Tag: british army

This is the first of four projects that undergraduate History students at the University of Gloucestershire are conducting for the Centre in 2023, in partnership with a number of local heritage institutions in the area, including City Voices. This project comes from a collaboration with the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, and involves students Harry Britton, George Clark, Callum Earland, Thomas McManus, Jack Eastwood and Ryan Lill.

Our project is based on a collaboration with the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, and examines a number of issues that relate to the history of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The project focuses in particular on three areas:

• the 28^th Gloucestershire Regiment: its origins and recruitment processes, including the recruitment of black soldiers and the legacies of their actions;

• a profile of James Albert, also known as Ukasaw Gronniosaw, a former slave who joined the regiment during the Seven Years’ War

• its involvement in battles of the West Indian Campaign, specifically St Lucia, Dominica and Martinique

We have been lucky enough to visit the museum where we were given a private tour of the collections. The findings of our research will be on display there (see pictures below).

In looking at the origins of the regiment, we have reviewed a variety of sources, including books and journal articles. We used these to establish the origins of the regiment from the merger of two separate Gloucestershire regiments into the 28^th Regiment in the late 17th century. We have also looked at the first battles the 28^th Regiment participated in and their brave stories from Quebec (1759).

The project includes some challenging elements. We have found researching the process of recruitment particularly difficult. The lack of information and sources around this topic have made this part of the project particularly frustrating. There is some information, however, about the recruitment of black soldiers. The 28^th Regiment was one of the first regiments in Britain to recruit black soldiers. Although this might seem pioneering, the recruitment was actually very controversial. The 28^th Regiment recruited black soldiers purely on the basis that when they were fighting in the Caribbean in the Seven Years War (1756-1763), it was believed that these men were more accustomed to the conditions (their ‘skin was more hardy in the climate’). These factors show a process of learning and understanding from both the 28^th Regiment and the increasing recruitment of black soldiers to the British military as a whole.

Our main aim of this project is to take a fresh look at the history of the Regiment and its use of black troops and labour, and share this important history with the people of Gloucestershire and beyond. We are also very honoured to be telling the story of the brave people associated with the Regiment, and the wars they fought, such as the West Indian Campaign. We are also proud to show off our findings in the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum and we can’t wait to present our findings to the public.