The East Africa Carrier Corps
Watkins’ biography contains details of Carrier Corps administration and records.
The carriers for the British forces in East Africa were organized into a Military Labour Corps, colloquially known as the ‘Carrier Corps’, and Lt Col Oscar Watkins was responsible for running it.
The Watkins Report of 1919, in the National Archives, is his account of how the Carrier Corps was organised and administered. All the men were registered and tracked, notes made on their payments, hospitalisation, desertion and death. Hospital lists and Death records were kept too.
Watkins had to invent a system of registering carriers, men who were often not literate and had come from far away. The men were basically fingerprinted, under a kipande system. The African Carriers moved around a great deal, but Watkins describes how they were tracked and paid.
As well as Registration and Payroll documents, Watkins says weekly lists of names of carriers who had died were sent out to local authorities but so far none of these lists has been found.
Page from a Carrier Corps Pay Roll.
Watkins’ system kept track of what happened to the men, on this payroll page we see – Died, Sent to Hospital, Died, Deserted, Discharged from Hospital. A typical cross-section of events in the Carrier Corps.
Documents
The original typescript of the Watkins Report is available at the National Archives, CO 533/216, and is readable although somewhat difficult in places. Based on the work of Watkins’ grandson, Nicholas Knowles, a new transcript has been made which may be read, downloaded and printed.
Click for The Watkins Report transcript.
The many Appendices to the Report contain much relevant information. They are not fully transcribed at this time but this file contains useful excerpts.
Click for The Watkins Report Appendices excerpts.
It is clear from this evidence that the East Africa Carrier Corps was in fact extensively documented at the time, including holding the names of the dead of WW1. Although these records are not known now, it is possible some of them still exist. We have put together an overview of where they might be found and are actively pursuing these avenues.
Click here for paper on the Lost Carrier Corps Records
The Wikipedia page on Oscar Ferris Watkins gives more detail of his life.