BAME Seafarers in Wales during the First World War
African merchant seamen serving in the First World War were not recognised as British subjects and their families were not compensated for their loss. Many lost their lives and for most their only recognition are their names on the Tower Hill memorial which commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. After the war the ports of Liverpool and Cardiff were in decline and there was widespread unemployment among seamen leading to race riots. Around 2,000 black seamen were repatriated between 1919 and the early 1920s in an effort to ease tensions, although many who had families stayed.
