The West India Regiments were raised in 1795 as a black corps to compliment the European regiments, composed primarily of European officers and non-commissioned officers and black soldiers, although some did rise to non-commissioned ranks.

The origin of these regiments was the Carolina Black Corps (a black corps formed during the American Revolution) and various locally raised black pioneer and ranger corps. The army needed to buy slaves to bring the regiments up to strength, at first from plantation owners and later directly from slave ships. Between 1798 and 1806 the army bought 6,376 slaves for the West India Regiments (an estimated 7% of all slaves sold in the British West Indies during this period).

In 1807 two acts directly affected the West Indies Regiments: the Mutiny Act, which emancipated (freed) all military slaves from the status of slaves, but they were still soldiers; and the abolition of the slave trade. The recruiters next turned to recruiting liberated Africans (who had been released from captured illegal slave traders) and black soldiers from the recently captured French and Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and Central America and Mauritius.

Between 1795 and 1888 there were between one and 12 West India Regiments. By 1888 there was one regiment of two battalions, and the second battalion was disbanded in 1920. The West Indies Regiment was disbanded in 1927 after having seen action in the West Indies, West Africa and in the USA during the War of 1812. It was reformed for a short time between 1958 and 1961.

Records of service for the West Indies Regiments are to be found among the usual sources for tracing a British soldier.

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