The Ancestors: Uncovering Their Journey

Members of the National Youth Theatre (NYT), in collaboration with Shout Out Loud and researchers from the University of Warwick, shine new light on the lives of the Caribbean Prisoners of War (PoWs) held at Portchester Castle in the 18th century.

Twelve young Black women from the NYT explored historical sources connected to Revolution in the Caribbean, and Portchester Castle, in particular developing their own creative responses to a play written by a White French prisoner of war about the Revolution in Haiti. 

The young British women of African or Afro-Caribbean heritage involved in the project were able to explore and engage with a lesser told chapter of Black British and French history. 

In response, they first wrote and performed monologues, interpreting the research to provide fresh perspectives on the experiences of the prisoners: particularly those of the women and children who were also captured. Their stories have hardly been told and it is their experiences that the monologues imagine and give voice to. 

Here, we share some of those monologues, telling stories of the prisoners all the way from their homes in the Caribbean to their imprisonment at Portchester.

It’s 1796, and Britain and France are at war. Several French Caribbean islands have abolished slavery.  Britain has decided to take advantage of the upheaval to bring those islands under British colonial rule.

In the ensuing conflict, over 2,500 individuals, almost all Black or mixed-race, are captured on the islands of St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada and brought to Britain as PoWs. 

These prisoners are not only soldiers; women and children are also amongst the captured.  

The Black and mixed-race prisoners at Portchester were treated with a certain degree of care and considerable efforts were made to improve the quality of their living conditions in the prison. These efforts included the provision of extra blankets and warm clothing. 

A number of prisoners, including soldiers, women and children were repatriated from 1797 onwards, while others were held at the castle for some years before being repatriated to France.