Tag: Black soldiers

Waterloo Day?

As we gear up to commemorate the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury on 21st June 1948 (the passengers disembarked on 22nd) spare a thought for the contribution of an earlier generation of black men to the history of Britain.

On the morning of 18th June 1815 black men stood shoulder to shoulder with their white comrades-in-arms in open countryside nine miles south of Brussels. This was the start of the Battle of Waterloo, a battle that shaped British history, European history in fact, for generations to come. Napoleon’s last throw of the dice ended in the defeat of his army and on 21st June he returned to Paris and abdicated (for the second time). A famous British victory but, in the words of Arthur Wellesley (the 1st Duke of Wellington), commander of the troops facing Napoleon, it was ‘the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.’

Trumpet Major James Goodwin was just one of the Black soldiers who was in the thick of the action at Waterloo. You can read about him here:

http://www.historycalroots.com/trumpet-major-james-goodwin-a-black-hero-of-the-battle-of-waterloo/

But he was not the only ‘man of colour’ to see action that day. John Ellis has also written for Historycal Roots about a selection of them:

  • Peter Bishop
  • William Afflick (Affleck)
  • George Rose, and
  • Thomas James

You can use the website’s index to read about them:

https://www.historycalroots.com/a-z-index/

Anyone who has visited the south coast of England will have seen defences set up to repel invasion, many date from the Second World War but there are also plenty of traces of the earlier threat of invasion by Napoleonic France – Martello towers dotted along the coast are the most obvious. That Napoleon posed a threat is beyond doubt. That black soldiers played a part in defending these shores is equally certain.

Unlike the Windrush passengers, who undoubtedly changed the nature of modern Britain, the contribution of black soldiers (and sailors) during the existential struggle against Napoleon, goes unremarked. So, while we celebrate Windrush Day let’s also remember ‘Waterloo Day’!

Mary Ann Aguirra – a London ‘woman of colour’

Introducing the latest article for Historycal Roots by John Ellis.

This is such an interesting one and something of a departure from John’s usual field. As he himself says, this is ‘the first time in over twenty years of researching, writing and educating’ he has written a historical article about a female, let alone a ‘woman of colour’. Let us hope it is the first of many!

This is an important subject because, again, as he comments, the voices of women of mixed heritage like Mary Ann Aguirra are rarely heard. They are marginalised by virtue of class, gender and race.  I enjoyed history at school but it was very much white history, dominated by white men and men of a particular class at that. It was only many years later that I came to understand how much more varied (and interesting!) British history is.

There are many ways of viewing the story that unfolds of Mary Ann Aguirra and her daughter, Isabella. I choose to see it as a case of a tightly knit working class community coming together and resisting threats to their way of life and livelihood, more about class than race (though that might also have played a part). But I freely acknowledge that there are other ways of reading the incidents played out at the Old Bailey in September 1866. However you read the story it is hard to dispute that Mary Ann Aguirra was a determined and formidable woman. Although we don’t have an image of Mary Ann herself there is a photo of one of her grand daughters and I like to think that we can see something of her grandmother’s character in it.

Isabella Howell, 1880-1960 (reproduced courtesy of Paul Mady)

History isn’t just about ‘facts’, it’s about interpretations too. You can read John’s article here and make up your own mind about the events, but the story of Mary Ann’s appearance at the Old Bailey is only one aspect of a thought provoking article:

https://www.historycalroots.com/mary-ann-aguirra-a-londoner-of-colour-1814-1878/

John is in more familiar territory with a second recent article. In this one  he identifies John Charles as ‘the last Black drummer’ in the British Army to have served at the time of the campaign against Napoleon. Charles left the Army in 1845 and died in 1862:

https://www.historycalroots.com/the-last-black-drummer-john-charles-of-the-32nd-foot-1808-1845/

An unexpected discovery in the Chatsworth House archives

The article in the link below isn’t written by regular contributor John Ellis but he has clearly made a big contribution to the research that informs it.

The story starts with the birth of Henry Tite in Waterford, Ireland, in around 1804. When Henry enlisted in the British Army in 1825 the records identify him as a black man. This raises the intriguing question of how a black man came to be born in that place at that time.

A letter recently discovered in the archives at Chatsworth House raises the possibility that Henry was descended from a young crew member of a ship that docked at Waterford in 1756. It was a French ship and, as Britain was at war with France at the time, the ship and its cargo were impounded by the British. The letter recently discovered in the archives at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is from Lord Frederick Cavendish, stationed in Ireland at the time with troops of the 29th Worcestershire Foot Regiment, to his brother. In it he mentions ‘three little Black boys’. The boys are mentioned in the same sentence as the cargo which implies that whether they were technically ‘free’ or enslaved was a moot point as far as Lord Cavendish was concerned. In the letter he makes it clear he regards them as ‘his’ to dispose of as he chooses.

John Ellis has identified a soldier with the 29th Worcestershire Foot Regiment, Joseph Provance, who could very possibly have been one of the ‘black boys’ mentioned in the letter, the speculation is that Henry Tite may have been descended from another.

You can find out more by following the link. Before you do I would add the point that if we take literally the description of Henry Tite as ‘black’  then that suggests he had a black mother as well as a black father. That raises the even more interesting question – who was she? In fact, the balance of probability is that Henry’s mother was white and he was of mixed heritage but, as nothing is known about either of Henry’s parents that question is likely to remain unanswered.

https://www.chatsworth.org/news-media/news-blogs-press-releases/blogs-from-the-archives/who-do-you-think-they-are/

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!

Three more ‘men of colour’ who served during World War One

Our knowledge of the rich tapestry of ‘men of colour’ who served in the British Army during World War One gets a little bit richer today with three, yes three, new articles by John Ellis about the service of men who were hitherto lost to history.

Pictures of men who served below the rank of officer between 1914 and 1918 are rare as hen’s teeth, we are lucky that the story of one of them featured in newspapers of the time.

The three are certainly a varied group:

Their stories include a court martial, two who were wounded and someone who was discharged as ‘unfit to serve’ because he was suffering from malnutrition.

And finally, the story of Walter Moore has a brief postscript following a contact from his great grand daughter: http://historycalroots.com/the-soldier-walter-albert-moore/

A rich tapestry indeed!

Walter Moore – A black soldier at Gallipoli and the Somme

As promised last week, we can now, courtesy of John Ellis, introduce you to Walter Albert Moore. Some people may still cling to the notion that black soldiers did not serve in front line roles during World War One, Walter’s story provides yet more evidence that nothing could be further from the truth. He served in the Gallipoli campaign (1915-16) and then in Flanders at the Battle of the Somme (1916). Did he survive? Read John’s article to find out!

http://historycalroots.com/the-soldier-walter-albert-moore/

Before you do though, John’s article prompted me to look at the War Diary of Walter’s battalion for the period he was serving in France during the Battle of the Somme.

We get used to thinking about the shocking carnage of the first day of the battle (around 19,000 British troops lost their lives on that day alone) and on the days that followed. But what we tend to lose sight of is the drip, drip, drip war of attrition in the periods between one ‘big push’ and the next.  War diaries will rarely mention the names of rank and file soldiers like Walter whether they were black or white but they do give an impression of what life (and death) was like in the trenches. Here is a short selection of extracts from the War Diary of Walter’s battalion. The diary starts with an account of a night raid on enemy lines:

“4th July, 12.45 am: Party consisted of 70 men and 6 officers which were split up into two parties. Raid was a failure and the officers put down the cause to a certain German listening post. Only the right party got anywhere near the trenches which however they did not penetrate. Casualties in the raiding party were light but there were a good many in the trenches caused by the German artillery retaliation which lasted half an hour. Casualties A Company NIL, B Company OR [other ranks] 1 killed 2 wounded.

A and B companies relieved by C and D companies at almost midnight and returned to huts at COUPIGNY. C Company 200 wounded D Company NIL.”

The troops seem to have then spent a few days out of the front line but there was still business to attend to:

“8th July: temporary commission and appointment of RH McLean, RNVR, Drake Battalion, terminated due to medical unfitness.”

Then they were back in the trenches:

“13th July Lieutenant Commander H B POLLOCK wounded by shrapnel, OR 300 wounded.”

On 18th July, during another respite from the front line, a Field Court Martial was convened and “LS W SMITH was found guilty on three [unspecified] charges and reduced to AB.”

After what seems to have been a quiet period (21st July – “situation quiet throughout”), when a lot of effort went into improving the trenches, the war of attrition continued:

“10th August: Enemy active with LTMs rifle grenades in particular . Two killed. 

11th August: Enemy very active in sector with LTMs rifle grenades in particular. One killed three wounded.

12th August: Btn [Battalion] relieved by Hood Btn – Relief complete about 12 midnight. One killed, one wounded.”

The relieved troops marched to Aix Noulette Woods where they spent the next few days ‘in huts’ presumably beyond the reach of German artillery. But they were soon back in the front line.

War diaries are not an easy read in more ways than one

“20th August: A bombardment of gas release started in the ANGRES SECTOR at 10.30 pm which lasted til about 11.45 pm. Some of the enemy retaliation with field guns and trench mortars were [‘was’ has been deleted, grammatical standards must be maintained after all] directed at our Front and Relief lines. Damage slight. Three wounded.

21st August: One wounded.”

And so it continued, the diary reports one killed (22nd August), 23rd August (two wounded), 24th August (two wounded) and, after a brief respite, one killed, one wounded (27th August).

It seems that when you weren’t in the front line being shot at you were behind the lines waiting for your turn to be shot at.

Walter Moore, a black soldier from Trinidad, was part of all this.  

Black Royal Artillery recruits in 1915

Several books have been written about black soldiers in the British Army during World War One, ‘Black Tommies’ by Ray Costello and ‘Black Poppies’ by Stephen Bourne spring immediately to mind, no doubt there have been others. But you can’t help feeling that those books only showed the tip of an iceberg. John Ellis has now turned his attention to the period of the First World War and is uncovering the stories of many more black soldiers.

This picture and headline (‘Coloured men’s response to the new appeal for recruits’) in the ‘Daily Mirror’ of 1st June 1915, caught John’s eye:

Eight Black recruits for the Royal Artillery in 1915 (1)

John writes: “World War One saw thousands of ‘men of colour’ serving in the regiments and corps of the British Army, the Royal Navy and the forces of the Empire. Many of the men were drawn from Britain’s Black population. The men in the photo above volunteered for service in a Territorial regiment of the Royal Artillery in the North of England in 1915.

Two of the men were named by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, as Ben David and Henry Basker, both Jamaicans.(2) It is not possible to identify either Ben or Henry in the photo, or the names of the other ‘Gunners’. However, a little more is known about Henry Basker.

He was born in Jamaica in 1888 and enlisted in May 1915, when it was noted that he was a seaman by occupation and had a ‘West Indian’ complexion, was 5 ft 5 inches tall, had a chest measurement of 37 inches and good vision.(3) Henry signed up for four years ‘provided His Majesty should so long require your services’ and he swore ‘I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King George the Fifth.’

His service in the Royal Artillery was brief and he was discharged in Durham in October 1915 after 164 days, ‘his services being no longer required.’ We don’t know why he was discharged, he may well have gone on to serve his country in other ways as he was obviously keen to volunteer. He clearly had a close connection to the North East prior to enlisting because his intended place of residence on discharge was Thrift Street, South Shields, Tynemouth, where his mother, Lucy, lived.”

John and I have both tried to trace ‘Lucy Basker’, so far without success, there is no sign of her in the 1911 census for instance. The presence of black men in South Shields is no surprise, it was a thriving port with a well established black community and it was where Lionel Turpin was living when he enlisted http://historycalroots.com/lionel-fitzherbert-turpin/ . But the presence of Henry’s mother is much more unexpected, if Henry was born in Jamaica in 1888 what was it that brought Lucy to South Shields? We may never know.

The full page from which that item is taken reveals the impact the war was having:

The Daily Mirror, 1st June 1915

The heading ‘Found on the battlefield – do you recognise anyone?’ is heartrending. Especially poignant is the photo at the top left of the page – it has a bullet hole through it. You can’t help but wonder how the young woman in the picture would have felt if she saw it.

This is just a taster, there are more revelations to come from John!

1)Daily Mirror, 1st June 1915. findmypast.co.uk

2)Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 26th July 1915. findmypast.co.uk

3)For Henry Basker see: UK, British Army World War I Pension Records 1914-1920. TNA WO364/172. ancestry.co.uk