‘This extremely reserved nature was due to shock… from the war’ Odessa Chambers on her father Jacob Hall of the British West Indies Regiment

Men from across the British Empire formed part of the armed forces during the First World War. Most returned home after the war, but some settled in Britain.

We spoke to people living in Bristol today of African and African-Caribbean descent whose families took part in the First World War.

Their full stories can be read in the Reading Room. We would love to hear more war stories from Bristolians of Asian, African-Caribbean and African descent. Orlando Martins Orlando Martins was from Nigeria. He said that he joined the war effort to avenge the German army’s treatment of family members in Cameroon. He was a stoker on the RMS Mauretania, a passenger ship taken over by the Royal Navy as a troop ship. Anonymous was a Jamaican working as a stoker on merchant ships. He met his British wife in Bristol and settled here after the war. He stayed in the Merchant Navy until an accident happened - a ship’s boiler backfired and damaged his sight. George Whorms George Whorms was from Jamaica, of German descent. He joined the West Indies Regiment. His experiences in the First World War affected him for the rest of his life. He dreamed about the war, and could not stand noise, a symptom of shell shock.

Jacob Hall Private Jacob Hall signed up to the British West Indies Regiment aged 14. He served in Egypt. He was changed by the war and came back traumatised with shell shock. He was also angry that white veterans got a bigger pension than Black veterans.