Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great War

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In it, she describes the Indian sepoy as, 'essentially a soldier and a gentleman, but centuries of caste rule and prejudice have narrowed his views of humanity to a vanishing perspective, so it took him some time to widen it sufficiently to admit that the "Kala wallah" (black fellow) was just as much a soldier as his lordly self.

We know, for example, that Eugent Clarke, a Jamaican, served in combat at Ypres, in the Somme; and at Seaford Cemetery in East Sussex, where there are 300 soldiers’ graves, 19 are definitively those of black soldiers from the BWIR. N orman Manley, who would later become Prime Minister of Jamaica, served as an infantryman at Passchendaele and was awarded the Military Medal. He is a graduate of the London College of Printing and received a MPhil from De Montfort University.The experiences of those on the battlefield are documented, as well as the efforts of other key figures, such as nurses, Red Cross ambulance drivers and musicians who played in wartime concerts. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs, this insightful selection of short biographies and social history commentary would be a valuable addition to any home or school library. In 2017 Bourne received a Screen Nation ('Black BAFTA') Special Award; an Honorary Fellowship from London South Bank University; and his book Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars was published by I B Tauris. Of course, if there is anything the study of the Great War proves, it’s that nothing is ever finished, nothing has ever “turned out. Men of the British West Indies Regiment; Men of the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) in camp on the Albert-Amiens Road, September 1916.

One page from The Sphere in August 1918 carried photographs of the drilling of recruits in Uganda for the King's African Rifles, with accompanying text commenting that they made splendid soldiers - keen, courageous and resourceful as well as being excellent shots and good at football. An easy-purchase topic pack of children's books to support the topic of First World War and Remembrance. The well known story of Walter Tull (I had the pleasure of visiting his memorial at Arras recently) is told and the unknown stories of other black men soldiers who fought during the Great War. Many of those who paid for their own passage to England, hoping to join up and see action were bitterly disappointed.The following year, the British Legion opened a factory staffed by disabled ex-servicemen which continues its important work to this day. Upon his recovery at least six weeks later, he went on to Europe, serving, as I have mentioned, at Ypres.