The West Indian Soldier

Starting in February 2020 and concluding in early December 2021, The West Indian Soldier was a heritage project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, carried out in partnership between the West India Committee and the National Army Museum. An exhibition , jointly curated by the West India Committee and the National Army Museum, was on display between May and October 2021, that was well received, encouraging many new visitors to engage with the Committee, the Museum and the Caribbean’s military heritage.

This project focused around two main themes, the history of the British Army in the Caribbean and the role of West Indians in the British Army, exploring the difficulties that soldiers faced in both war and peace, the nature of Caribbean warfare and how wars in Europe were also fought in the Caribbean. Our staff and volunteers produced an e-book detailing this history, freely available to read here. We have also produced an expanded hard-copy book, available for purchase, as well as an Education Pack for School Children, an accompanying Teachers Pack and an Educational Poster, all freely available for download. Over 20,000 images from the West India Committee’s UNESCO inscribed collection were digitised and made available online through our Archive page, providing an excellent resource for those wishing to research military history, as well as many other aspects of Caribbean heritage.

As part of a public programme, which featured several events at the National Army Museum, we produced a series of short lectures available on our YouTube channel, about the wars fought by the British Army in the Caribbean, and the contributions of West Indian Soldiers who served in the British Army.