Hidden story of 2,000 African-Caribbean PoWs in a medieval castle

Exhibition tells story of men, women and children transported from St Lucia after fighting for France against Britain

Mark Brown
Tuesday 18 July 2017 01.00 EDT


The remarkable overlooked story of more than 2,000 African-Caribbean soldiers imprisoned in a medieval castle in the 18th century is to be told in a new exhibition by English Heritage.

It comes after more than five years of painstaking research into the men – and 99 women and children – who were transported from St Lucia in 1796 to Portchester castle, which overlooks Portsmouth harbour.

All were black soldiers and their dependants, freed from slavery by the French in 1794 and fighting for France against the British.

Among the names were Louis Delgrès, General Marinier and his wife Eulalie Piemont and Charlotte Pedre and her husband Jean-Louis Marin. Curator Abigail Coppins said that discovering individual identities had been astonishing.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jul/18/hidden-story-of-2000-african-caribbean-pows-in-a-medieval-castle