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West India Regiments in Barbados

Barbados formed the head-quarters of Her Majesty's forces in the West Indies command, under a major-general, who resided in Barbados. The troops stationed in the island were garrisoned at St. Ann's, situated at the southern extremity of the city. This island formed the head-quarters of her Majesty’s forces in the Windward and Leeward Islands. The effective force distributed among the islands amounts, with artillery and engineers, to about four thousand men, under the command of a Lieutenant-General residing in Barbados. Volunteer rifle, artillery, and yeomanry-cavalry corps were organized in 1859, but were disbanded in 1868.

Imperial troops were occasionally temporarily quartered in Barbados in times of war during the last half of the seventeenth century and at intervals throughout the eighteenth, usually for a month or two while preparing to attack other European-held Caribbean territories — primarily those of the. French. For two years (1694-1696) during King William's war, a regiment of perhaps 200 men was stationed at Barbados for its protection, but during subsequent wars of the eighteenth century no forces were formally stationed on the island. It was not until February 1780 that the Imperial government established a permanent garrison (which was to endure for over a century thereafter).

In 1795, Sir Ralph Abercrombie was commander-in-chief of our forces, and under him seven West India Regiments were raised for strictly local services by direction of the Home Authorities. These Corps were primarily composed of slaves, purchased from their owners in different islands, but chiefly in Barbadoes, and varied in price according to the locality they originally hailed from. The fact was, the colonists dreaded the embodiment of a force composed of human beings, whom heretofore they looked upon as brutes, or at best as something only better than a beast of burthen.

"God forbid!" exclaims the Barbadian historian piously and eloquently at this juncture, "God forbid that such a dire calamity should befal this unhappy land. The avenging sword of the conqueror, the famine that spreads desolation in its progress, or pestilence that precipitates thousands to eternity is scarcely more terrible to the imagination than the idea of admitting 70,000 or 80,000 heathen slaves to bear witness against their christian masters, a proposal so preposterous can originate only in the most consummate ignorance of the character of negroes!"

In a statute for the government of slaves passed by the Barbadoes Legislature in the early days of its existence was the following merciful enactment. "If any person kill a negro by night, out of the road, stealing or attempting to steal his provisions or other goods, he shall not be held accountable for it." The puritanical settlers who sat in judgment in Barbadoes in those days went on to enact, "If any slave strike a christian he shall for the first offence be severely whipped. For the second offence he shall be whipped, his nose shall be slit, and he shall be burned in the face with a red hot iron."

The planters expostulated against the apparently suicidal step of raising regiments for a temporary purpose, but their fears proved groundless, as on no occasion from that time forward did the West India Corps manifest any disposition to avenge the harsh treatment of their former masters, or to organize a spirit of resistance among their African brethren. During the campaigns in the West Indies and in America we find that they were actively and successfully employed against the Yankees and the French.

By 1892 it was proposed to remove to St. Lucia the British troops hitherto stationed at Barbados. On many grounds the latter seemed the more desirable station under peace. The Barbados barracks were admirably adapted to a hot climate. They stand on the shore, cooled by the constant breezes from the sea, and look out on a spacious savannah or park, equally convenient for drills and exercise, for cricket, tennis, and polo. It should not he put out of view that Barbados had a population of 172,000, as against the 44,000 of St. Lucia. The presence of British troops was a link with the mother country. In this regard it was desirable that the few troops maintained in the West Indies should be stationed in the largest centers of population.

The considerations which had been urged pointed to the conclusion that in peace the distribution of troops should remain as at present. If war threatened, in a few hours the force in Barbados could be moved to St. Lucia. In this connection it may not be out of place to compare the staff of the Army in the West Indies with the forces quartered in the command. Barbados and Jamaica had each a colonel on the staff, with the local rank of major-general, two deputy assistant adjutant-generals, an officer commanding Royal Artillery, a commanding Royal Engineer, a senior Ordnance Store officer, a district paymaster, and a senior medical officer.

The British garrison was withdrawn in 1905.

The provision of the extra local personnel for their own protection in the other West Indian colonies has been encouraged by the home government by grants of arms and equipment. It has mostly taken the direction of augmentation of the local armed police force, though in some cases a purely volunteer force has been raised, and volunteers under militia ordinance in others; in nearly all the islands old ordinances still exist giving power to raise a militia.

A police force was established in Barbados in 1835 by an Act of the Legislature, and is stated to have been the first attempt in the British West India Colonies to establish a force of that description upon a similar footing. By around 1900 it consisted of an Inspector-general, 1 superintending sergeant, 10 sergeants, 20 corporals, and 228 privates. The only local force in Barbados was of armed police.

There was a proposal to raise a militia force and to train the police, the whole to be placed under the command of an inspector-general of police, an ex-imperial officer, aided by an adjutant. The local Government, realising the necessity of providing itself with its own armed forces, passed an Act to establish the Barbados Volunteer Force. This came into being on 2nd July, 1902. The Barbados Volunteer Force performed its first ceremonial parade in 1904 on the occasion of Kis Majesty King Edward VI's birthday. The Corps of Drums of the Barbados Volunteer Force (the precursor to the Barbados Regiment) adopted the uniform after the regiment was disbanded in 1926.