In 1914, 20-year-old Robert Adolphus Smith was living in the village of Good Hope in Clarendon, Jamaica, at that time part of the British West Indies and the British Empire. When WW1 was declared, thousands of Jamaicans volunteered to defend the ‘mother country’. Over 15,600 came from Caribbean islands to serve, 66% from Jamaica.
The War Office was reluctant to allow Black soldiers to bear arms against a white opposing force and threatened to repatriate those who came. King George V intervened, and approval was given to raise a regiment. The British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) was established on 26th October 1915 and Robert’s 3-year-old sister Sarah, recalls him kissing her goodbye in 1917 before he joined the 7th Battalion. She would never see him again.
From the beginning, the BWIR was treated differently. Its soldiers were relegated to support roles such as stretcher bearers, trench digging and carrying ammunition. They were not allowed to use weaponry or become officers. At the front line, their camps were often segregated from British regiments. It wasn’t until 1917 that the regiment was allowed on active service in Palestine and Jerusalem. Men who had trained at Seaford became the only soldiers to receive honours amongst all the Caribbean soldiers who had served during the war. Still, the regiment was excluded from pay rises given to other serving soldiers.
Training began at Seaford in Sussex in late 1915. Conditions at the coastal camp were a harsh contrast with the tropical climate of Jamaica. Accommodation was inadequate against the severe winter, and nineteen men died from pneumonia or an epidemic of mumps.
Another battalion was decimated by frostbite and exposure before reaching British shores when their ship, the S.S. Verdala was diverted north to avoid German warships.
Encountering blizzard conditions, it became apparent that warm socks had not been placed on board. This left the men with only thin, cotton socks and, combined with a lack of warm food or drink due to the ship’s frozen pipes, led many to suffer from frostbite.
Although thick socks were later delivered and heating stoves installed, it was too late. When the Verdala left Halifax, she left behind two dead soldiers and over 100 men with frostbite, many of whom had to have limbs amputated. Most of those still aboard had been affected to the extent that they were only able to crawl. Many were repatriated to the West Indies without ever seeing action.
In June 1917, Robert’s battalion was deployed on the Western Front in Belgium in readiness for the major offensive that was the Battle of Passchendaele. Canadian troops played a crucial role in the campaign, and a field dressing station set up at a local farmhouse was called Canada Farm. On 12th September the area was bombed and Robert died there of his wounds on the same day. He was buried in what is now the Canada Farm War Cemetery alongside four others from the BWIR killed in the same bombardment.
Robert’s parents, James and Margiana, received three pounds and fourpence compensation for the death of their son, worth around £180 today. Robert’s story was passed through the memory of his sister Sarah, a member of the Windrush generation, who in turn shared it with her daughter, Beulah Coombs. It was Beulah’s daughter Zennia who discovered the location of Robert’s grave and was able to share a photograph of it with Sarah before she died. “They had always been told there was no body. She just couldn’t believe it.”
Beulah found that Robert had been awarded the British War Medal and the Victory medal. She recognized these as the coin-like discs, now lost, that she and her siblings had played with as young children. Subsequently, Beulah visited Canada Farm cemetery with Robert’s great nieces and nephews, leaving a photograph of Robert’s sister Sarah on his grave. In 2017 Beulah was present at the unveiling of the African & Caribbean War Memorial in Windrush Square, London, which honours the black servicemen and women of WW1 and WW2. In 2022 she published a book about her uncle Robert and in 2025 visited Canada Farm cemetery with the British West Indies Regiment Heritage Trust.
“Uncle Robert’s story has inspired a new generation to learn about this feature of British history… this has given them more of a sense of belonging to the United Kingdom. Private Robert Adolphus Smith is no longer one of the unremembered.”
