Hidden Figure in Military History

A trumpet call across the centuries



On 24 March 1811, in the tower of St Nicholas Church in Brighton, a baby boy was christened. His name was Charles Afflick.

His father, William Afflick, was a soldier in the 10th Hussars and served as a trumpeter. He was a Black man from the Caribbean who had married a white English woman, Elizabeth. Their family life in Regency Brighton sits slightly outside the familiar story of the town.

When we think of Brighton in this period, we usually picture the Prince Regent, the Royal Pavilion, and the rise of the town as a fashionable resort. That story matters, but it is not the whole story. William Afflick lived here too. He walked the same streets, heard the same church bells, and raised a family during a time of war and rapid change.

Brighton’s hidden past

Brighton changed fast at the turn of the 19th century. In a few decades, it grew from a small fishing town into a busy seaside resort and a military base.

Within that change are stories that are easy to miss, including the lives of Black soldiers serving in British regiments during the Napoleonic Wars. William Afflick’s story is one of them.

From St Kitts to Brighton

William Afflick was born in St Kitts in 1781, when the Caribbean islands were tightly tied to Britain’s imperial system. Records do not tell us everything about how he reached Britain or why he enlisted. What we do know is that in 1801, aged 20, he joined the 10th Light Dragoons at Hounslow, near London.

His service ran through the Napoleonic period, from 1801 until his discharge in 1819.

By the time he reached Brighton in 1811, he was an experienced soldier in his early thirties. His regiment had also changed. In 1807 it was redesignated as the 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own) Hussars, with the formal warrant published on 18 April 1811.

William served as a trumpeter. This was skilled work. A cavalry trumpeter had to play clearly under pressure and use a set of calls that controlled movement, orders, and timing.

A marriage that stood out

On 4 February 1806, William married Elizabeth Roach in Essex. In early 19th-century England, a marriage between a Black soldier and a white English woman was unusual and could bring gossip and hostility. Even so, they built a life together.

By 1811 they were in Brighton, following the regiment. The town was expanding quickly. The Prince Regent had made Brighton his base, drawing in wealth and fashion. At the same time, Brighton was an active military centre. Preston Barracks on Lewes Road could hold hundreds of infantry soldiers, and cavalry units, including the Hussars, were a visible part of town life.

Brighton’s rapid growth created a restless, changing place. It was not a town free from prejudice, but it may have been one where some people could pass with less scrutiny than in quieter, more settled communities.

The birth of Charles

In spring 1811, Elizabeth was expecting. The family stayed in the Lanes, in the narrow streets close to the seafront.

On 24 March 1811, their son was christened at St Nicholas Church, Brighton’s ancient parish church. The baptism entry records Charles as the son of William Afflick, a soldier, and Elizabeth Afflick, formerly Roach.

For William and Elizabeth, the christening would have mattered. Their child was born in England and entered parish records like any other local child. It did not remove the barriers they faced, but it placed their family firmly inside the official life of the town.

Wider context: Black soldiers in the British Army

William Afflick was not the only Black soldier in British service during this period. Black men served in different regiments and roles, from the Caribbean, Africa, and other parts of the empire. Their experiences varied. Some faced open discrimination. Others found a degree of acceptance, often shaped by their regiment, officers, and the practical needs of war.

William’s role as trumpeter suggests he was trusted with responsibility, but that did not mean he was treated as an equal in social life. His marriage, in particular, would likely have drawn attention.

A military life through Waterloo and beyond

William continued serving through the later years of the Napoleonic Wars. The 10th Hussars fought in the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. The regiment was also present at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

The 1815 campaign was harsh. Wet weather, mud, cold, and exhaustion took a heavy toll. William survived, but his health appears to have suffered. In 1819 he was discharged on a pension as an invalid, with chest pain and other problems linked to exposure during the campaign.

After Brighton: what we know of the family

What happened next is less clear in the surviving records. We do know that Charles, born in Brighton in 1811, later made a life in colonial Australia. He became known as Charles Joseph Affleck, settled in Ulladulla, New South Wales, and died on 26 March 1877, aged 66.

Charles’s move to Australia fits a wider pattern of migration in the 19th century, but his background adds another layer. He was a mixed-race man born in England, building a future in a colonial society shaped by its own rigid ideas about race and belonging.

Brighton’s unwritten history

The Afflick family’s story sits alongside the better-known Brighton story of royal patronage and new buildings. It reminds us that the town’s past included soldiers, working families, and people who did not fit neatly into social expectations.

William Afflick was a Black man from the Caribbean who served in the British Army. Elizabeth Roach was a white English woman who married him in a period when that choice could carry real cost. Their son Charles was born and christened in Brighton during wartime, and his life later stretched across the empire.

Their story is part of Brighton’s history, even if it has often been left out.