King’s African Rifles and West Indian Rifles pins

The King's African Rifles (K.A.R.) (1897-1953) was a Kenya based East African colonial regiment formed in 1902 that was active until the 1960s. The rank and file of the multi-battalion regiment known as askaris were Africans. This included some of the officers, although most officers were seconded from the British army.

22 battalions of 33,348 African and around 2500 British personnel fought with distinction in the First World War (1914-1918) against German forces in East Africa. The war also brought black American and European forces into closer contact, leading to transatlantic exchanges that after the war saw calls for civil rights by returning African British and American forces, of the latter historian Paul Howson observes: observes:

“When the first all-Black regiment known as ‘The Harlem Hellfighters’ returned from the battlefields abroad and paraded up 5th Avenue into Harlem in February 1919, a quarter of a million people came out to greet them. The parade became a marker of African American service to the nation, a frequent point of reference for those campaigning for civil rights.”[2]

Initially, the West India Regiments were used to protect the plantation economies of Britain's Caribbean colonies[1]. However, they also took part in the wars against France, helping to seize enemy colonies and expand the Empire.

West India Regiments fought at St Lucia in 1803, the Danish Virgin Islands (now US Virgin Islands) in 1807, Martinique and Les Saintes in 1809, and Guadeloupe in 1810.

They also served in America during the the War of 1812 (1812-15), joining the attack on New Orleans. But after this, their numbers were steadily reduced and most regiments were disbanded.

For the majority of the 19th century, the remaining regiments were based in Trinidad and Jamaica. After taking part in the Second Ashanti War (1873-74) in West Africa, they established a base in Sierra Leone for the recruitment and training of African volunteers.

In 1888, the two remaining West India Regiments were merged into a single regiment comprising two battalions. These were then rotated; one was based in the Caribbean, and one was based in Sierra Leone.

[1] National Army Museum collections

[2] How Black culture took off after WWI