Picturing the West India regiments: race, empire, and photography c.1850-1914
Journal: Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick)
Year: 2018

Despite the enthusiasm of local studios, visitors to the Caribbean, and military officers for capturing images of the West India Regiments (WIRs), photographs have often been neglected as a source for the history the British Army’s first ‘official’ black units (established in the 1790s). Relegated to the covers or glossy middle pages of books, the insights that the contested image of the WIRs can provide have been ignored. The use of photographs of the WIRs solely for illustrative purposes has m