14/10/2026
On 9 October 2026, High Commissioner Cherie Nisbet was pleased to join the High Commissioner of St Vincent and the Grenadines at Portchester Castle for the unveiling of a memorial plaque commemorating the 230th anniversary of the arrival of over 2,000 Caribbean prisoners of war who were forcibly transported to Britain in 1796 and imprisoned at the castle.
The prisoners had formed part of a coalition of Indigenous Garifuna fighters, Indigenous people, formerly enslaved Africans, free Black people, and French revolutionaries who resisted British attempts to consolidate colonial control over the Eastern Caribbean.
The occasion was especially meaningful for Belize, where the Garifuna people are an integral part of our nation’s history, heritage and identity. The ceremony itself featured Garifuna drummers from Belize.
The commemoration was also particularly significant as it took place in the lead-up to Belize’s Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance Day on 12 October, which honours the survival, history and resilience of Indigenous peoples.
The Belize High Commission thanks the University of Warwick, English Heritage and St Vincent and the Grenadines Second Generation (SV2G) for their important work in researching, preserving and sharing this often-overlooked chapter of the history of Caribbean people in the United Kingdom, and for ensuring that their presence and experiences are recognised as part of the UK’s history.
