The 4th West India Regiment was one of the West India Regiments (WIRs) in the British Army. It was originally formed in 1795 under the command of Colonel Oliver Nicolls.Richard Cannon, Historical record of the Life Guards containing an account of the formation of the corps in the year 1660 and of its subsequent services to 1835, p. 135 Nearly all of the rank and file soldiers were born in Africa. Before 1807 they had generally been purchased from slave ships by the army. But after the parliamentary abolition of the British transatlantic slave trade in 1807, the British Navy intercepted ships of other nations carrying slaves, and often these slaves were recruited to the West India Regiments.
Gibraltar The 4th WIR was stationed in Gibraltar from 14 March 1817 to 9 March 1819. At the end of this assignment they were dispatched to Sierra Leone where the regiment was disbanded.
Colonels
The following officers served as colonels of the regiment: General Oliver Nicolls 20 May 1795 Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Maitland 19 July 1807 Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith 19 July 1811 Field-Marshal Lord Strafford 12 December 1816 Disbanded 24 April 1819, reconstituted February 1862 Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Garrett 1 April 1862 Lieutenant-General John Angerstein 14 January 1866 General George Thomas Colomb 24 April 1866 Disbanded 1 April 1869
References