The all-volunteer British West Indies Regiment first had battalions trained, in England, as infantry. Bigotry and bias led them to be used as labourers. The health of troops was far from excellent, and as with the war graves in Seaford, Sussex (page 007 of this website), most if not all of the men who died and were buried in war graves in England died from illnesses or accidents. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s world war one grave plots include 338 at the Efford cemetery in Plymouth of which 31 are Afro-Caribbeans.

The Commission’s on line files indicate the first BWIR burial there was in June 1916 and the last in April 1919. There are also eight Chinese and ten New Zealanders. It seems that most of the BWIR men – of the 4th battalion – were Jamaicans.

Dominiek Dendooven, The British West Indies Regiment. Race and Colour of the Western Front (Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2023) is a useful survey.