1st West India Regiment

[Esther]

Can anyone tell me where the 1st West India Regiment, formerly Whyte's Regiment of Foot 1795 was formed?

Thanks,
            Esther

[dortmund]

Hi Esther,

if you go to this site it will tell you all about the regiment.

www.regiments.org/regiments/westindies/regts/wi-wir01.htm

Trevor

[Esther]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the quick reply. I have seen that site but it doesn't give the exact location of where it was formed. I'm trying to find information on a Major Abraham Augustus Nunn who is mentioned in a couple of articles written about the war in the Dominican Republic. Somehow he fits into our Nunn family tree but so far I can't see where. I think that I will probably have to order some records from the Archives.

Regards,
         Esther

[liverpool annie]

Hi Esther !

I found this!!

It was against this backdrop that a number of Negro regiments were raised for service in the British forces.  Five such regiments, comprising 500 men each under British officers, came into existence.  During the American war of independence, which commenced in 1776, a number of slaves had been formed into the Carolina Corps.  These men, because of their loyalty to the British, were sent to Jamaica to settle on the land.  Great objections were raised by the Jamaican establishment, who did not want ex-slaves, former soldiers who had fought their masters, to become landowners.  That was bad for business!  This point was also maintained by the governors of other territories in the British West Indies.
 
Thus it was decided to keep them in the army and send them in 1783 to Grenada where they formed the 'Black Corps of dragoons, Pioneers and Artificers'.  These men were to distinguish themselves in fierce actions in Martinique, St. Lucia and Guadeloupe.
 
Another black regiment known as 'Malcolm's Rangers', raised in 1795, was combined with the 'Black Corps of Dragoons' or 'Carolina Corps' to form Major Whytes' regiment of foot.  The regiment won battle honours at the battle of New Orleans, in Honduras, Sierra Leone and in the Ashanti wars.  This regiment continued until 1925.  Their uniform was the most splendid 'Zouave', which had been appreciated by Queen Victoria at her jubilee parade in 1897.

and this ...

West India Regiment

The West India Regiment was a British colonial infantry regiment. It was formed initially in 1888 by the amalgamation of two existing regiments in the West Indies:
1st West India Regiment - 1st Battalion
2nd West India Regiment - 2nd Battalion
A third battalion was raised in 1897, but was disbanded in 1904. The regiment saw service in West Africa in the latter years of the 19th Century, and in the Middle East during the First World War. After the war, the 1st and 2nd battalions were amalgamated into a single 1st Battalion in 1920. This was disbanded in 1927.

In 1958, with the foundation of the Federation of the West Indies, it was decided to raise the West India Regiment once again. Initially, the 1st Battalion was formed from the nucleus of the Jamaica Regiment. The 2nd and 3rd battalions were also formed by 1960. However, the Federation was short lived, and the regiment again disbanded by 1962, with the constituent battalions becoming the infantry regiments of the two largest islands:

1st Battalion - 1st Battalion, Jamaica Regiment
2nd Battalion - 1st Battalion, Trinidad and Tobago Regiment
3rd Battalion - disbanded
Battle Honours
Dominica, Martinique 1809, Guadeloupe 1810, West Africa 1887, West Africa 1892-93-94, Sierra Leone 1898
The Great War (2 battalions): Palestine 1917-18, E. Africa 1916-18, Cameroons 1915-16
British West Indies Regiment

In 1915, a second West Indies regiment was formed from Caribbean volunteers who made their way to Britain. Initially, these volunteers were drafted into a variety of units within the British Army, but in 1915 it was decided to group them together into a single regiment, named the British West Indies Regiment. Initially it was made up of men from:
British Guiana - A Company
Trinidad - B Company
Trinidad and St Vincent - C Company
Grenada and Barbados - D Company
High wastage led to further drafts from Jamaica, British Honduras and Barbados before the regiment was able to begin training. The regiment totalled twelve battalions, and engaged in a number of roles and theatres. The regiment was finally disbanded in 1921.

Battle Honours
The Great War (11 battalions): Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1916-18, Italy 1918, Rumani, Egypt 1916-17, Gaza, El Mughar, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Megiddo, Nablus, Palestine 1917-18

But it's still not early enough is it? - I'll keep looking!!

Annie

[Esther]

Thanks Annie,
This is one of those occasions where you only half-listen when somebody tells you family stories and twenty years after they pass away you wish that you had listened more intently.
Abraham Nunn was born in County Wexford, Ireland so I'm not sure where he would have joined the regiment. However, I'm fast becoming an expert on early British military!!

     Esther

[OldBraggs]

Major-General John Whyte's regiment was formed at Martinique 24 April 1795.

Ref: The Empty Sleeve. The Story of the West India Regiments by B. Dyde

Steve

[Esther]

Hi Steve,

I will look up "The Empty Sleeve", thankyou.

            Esther

[marc roberts]

Hey Esther,

A long time ago, but some information relating to your genealogical question is here...

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/Letter_22.htm

Maj. Abraham Augustus NUNN, was the son of John NUNN and Lydia NICKSON of County Wexford, Ireland.