St Lucia in the late 18th century

The story of the prisoners of war at Portchester is an important missing piece of the history of St Lucia. Here is a link to Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins discussing the connection between the prisoners at the Brigand Wars.

Saint Lucia National Trust Presents "Celebrating Legacy - The Saint Lucia Freedom Fighters of 1796"

A brief outline of the historical context follows here:

The Windward islands were a target for European powers who wanted to govern them for commercial advantage.

Britain and France were at war from 1756-1763, initially in North America but then also in India and the conflict spilled over into the Caribbean. Both countries were looking to enlarge their influence, possessions and trading rights.

In 1762, Britain took control of St Lucia from the French but at the end of the war in 1763, a peace treaty returned St Lucia, Guadeloupe and Martinique to the French, while St Vincent would stay British, along with Grenada, Dominica and Tobago.

The island would see further spells of both British and French rule. This diagram showing some of the times St Lucia changed hands during the second half of the 18th century was prepared by Kate Astbury for the St Paul's Cathedral trail

War and resistance in the Caribbean: The monuments at St Paul's | St Paul's Cathedral

Saint Lucia 1762 1763 1778 1784 1794 1795 1796 1802 1803

It shows how complicated the history of St Lucia is for this period. But the way in which St Lucia's learn that the island was '7 times British, 7 times French' invisibilises the local population and their role in resistance.

During the American revolutionary wars, Britain captured St Lucia and France retook Dominica and St Vincent in 1778 and 1779 but France regained control of St Lucia in 1784.

When war between Britain and Revolutionary France erupted in 1793, the overseas colonies belonging to Britain, France and their European allies, including the Caribbean, were also dragged into the war. St Lucia was a target for Britain and they reclaimed the island briefly in 1794 before gaining a stronger grasp of it in 1796 during Abercromby's campaigns in the Windward Islands. French revolutionary forces (made up of formerly enslaved Africans, free people of colour, indigenous peoples, white French and Creoles) were forced to surrender in May 1796 and 2000 prisoners of war were sent to Britain so that they were away from the field of war.

Map copyright National Archives of the UK

Although France would briefly claim the island in 1802, the defeat of the French forces at the Morne Fortuné in 1796 effectively marked the end of St Lucia as French.