Invasion of Guadeloupe (1794)

Invasion of Guadeloupe
Part of War of the First Coalition
Contemporary drawing of the capitulation of British troops in Guadeloupe
Date 11 April 1794 – 10 December 1794 Location Guadeloupe Result French victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Charles Grey John Jervis	Victor Collot Victor Hugues

The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British attempt in 1794 to take and hold the island of Guadeloupe in the French West Indies during the French Revolutionary Wars. The British had negotiated with the French planters, Ignace-Joseph-Philippe de Perpignan and Louis de Curt, who wished to gain British protection, as France's National Convention was passing a law abolishing slavery on 4 February 1794. The Whitehall Accord was signed on 19 February 1794 while the British were securing Martinique in the Battle of Martinique (1794).

Troops led by General Charles Grey landed in Guadeloupe on 11 April 1794, assisted by a fleet led by Admiral Sir John Jervis. On 24 April French general Victor Collot surrendered the last stronghold at Basse-Terre, leaving the island in the hands of the British and their French Royalist allies. On 4 June a French fleet landed troops under the command of Victor Hugues who, with the assistance of French Republican locals, helped by the effect of yellow fever and other tropical diseases on the British forces, regained full control of the island by 10 December 1794.

Troops and people involved

• 6th Regiment of Foot
• 43rd Regiment of Foot
• Major-General Thomas Dundas (appointed governor of Guadeloupe, but died of Yellow Fever 3 June 1794)

References

• Fortescue, Sir John William (1906). A History of the British Army. Vol. 4. Macmillan and Company. p. 365.