Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Carrier Corps (SLCC)

As a distinct and titled unit, the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps was established for service in East Africa at the beginning of 1917 when recruiting began through appeals to Chiefs and District Commissioners. Although fighting forces were in demand in this struggle, nothing could be achieved without transport. As the demand for manpower outstripped what was available in the theatre, British West African territories were asked to fill the deficit. Assembled in their respective districts before sailing from Freetown, nearly 5,000 Sierra Leoneans would ultimately travel to East Africa to do carrier service.

Once they arrived in East Africa, the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps saw near continuous service in support of the Gold Coast Regiment and Nigerian Brigade. In the course of its work, the SLCC suffered significant casualties, with many men losing their lives to diseases such as dysentery and tuberculosis. Malaria, however, probably claimed the most lives. While death rates among soldiers from sickness in East Africa in 1917 averaged around 3 to 4 men per thousand per month, the death rate among carrier forces rose from 5 per thousand in January and peaked at 27 per thousand in June before falling to 8 per thousand in November. Although contemporary figures vary, it was thought that at least 850 men who served in the SLCC did not live to see home again.

As in all the corners of the world touched by the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was responsible for the commemoration of the war dead of what was then the British Empire. Discussions over how Sierra Leonean casualties would be commemorated in the aftermath started relatively late. In 1923 the colonial administration established a committee to oversee this work, which in turn liaised with the IWGC. Progress was initially slow, and the registration of graves and the production of cemetery plans within Sierra Leone took several years. By 1926 it was clear that, although they knew the cemeteries in which many Sierra Leoneans had been buried, the nature of their burials meant the graves were unidentifiable. Information from East Africa also suggested most burial locations for these men were unknown. The local committee and IWGC ultimately agreed that a central memorial in Freetown would be the best form of commemoration for all the Sierra Leonean dead, although there was some initial disagreement about the inclusion of names on the memorial.

Freetown Memorial photographed by Captain C E Cookson 11 March 1931

For several reasons, but principally due to a lack of records, the IWGC had built memorials to the dead in East Africa without inscribing their names upon them. The IWGC expected a similar approach would be adopted in Sierra Leone, but the local committee felt it was appropriate to use names as they were in their possession. Nonetheless, despite this wider decision, it was ultimately agreed that the names of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps would be excluded as it was believed the communities from which these men came would not appreciate or engage with this form of commemoration. As they also made up the largest losses of any single Sierra Leonean unit, it was also noted that it would be considerably more difficult and expensive to find a way to add their names to the limited space on the memorial.

The final figures commemorated on the memorial included 61 men of the West African Regiment, 55 men of the Sierra Leone Battalion of the West African Frontier Force and 113 men of the Royal Engineers (Inland Water Transport). It omitted the names of 795 Sierra Leoneans known to have lost their lives doing carrier service in East Africa, who were instead remembered in number alone. This same fate was shared by two men originally of the Inland Water Transport and three of the Sierra Leone Medical Corps who had died as part of a contingent en route to Mesopotamia that was seconded at Dar es Salaam to act as carriers. The names of these men were recorded in memorial registers rather than in stone or bronze on the memorial itself.

This commemoration by number remained until after the Second World War, when the design of the memorial panels was altered to include the greater number of casualties from that conflict. As a result of this, all the First World War deaths were confined to a single panel and all trace of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps was removed, apart from within the Commission’s registers.