The 4th West India Regiment was one of the

West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

s (WIRs) in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It was originally formed in 1795 under the command of Colonel

Oliver Nicolls General Oliver Nicolls (c.1740 – 1829) was a British Army officer. Military career Nicolls was commissioned into the 1st Regiment of Foot in November 1756.Richard Cannon''Historical record of the Life Guards containing an account of the formati ...

Richard Cannon Richard Cannon (1779–1865) was a compiler of regimental records for the British Army. Career On 1 January 1802 Cannon was appointed to a clerkship at the Horse Guards, and attained the grade of first-clerk in 1803. Under a Horse Guards order ...

''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
/ref> Nearly all of the rank and file soldiers were born in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. 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 ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

from 14 March 1817 to 9 March 1819. At the end of this assignment they were dispatched to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

where the regiment was disbanded.

Colonels

The following officers served as Colonel_(United_Kingdom)#Colonel_of_the_Regiment, colonels of the regiment: *General

20 May 1795 *Lieutenant-General

Sir Thomas Maitland Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Maitland (10 March 1760 – 17 January 1824) was a British soldier and British colonial governor. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1790 to 1796, 1802–06 and 1812 ...

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 George Thomas Colomb (4 June 1787 – 20 March 1874) was a British Army general and a talented amateur artist. He was born in Twickenham, London, the son of Swiss émigré Pierre Philippe Colomb (1744–1799) and his wife Maria Elizabeth Burchell ...

24 April 1866 ''Disbanded 1 April 1869''

References

{{reflist Military of Sierra Leone History of the Caribbean Regiments of Caribbean nations Military in the Caribbean British West Indies Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1795 British military units and formations of the War of 1812 British colonial regiments