to soldiers’ homelands as witnessed by the thousands of Commonwealth War Graves around the world. Only a friend or family could have paid for and arranged this. One possible answer is that Clementina, the recipient of the large lump sum, felt it should be used to pay for Martin’s return to Barbados. The huge flaw in that argument however is that the payment was not authorised until 14 January 1921 and even then, it would be some time later before Clementina would receive it.
So, the mystery of how Martin came to be laid to rest in his homeland remains. Perhaps his family was wealthy or he could have built up a small fortune while working in Panama for all those years? Like much of Martin’s past we can only guess but we know for certain he now rests in Westbury Cemetery along with his 4 fellow War heroes Fitz Grandison, Laurence Greaves, Richard Lopez and David Roachford.
