ABSTRACT
As ‘slaves in red coats’,1 and then as enlisted free men, the black West Indian soldier exercised the white imagination from the late 18th century. In the accounts of travel writers, statesmen and military officers, the West Indian soldier served as a justification for the imperial mission. His civility, character and discipline were all assumed to have been acquired through contact with British civilisation. Any perceived deficiencies were passed off as atavistic remnants of the African past. This paper explores how these representations of black military service were transformed as West Indians came forward as volunteers during the First World War.
