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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Picturing the West India Regiments: Race, Empire, and Photography c.1850-1914 By Melissa Bennett A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History University of Warwick, Department of History September 2018 Picturing the West India Regiments: Race, Empire, and Photography c.1850-1914 Contents List of Abbreviations i List of Figures ii Acknowledgements xiv Abstract xv Chapter One: Introduction 1 Introducing and Picturing the West India Regiments 1 What were the West India Regiments? 7 The Historiography of the West India Regiments 10 The West India Regiments and the History of the Caribbean 17 Other Armed Men of African Descent: Free and Enslaved 23 Situating Photographs of the West India Regiments: 27 The Atlantic World and the Colonial Metropole 1850-1914 Visible Absences and Limitations 31 Chapter Outline 38 Chapter Two: Framing the Image of the West India Regiments, 42 Historiography and Methods Introduction 42 Colonising the Caribbean (Visual) Landscape 44 Defining Race and Collecting Colonial Photographs 51 Capturing Conflicts 59 Developing Photographs: Changes in Methods and Technology 62 The Disparate Archive of the WIRs 66 Methods for Analysing the Disparate Archive of the West India 69 Regiments Conclusions 74 Chapter Three: Scrutinising and Celebrating Black Military Bodies: 75 Photographs of the WIR on Parade to be Inspected and Rewarded Introduction 75 ‘The training of Colonel Caulfeild and the officers, has been of the best, 78 and diligently carried out’ From Slaves to Soldiers 94 ‘Drawn Up on Parade to be Decorated’: Awards and Recognition for the 104 Black Rank and File? A West Indian Hero? Portraits of a Victoria Cross Winner 112 Conclusions 131 Chapter Four: Capturing Rebels and Capturing Evidence 137 The Role of Photography in the Acknowledgement and Celebration of the WIR’s Suppression of the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion Introduction 137 Missing Men 148 ‘Views of the Morant Bay rebels for sale by the permission of the 158 authorities’ ‘They never flinched in the field’? 174 Threats of Force and their ‘immense moral effect’ 190 Conclusions 198 Chapter Five: Framing War: The 1898 Hut Tax War, Sierra Leone 202 Introduction 202 Major General Charles Howard Foulkes: The Photographer, his 205 Camera, and his Methods Shooting the Hut Tax War 215 Picturing Punitive Expeditions 222 ‘Made of Poor Fighting Material’ 231 Representations of Rank and Race 248 Conclusions 263 Chapter Six: The West India Regiments and the Tourist Gaze 267 Introduction 267 From Death Spot to Hotspot: Early Tourism in the Caribbean 268 The Intersection Between Two Modern Practices: Tourism and 271 Photography The Gaze of the Scientist or ‘Expert’ Tourist in the Caribbean 274 The Gaze of Prospective Tourists at World’s Fairs 286 The Tourist Gaze of the Military Officer 309 Conclusions 330 Chapter Seven: Conclusions 336 Different Contexts, Similar Representations, and Important Exceptions 337 The Contested Image of the WIRs: Race, Empire, and Representation 347 Bibliography 354 2 List of Abbreviations NCO Non-Commissioned Officer WAR West African Regiment WAFF West African Frontier Force WIR West India Regiment WIRs West India Regiments Please note: until 1888 there were numerous West India Regiments. When discussing photographs captured prior to 1888 where the regiment is unspecified ‘WIRs’ will be used. When discussing photographs captured after 1888, or where a specific regiment is denoted, ‘WIR’ will be used. A note on terminology: In this thesis I use the terms ‘race’, ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘mixed race’ etc. This terminology is used throughout, albeit critically, and in doing so I do not endorse the ontological status of ‘race’ or essentialist notions of racial difference. i List of Figures Please note ‘’ is used to indicate a title/caption given in the original source, no ‘’ means that the captions have been written later by a curator or archivist. Chapter One Figure 1.1: Anon., ca.1860, Item 11 - West India Regiment Album, National Library of Jamaica Digital Collection, Available at: http://nljdigital.nlj.gov.jm/items/show/3394. [p. 1]. Figure 1.2: Anon., 1892, ‘2nd Battalion, WIR, Sergeant Majors, 1892’, General Regiments Photograph Collection, National Library of Jamaica, Kingston. [p. 2]. Figure 1.3: Anon., ca.1858-1865, Veranda of the barracks at Castries, Saint Lucia, William Walker Whitehall Johnston, Photograph Album of Wales, the West Indies, and the 1st West India Regiment, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University [p. 31] Figure 1.4: Anon., ca.1858-1865, The Barracks at Fort Nassau, William Walker Whitehall Johnston, Photograph Album of Wales, the West Indies, and the 1st West India Regiment, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University [p. 32] Figure 1.5: Anon., ca.1858-1865, Veranda of barracks at Castries, Saint Lucia, William Walker Whitehall Johnston, Photograph Album of Wales, the West Indies, and the 1st West India Regiment, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University [p. 34] Figure 1.6: Charles Howard Foulkes,1898, ‘WIR xmas masquerade’, Foulkes 3/13 Photograph Album relating to Sierra Leone, LHCMA, Kings College London [p. 36] Figure 1.7: Anon, ‘soldier in the uniform of the 1st WIR together with his wife and child and a young merger bearing upon her head a calabash of water’, The Frederick P. Todd Collection of albums: Great Britain 1856-1881, Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University, Providence. [p. 36] Chapter Two Figure 2.1: Lieutenant James Caddy, 1837, ‘View from Morne Fortune St Lucia’, Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. [p. 46]. Figure 2.2: A. Duperly & Sons, ca.1890, ‘Mango Tree, Jamaica’ detail reveals a soldier of the WIR sat underneath the tree, Caribbean Photo Archive, Archive Farms, available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caribbeanphotoarchive. [p. 47]. Figure 2.3: Jacob Frank Coonley, 1889-1904, ‘Nassau Police Force’, reproduced in Krista Thompson, An Eye for the Tropics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006) p. 123. [p. 50]. ii Figure 2.4: Anon., ca.1858-1865, Group of enlisted men from the WIR carrying out a bayonet exercise at Fort Charlotte, William Walker Whitehall Johnston Photograph Album of Wales, the West Indies, and the 1st West India Regiment, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven. [p. 50]. Figure 2.5: Anon., c.1900, ‘Negro Quarter, Bridgetown’, reproduced in E.A. Hastings Jay, A Glimpse of the Tropics, Or, Four Months Cruising in the West Indies (London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1900), p. 60. [p. 57]. Figure 2. 6: Reginald Hignett Wilford, 1900-01, ‘Myself’, 2006-04-3 Reginald Hignett Wilford Album 3, Eight photograph albums compiled by Reginald Hignett Wilford, West India Regiment, 1900-190, National Army Museum, Stevenage. [p.67]. Figure 2.7: Reginald Hignett Wilford, 1900-01,‘Alimani Armadu of Kgbantana taking dejeuner in my house’, 2006-04-3 Reginald Hignett Wilford Album 3, Eight photograph albums compiled by Reginald Hignett Wilford, West India Regiment, 1900-190, National Army Museum, Stevenage. [p.67]. Figure 2.8: Reginald Hignett Wilford, 1900-01, Double page spread from Wilford's album with ‘My bedroom Mabanta’ and ‘My “writing room” Mabanta’, 2006-04-1 to 2006-04-8: Eight photograph albums compiled by Reginald Hignett Wilford, West India Regiment, 1900-190, National Army Museum, Stevenage. [p. 68]. Chapter Three Figure 3.1: W.G. Cooper, ca.1893, ‘Local Regiment, Barbados’, reproduced in James H. Stark, Stark’s History and Guide to Barbados and the Caribbee Islands (Boston: Photo-Electrotype Co., 1893), p. 115. [p. 79]. Figure 3.2: Anon., 1886, ‘NAM. 2007-05-79-1: Two Officers and a Private of the West India Regiment watching an exercise at St Ann’s Garrison, Barbados’, National Army Museum Study Collection, National Army Museum, London. [p. 81]. Figure 3.3: Anon., ca.1890, ‘The 1st WIR on parade at St. Ann’s Fort, Barbados’, reproduced in Major Michael Hartland, A Concise and Illustrated Military History of Barbados (St. Thomas: Miller Publishing, 2007), p. 40. [p. 83]. Figure 3.4: Anon., ca.1899, ‘Up Park Camp, Jamaica’ reproduced in J. E. Caulfeild, 100 Year’s History of the Second West India Regiment (London: Forster Groom & Co, 1899,), p. 96. [p. 84]. Figure 3.5: Anon., ca.1903, ‘Military Parade, Troops Marching Past His Excellency Governor Probyn’, Wallin E Riebel Postcards of Sierra Leone, Otterbein Digital Commons, Available at: http://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/archives_sleone/. [p. 91]. Figure 3.6: Anon., ca.1905, ‘The WIR on Parade’, 1992-06-6: Collection of 223 postcards sent home by Lieutenant C. D. Harris, West India Regiment, National Army Museum, London. [p. 93]. iii Figure 3.7: Anon., ca.1903, ‘Military Parade, Troops Marching Past His Excellency Governor Probyn’, 1992-06-6: Collection of 223 postcards sent home by Lieutenant C. D. Harris, West India Regiment, National Army Museum, London. [p. 94]. Figure 3.8: Anon., 1895, ‘2nd WIR on Parade at Cape Coast Castle’, reproduced in Illustrated London News, 7 December 1895. [p. 95]. Figure 3.9: W. S. Johnston, ca.1895, ‘Gold Coast – Cape Coast Castle “A” and “B” Companies of 2nd Battalion WIR’, reproduced in Major Michael Hartland, A Concise and Illustrated Military History of Barbados (St. Thomas: Miller Publishing, 2007), p.