West India Regiment, 1895 (c)

Chromolithograph by an unknown artist, published by J J Keliher and Company, London, 1895 (c).

Shows a group of West India Regiment soldiers including four non-commissioned officers, a private and a drummer.

The West India Regiment was an infantry unit of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the Caribbean colonies. Between 1795 and 1888 there were between one and 12 West India Regiments. From 1888 there was one regiment of two battalions. The Regiment served in West Africa during the second half of the nineteenth century and in the Middle East during World War One (1914-1918). The two battalions were amalgamated into a single battalion in 1920. This was disbanded in 1927. The regiment was briefly revived in 1958 during the short-lived Federation of the West Indies, but finally abandoned in 1962.

The uniform of the West India Regiments was very similar to that worn by British Line Infantry until 1858 when Queen Victoria, impressed by the dress of the French colonial zouaves, expressed a wish that the men of the West India Regiment should have a similar uniform. The resulting uniform included a red fez wound about by a white turban, a red sleeveless jacket with yellow braiding worn over a long-sleeved white shirt, and dark blue baggy breeches.