Records Here, Records There, Records Gone.

Looking for military records associated with World War One and the Caribbean throws up a number of challenges. The location of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla and the political and economic associations of the time present opportunities for population movement. These can be from island to island, island to the United Kingdom, island to Canada and island to United States and island to central America principally Panama. Added to this a number of records have disappeared or have been destroyed.

British Army Records after 1913

Army non-commissioned officers and other ranks
Due to German bombing during Worlds War 2 some 60% of service records were destroyed at the beginning of World War 2. On the night of the 7th/8th September 1940 the War Office Record Store in Arnside Street, Walworth, London SE17 was hit by incendiary bombs during a heavy German air-raid. The resulting fire destroyed the greater part of the 1,400 tons of War Office records which were held there. Approximately two thirds of soldiers' service records were completely destroyed and those which survived were partly charred or water damaged when the fire was extinguished; the surviving records became known as the series WO 363 'burnt documents or burnt collation'.

Some army service records were stored off site for pension claim purposes.

Surviving records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the Public Record Office, Kew, London
Non commissioned officers and other ranks, First World War, WO 363, WO364 and WO400.
Service Records are also available via the genealogy website http://home.ancestry.co.uk/ for a fee.

Army Officers records.
First World War Regular Army and Emergency Reserve Officers were registered with a 'Long Number' in series, WO 339, with index to long numbers, WO338 that is used to find army officers service records. 
First World War Temporary commissions and Territorial Army Officers, are recorded in series WO 374.

I have managed to find some of the Service Records of the men named on the St. Kitts War Memorial which has helped provide some pieces of the jig-saw puzzle.

20 Names, 20 Lives! The Search Begins

The St. Kitts War Memorial has twenty names listed on a brass plaque commemorating those who lost their lives during the First World War 1914-1918. At the moment they are just names but they were living breathing people who were sons, brothers, uncles and husbands. So who were these men:

First stop the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site. http://www.cwgc.org

Established in May 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission it holds the burial and memorial records of 1.69 deceased Commonwealth military service personnel. They also manage and maintain over 23,000 burial sites in approximately 2,500 cemeteries and over 200 memorials in a total of 150 countries.

The names listed in the CWGC database have varying degrees of information e.g. forname(s) could be in full or just initials. Additional information regarding place of birth and next of kin might or might not be included.

The bracketed number below refers to the name placing on the War Memorial plaque. Having reviewed the names:

Definite identification:

(1) Joseph Cephas, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Died 10/03/1919. Buried: Magdelan Hill Cemetery  Winchester England.
Son of Mrs Rebecca Carey, Mansions Village, St. Kitts.

(5) H. D. (Harrington Douty) Edwards. D.S.O. Royal Navy. Missing presumed dead 11/03/1916. Memorial: Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire, England.
Eldest son of a District Medical Officer in Antigua. He is also recorded as having been awarded a D.S.O. - Distinguished Service Order medal.

(9) James L. E. R. Lake, Border Regiment. Died 24/08/1915. Buried Eas Mudros Military Cemetery, Limnos Island, Greece.
Son of James Louis Engelbert Lake and Henrietta Theresa Lake, of Church St., St. John's, Antigua, British West Indies.

(11) Joseph A. McKoy, British West Indies Regiment. Died 16/10/1918. Buried Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
No additional information listed regarding relatives or place of birth.

(14) Donald (Joseph) Patrice. British West Indies Regiment. Died 15/03/1919. Buried Alexandria (Hadra) Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
Son of Alexander Patrice and Alice Nicholas, his wife, of Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies.

(15) Edward Hope Ross, Middlesex regiment. Died 01/07/1916. Missing presumed dead. Memorial Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
Son of Mr. and Mrs. D. Hope Ross, of Port of Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies.

(20) Robert L(awrence) Woolward. British West Indies Regiment. Died 10/09/1918. Buried Alexandria (Hadra) Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
Son of Robert Tapley Woolward and Mary Evangeline Thomas (his wife) of St. Kitts, British West Indies.

Probable identification:

(2) James Daniel, Britis West Indies Regiment. Died 09/01/1917. Buried: Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
The only James or J. Daniel listed with a West Indian connection - his regiment.  

(4) Donald Edwards, M.C., 45th Squadron, Royal Flying Corp. Died 06/04/1917. Buried: Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension, Hainaut, Belgium.
His wife is noted as living in London, England. He is the only Donald or D. Edwards listed with an M.C. Military Cross.

(19) Richard T(heophilus) White. British West Indies Regiment. Died 30/09/1918. Buried: Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
Son of Charles and Jane Davis White, of Antigua, British West Indies.


Unable To Identify:

(3) Arthur Dickenson: 6 x A. or Arthur Dickenson's, all with no additional information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.
  (6) John Foreman. 9 x J. or John Foreman's, all with no additional information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

(7) Edmund Gordon 9 x E. or Edmund Gordon's, all with no additional information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla

(8) Hywel Herbert Jones. The name of Jones produces many results and there was no information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.#

(10) Joseph A. Lewis. The name of Joseph Lewis produces many results and there was no information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

(12) Edward Mills. Many E. or Edward Mills', all with no additional information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

(13) Herbert Mitchell.  Many H. or Herbert Mitchell's', all with no additional information pointing to a connection with St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

(16) Horace Veira. No record on the CWGC site.

(17) Ivor Wakefield. No record on the CWGC site.

(18) William C. Wattley. No record on the CWGC site.

I think this will be a challenge! Next database to look at Soldiers and Officers who Died in the Great War.

St Kitts War Memorial Has Lost Its Shine

A picture of the War Memorial c.1975. This picture shows the memorial painted in pristine white, but this has weathered and the memorial is back to a 'natural' stone colour. A view of the memorial taken in June 2013 can be found on a previous blog entry.

The Missing Man of World War 2!

Eugene Dunlop Vanier:

b. 14th February 1916, Charlestown, Nevis, British West Indies - d. 1st September 1942, Libya/Egypt.

It would appear that the name of Flying Officer, Eugene Dunlop Vanier, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has not been included on the 1939-1945 plaque of the St. Kitts Memorial. His aircraft a Bristol Beaufighter, T4881 of 252 (RAF) Squadron and was reported missing whilst on strafing operations behind enemy lines around the Libyan/Egyptian border. His aircraft with one other on the operation failed to return to base on 1st September 1942 and the crew were  presumed to have been killed in action. His body was never recovered and his name is remembered on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.

Pilot Officer Eugene Vanier

As recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) web site he was the son of the Revd. John George William Vanier, B.A., and Mary Annie Vanier, of Basseterre, St. Kitts, British West Indies.

Revd. John Vanier was also an Anglican Priest living at the Rectory, The Valley, Anguilla in 1913, just prior to the commencement of World War 1. He was described as a Priest in Holy Orders at St. Mary's Church and that he was 'Coloured'.

From Anglican missionary reports in 1916/17 the diocese of Antigua had adjusted to the war, but Rev John Vanier of St Thomas, Nevis, stressed that trouble among the labouring classes was coming to a head with the formation of a trade union (June 1917).

So it would appear that Eugene's father the Revd. John Vanier had served as an Anglican priest in Anguilla, Nevis and St. Kitts. Eugene also spent time in Antgua being educated at Antigua Grammar School, working for the Post Office in Antigua and George W. Bennett Bryson & Co., Ltd, In 1939 he went to McGill University from 1939 until joining the RCAF in August 1940.

The List Of Casualties For World War 2

Though not directly related to World War 1, I have added this for completeness regarding the War Memorial.

The list of names on the St. Kitts war memorial plaque commemorating the servicemen who died  during World War 2. The plaque is on the opposite side of the memorial from the World War 1 plaque and has weathered a lot more.

J. E. Alves D.F.M.
Peter Berkley
Sidney Delisle
A. E. Farara
G. G. H. Farara D.F.C. D.F.M.
Basil Veira D.F.C.

St. Kitts War Memorial - June 2013.

The war memorial next to the Treasury Building in Basseterre was moved to make way for the building of a Post Office. The new memorial was built at the northern end of the Irishtown Bay road near Ocean Terrace Inn. It was unveiled by Princess Margaret on 11th November 1955. The memorial has two bronze plaque one commemorating 20 servicemen from World War One and the other 6 servicemen from World War Two.

The memorial is also known locally as 'The Cenotaph' and has three 'tombs' that lie in front of the obelisk. Each one is constructed from the stone of one of the three islands which comprised the colony of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla.  Every November, the Defence Force, the Police Force and various religious denominations gather at the memorial to remember those who died in service during the two world wars. The remembrance service and parade start at 8 am on the Sunday closest to the 11th November each year.

The memorial was originally white in colour, but has since weathered over the years to a natural stone colour.

List of War Casualties 1914-1918

The plaque on the present war memorial listing the casualties of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

The Names listed are as follows:

Joseph Cephas
James Daniel
Arthur Dickenson
Donald Edwards M.C.
H. D. Edwards D.S.O.
Edmund Gordon
Hywel Herbert Jones
James L. E. R. Lake
Joseph A. Lewis
Joseph A. McKoy
Edward Mills
Herbert Mitchell
Donald Patrice
Edward Hope Ross
Horace Veira
Ivor Wakefield
William C. Wattley
Richard T. White
Robert L. Woolward

The War Memorial in Basseterre.

Men joined the armed forces of the United Kingdom and Canada to be part of the greatest conflict between nations up to that time. The 'Great War', as it was originally known, resulted in a large loss of life from battle action, disease and accident. After the conflict many memorials were erected to the memory of those who died in the conflict. These memorials included those on the various battlefields around the world, and the participating countries. Though the conflict itself was far from the shores of St Kitts and Nevis it was no exception with regard to erecting a memorial.

The original memorial to those that died in World War One was built next to the Treasury Building in Basseterre in St. Kitts and was unveiled on the 11th November 1926.

The memorial is to the right of the Treasury Building next to the flagpole. This area was used for drill and parades by the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force.