British Honduras (Belize)

British Honduras, now Belize, became a Crown Colony in 1862. At the outbreak of war there were 40,000 inhabitants in British Honduras and the colony was removed from the direct impact of the war, but it was impacted economically. This prosperous colony maintained support throughout the conflict through donations and sending troops overseas. The Admiralty and War Office purchased virtually the entire output of British Honduras’ mahogany for 1916 and 1916 to build aeroplane propellers.

The first contingent that left British Honduras, made up of one officer and 128 men, under the command of Lieutenant Furness, was sent to join the British West Indies Regiment. This was described as “the principal event of the year – and perhaps in the history of the Colony for the last fifty years”. The Governor expressed his concern that troops would suffer in the cold, and was unfortunately proved right when a number of men were discharged for medical reasons. Due to that development, in October 1916 a call to join a labour battalion was rejected on the grounds that men of the colony “would probably not stand the rigours of a French winter”. British Honduras also sent 534 men to the Imperial forces, most of whom served on the Tigris with the Mesopotamia Inland Water Transport corps.