West Indian soldiers were never mentioned in films

Her uncle never lived in England. He was Jamaican and only came over to Europe to serve as a soldier and then was killed in action during the First World War, writes Yann Tear.

Robert Adolphus Smith was only 23 when he perished on September 12, 1917 – one among legions of brave young men whose stories sadly fade away with the passing of the years and loosening connections from following generations.

But South Londoner Beulah Coombs is determined that Robert’s story will live on for future students of the Great War and has put together a book about him after delving into his past and marvelling at the courage and resilience it took to uproot from the Caribbean to fight alongside the allied forces.

It seems very probable that South London was the home he might have made for himself had tragedy not claimed him on the battlefields of France and Belgium.

Beulah told South London Press: “Although I was born in Jamaica, I have lived in Croydon for about 40 years.

Before that, I lived in Brixton and Clapham and I taught in Brixton and Lambeth Colleges for many years. I now live in Thornton Heath.

“Growing up, I heard my mother mention her brother each year when watching the Memorial Service at the Cenotaph.

“I only half believed that he existed, because he was killed before I was born and I had never heard of any West Indian soldiers serving in the world wars. None were ever depicted in war films.

“By a series of astonishing coincidences, outlined in the book, myself and my daughter Zennia not only discovered that he had indeed existed, but were able to find information and documents about when and how he was killed and were able to visit his grave, with his named headstone, in Belgium. This was nearly 100 years after he had died.

“We do not have a picture of him, but I have a picture of a British West Indies Regiment, of which he was a member and a Certificate of Commemoration.”

Although Beulah’s mother Sarah often talked about her brother – who was already an adult when she was born in 1914 – and she never mentioned his name, until just before she passed away about 15 years ago.

But armed with that information, they were able to trace details of his final resting place via the National Archives in Kew and paid a family visit to his grave in 2015.

It is located in Canada Farm, a war cemetery in Ypres, a town where so many young men perished in the trenches or in ill-fated raids towards enemy lines.

My Uncle Robert is an account about a brave Jamaican World War 1 soldier and Beulah hopes it can be used as an educational resource for secondary school pupils.

Robert’s valuable contributions as a West Indian volunteer to Britain has been the driver for a tenacious family wanting to preserve his legacy for the next generation of historians.

The book also depicts a short historical outline of how Jamaicans came from their sun-kissed island to partake in two world wars, faced hellish racism, and come to reside in Britain today.

My Uncle Robert is available through Amazon, in hardback (limited edition), paperback, and Kindle. Go to https://amzn.to/3Ta7ccl