Plaque honouring African-Caribbean prisoners stolen days after unveiling

A plaque commemorating African-Caribbean people held as prisoners of war in 18th-century Britain has been stolen from Portchester Castle in Hampshire, just days after it was unveiled.

The plaque marked one of the largest known arrivals of African-Caribbean people in Britain before the Windrush era: about 2,500 men, women and children brought to Britain as prisoners of war in 1796, more than 2,000 of whom were held at the castle near Portsmouth.

"Why would somebody do something like that?"

The plaque was unveiled on 9 October at a ceremony organised by the St Vincent and the Grenadines 2nd Generation group with the University of Warwick and English Heritage, attended by Caribbean communities, diplomats and researchers. A delegation travelled from Belize and elsewhere to honour their ancestors.

Days later, English Heritage staff found it missing. A padlock on one of the castle gates had been removed, and a nearby bench was daubed with hateful graffiti. The theft has been reported to police.

Ronald Raymond McDonald, a drummer whose Garifuna ancestors from St Vincent were among the prisoners, said he was heartbroken. "Why would somebody do something like that when people are simply honouring their ancestors? It's very sad," he said.

A hidden history

The Garifuna are descended from Indigenous Caribbean and African people on St Vincent, who resisted British colonisation for decades. In the 1790s they were defeated and expelled by British forces, many to the barren island of Baliceaux, where large numbers died. Others were shipped to England as prisoners of war.

The date of the unveiling marked exactly 230 years since one of the ships carrying prisoners was wrecked at Rapparee Cove in Devon, where many lost their lives.

Professor Katherine Astbury, of the University of Warwick, said the plaque was meant to be a visible reminder of "an important, forgotten part of Caribbean history".

"Hate will never define who we are"

Queen Mother Chief Freda Paulino-Sideroff, a Garifuna leader who travelled for the ceremony, said: "Hate will never define who we are as a people. We are resilient survivors of our ancestors who have endured."

The campaigner Sir Patrick Vernon said memorials to Black British history had been vandalised repeatedly over decades. Anthony Severin, St Lucia's high commissioner and chair of the Caribbean diplomatic caucus in the UK, called the theft a "desecration" and pledged that the plaque, "whether returned or replaced, will remain affixed to the walls of Portchester Castle".

Jacqueline Roberts, chief executive of the organising group, said the theft could not erase history. "Our history is intertwined with British history," she said.

Black History Month

The theft came during Black History Month, which Birmingham is marking with a programme of events celebrating Black history and culture across the city. Birmingham has one of the largest African-Caribbean communities in Britain, and stories like that of the Portchester prisoners are part of a history that researchers and families are still rediscovering.