Appendices
Now bear in mind, as thou keep’st jogging,
Each one’s a hole to put a cog in;
So should the work seem awkward doing,
The Appendix wheel sets all a-going.
W. Hall, of Lynn.
Appendix A
A REPORT OF THE SURVEY OF THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS 31st MAY 1813
By Mr. Fearnall, Surveyor
The Prisons, or Barracks, are built of fir quartering, and weather boarded on the outside, and have no inside lining, except those appropriated for the hospital, which are plastered. The innumerable holes cut through all parts of the buildings by the prisoners for the admission of light have caused them to be extremely weak, by the braces being cut through and destroyed in many parts, so as to render it necessary they should be immediately replaced with new, and such regulations adopted towards the prisoners as to prevent a recurrence of the same practice. The weather-boarding, stair-cases, hammock rails, privies and fence are in a general bad state, as particularly stated in this report, viz.:
Prison No. 1.—The ground floor is paved with stone, which is in many parts broken and very irregular. The story posts, that support the roof and floor, are so much damaged by being cut by the prisoners, and in parts decayed, as to require to be new in many places. The upper floor in the gangway, which has hitherto been laid with elm board, is stated to require renewing every twenty months; the other parts of the floor very much decayed. The hammock rails in many parts worn out. The braces and quarterings of the building are very much cut and destroyed by the prisoners, and must be new in many places. The stair-case in very bad condition, quite worn out. As they are now constructed within the building, they impede a free circulation of air, and occupy a space which would allow twelve men to be berthed, in addition to the present number, by having an accommodation ladder against the outside of the building, with a landing place and door; this plan would stop the communication between the two prison rooms, facilitate the escape of the prisoners in case of fire, by having two doors instead of only one. Mr. Walker, the surgeon, is very desirous that the same alteration should be made at the Hospital; it would separate the two wards, which in case of infectious diseases would be attended with beneficial effects, also save the expense of opening another ward in case of contagion.
The weather-boarding, from the prisoners cutting holes through for the admission of light, to each berth, as well as from actual decay, is in such bad condition as to require at least one third to be new.
Privy.—The weather-boarding and wood steps in bad condition, and many pantiles stripped from the roof. The ground under the privies on which the soil cart stands, from the frequency of its being drawn out, has occasioned deep ruts, so that when the cart is drawn out, it comes up with a jerk, and the soil is thrown out, and becomes a dreadful nuisance, which might be prevented by a few stumps of wood driven into the ground, on which a piece of oak plank might form a railway, and the intermediate space be filled up with stone rubbish at a very trifling expense.
Court between the Buildings.—Are paved next the Barracks only, and in wet weather, the part not paved, from the nature of the soil, is in a miserable condition, and would be very much improved by paving the whole, leaving a gutter-way in the middle of the court; every shower of rain would cleanse it, and add very much to the comfort of the prisoners.
Cook Room.—Stone floor broken; requires to be relayed and raised. Weather-boarding, quartering and area gutters require repair. The dressers are of deal and worn out; recommend they should be made of elm plank.
Butchery.—The floor in bad condition, the sashes decayed, the weather-boarding and area gutters require repair. The paving of the cellar under the butchery should be relayed. The effluvia from a cesspool under the pavement are very offensive in the Stewards’ apartments immediately above it, the floor of which should be plugged to prevent the smell passing through the open joists of the floor.
Black Hole.—The roof breaking through. The fence of the covered walk is in part decayed and should be new.
Outside Fence at the End of the Barracks.—The post rails and paling are generally decayed, and require considerable repair, and in many parts must be new.
Tanks for the purpose of Washing, etc.—They are made of wood, and the greater part decayed.
Gates and Fence to the Quadrangles.—Are very much decayed and were never sufficiently strong and secure for the purpose intended, the gate; require to be all new, the fence needs considerable repair, and in that part next the gates, should be entirely new and raised much higher.
Watch Box.—Required for the Turnkey at the west gate.
Pavement within the Quadrangles.—In indifferent condition, and requires relaying in many places. A path is paved all round the quadrangles; in the middle where it is not paved, it is impassable in bad weather, except through mud. Captain Hanwell is desirous that a path should be paved across the middle.
Wells.—Are in tolerable condition, with the exception of one, the brick-lining of which within about forty feet of the bottom has fallen in, and rendered the well useless; the remainder of the brick-work is in such a dangerous state, that no person will venture down to repair it.
French Officers’ Apartments in No. 8.—The floor and staircase in very bad condition, and the circulation of air too much confined. Might be remedied by having a lattice instead of a close partition.
Offices.—Captain Harwell’s and the other offices in tolerable condition, require painting and whitewashing; the first clerk’s office has been papered long since, and it is falling from the wall.
Storeroom.—Under the same roof as above, the weather-boarding and floors require repair, the hammocks and bales of clothing are liable to injury from being in contact with the inside of the decayed weather-board. Recommend it should be lined with ¾-inch planed deal, 6 feet above the floor.
Hospital.—The buildings appropriated for the hospital are in better condition than the other, have lath and plaster lining within, and the weather-boarding, stair-cases, floor, etc., want less repairs.
Officers’ Accommodation.—Agent’s house is built of wood and plastered on the outside, containing a basement, parlour, one pair story, and attics, two rooms on each story, the largest room measures 16 feet by 13 feet, the small room 11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. The Agent’s house is said to have been partially painted and papered in the year 1808; the attics, the back parlour, and the kitchen were not done at that time, and Mr. Todd informed me that they have not been painted since the house was built. Mr. Todd, the storekeeper, and Mr. Gardiner, the chief clerk, have their accommodation under the same roof as the Agent and contain the same number of rooms divided as follows: Mr. Todd occupies the one pair story and one garret, Mr. Gardiner the ground floor and one garret, Mr. Todd the back kitchen, Mr. Gardiner the front. The before mentioned apartments are said to have been painted in the year 1808. The surgeon has a good brick-built house, the rooms were papered before the walls were dry, the damp has destroyed the paper of four rooms; this house is said not to have been painted since built, about eight years since. The dispenser has three small rooms, and the hospital-mate two. The stewards have each two very small rooms under the same roof as, and leading out of the butchery, except the hospital steward, who is not very properly accommodated in prison No. 8, separated from the French Officers by a thin deal partition only; the space formerly allotted for the hospital steward is now the hospital store. This seems to require that it should return to its original plan for two reasons; first, the hospital steward is removed from his duty, and secondly, he is placed in communication with the French Officers, by the deal partition which separates them being cut through in holes. There is a vacant space at the end of the building next the dispenser’s and matron’s rooms, on which an hospital store might be built, which would admit of the steward having his proper apartments.
The stewards are respectable men, and with their wives and children have only a common privy, to which all the French cooks have access, and the path to which is exposed to the whole of the prisoners. Submit that a small room and privy may be added to the steward’s accommodation, as desired by Captain Hanwell.
The sempstress who is now with the matron, and the clerk of the small beer, who is accommodated in communication with the French Officers in No. 8, being late appointments, have no other accommodation; they might be provided for, by building a small place at the end of the wash-house. The matron and sempstress have no access to the drying room without passing round the whole buildings, which in bad weather would be more convenient by having an entrance through the tool-house with a door at the end.
Boundary Wall.—From the east gate to the north gate, and from the east gate towards the south, is from 7 inches to 11 inches within a perpendicular, and appears to be very indifferently built, and not of the best materials; and, from the earth outside, being 5 feet higher than that within, the lateral pressure has forced in the wall, which they have endeavoured to prevent by introducing land tyes, and there is no doubt if they had been properly executed, these would have answered the desired purpose. I sent for the master bricklayer that built the wall, by contract. He informed me that the piles to the land tyes were at least 7 feet long, but observing that the wall had given way since the tyes were put in, I had the earth cleared and drew one of the piles, when, instead of being 7, they were only 3 feet long, and totally insufficient to hold the wall, and, if not prevented, the wall, land tyes, etc., will all fall into the ditch. To secure the wall will require that thirty-two new land tyes, and additional piles of at least 10 feet long, should be driven to secure the old tyes, and to be placed as described to Captain Hanwell. The wall being built in such long lengths, being near 400 feet of straight lines, with a weight of earth against the outside, could not be expected to stand; there should have been a ditch on the outside, the same as that within, not only for the security of the wall, but to prevent the facility now afforded, of communication over the wall, it being only 9 feet high on the outside. Had it been built with an angle as marked with a pencil on the plan, it would not only have been infinitely stronger, but it would admit of the prisoners being better guarded, by the sentinels, stationed at the angle, flanking the wall each way. I submit for the Board’s consideration whether the middle of the wall, that has given way, had not better be taken down and rebuilt with an angle as described, or whether it shall be secured in its present form with land tyes.
I am of opinion it would require the sum of £5,000 to complete the whole of the works mentioned in the aforegoing report of the Survey, one half of which might be expended this year, and the remainder to complete the whole in the year 1814. Captain Hanwell informs me that he can employ 36 carpenters, 2 pair of sawyers, and 3 masons from among the prisoners; the carpenters’ work can be done by them, but the principal part of the masons’ and bricklayers’ work, I submit, should be done by contract as heretofore, under the direction of the agent; it will also be necessary to contract for a supply of timber and deals, converted into the different scantlings required.
Appendix B
SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN WOODRIFF, R.N., AGENT AT THE DEPOT, 1799–1802
Captain Woodriff belonged to a naval family, his father and brothers and son all being officers of various ranks. He must have been ninety years old at his death in 1842, as according to the return of his services in the Admiralty records, filled and signed himself, he entered the navy as gunner’s mate on the Ludlow Castle, 12th August 1762.
He served as midshipman in various parts of the world, becoming lieutenant in 1782, and commander in 1795, this commission carrying the brevet rank of captain.
He acted as Agent of Transports at Southampton, being appointed Resident there as from 2nd September 1796 at a salary of 21s. a day, in addition to his half-pay, and £50 a year for a clerk. This office necessitated his travelling much to the various ports, and in one of his voyages, the vessel carrying cash belonging to him was captured by the Dutch, but the Admiralty reimbursed him.
As we have seen, he was very actively superintending the arrival and distribution of prisoners of war at Hull, Yarmouth and Lynn in the early days of Norman Cross, to which Depot he was appointed Agent in 1799; he filled the post up to the Peace of Amiens, giving every satisfaction to the Admiralty and Transport Board, though on one occasion he was reprimanded for striking a French prisoner, even though the blow was given under great provocation.
His commission as Post Captain was dated 28th April 1802, and he was appointed to command the Calcutta, a ship of 74 guns to convoy convicts to Botany Bay. He was next ordered to St. Helena, to collect a convoy of East Indiamen; there were four full ships, a Prussian ship and a Swedish ship which claimed protection. They sailed on the 3rd August, and on 14th September picked up a leaky ship called The Brothers, which had become separated from another convoy. The bad condition of this vessel was the cause of all the subsequent trouble. Her bad sailing delayed the others, and off the Scilly Islands Woodriff was attacked by a French squadron of ten ships, one being a three-decker of 110 guns, with a crew of 1,100 men, four 74-gun ships, three 40-gun, and two brigs.
Finding it impossible to save both the convoy and himself, he ordered the convoy to make all sail to the north and escape, while he stayed and fought for some hours.
Over fifty minutes he was engaged with the three-decker, and the fight was under full sail as he steered to the south to enable the convoy to escape. The superior strength and overwhelming numbers of the French dismantled the Calcutta, so to prevent loss of life he hauled down his flag and surrendered, and The Brothers, which was leaky and could not escape, was also captured.
The crews were not at once landed in France, but remained on the French ships for four months. At the end of that time they were landed at Rochelle, and kept at an hotel for eighteen days at great expense. Then Captain Woodriff and his officers, an East India colonel and his lady, and two gentlemen from the East Indies, hired a carriage to take them to Verdun. They were escorted all the way by troops; the journey lasted thirty-six days and cost each of the prisoners £40.
In the Admiralty return of his services, there is a modest little note, “Returned from France, June 1807,” but the circumstances attending his return are so extraordinary as to demand attention. He had made repeated applications to Talleyrand for release, but without avail. In June 1807, he received an order, signed by Buonaparte, in Poland, directing him to proceed immediately to England, and to take the route of St. Malves, a town no Englishman was permitted to enter. On his arrival there, he received from an agent of the French Government the letters which had been directed to him at Verdun. He proceeded to hire a vessel to take him to England, for which he was prepared to pay forty or fifty guineas, but was told that a vessel was provided for him by the French Government, free of any expense whatever.
Our Government, not to be outdone in this unexpected generosity on the part of the enemy, immediately released a French officer of equal rank, who returned to France on terms of equal liberality. On his return to England Captain Woodriff was tried by court-martial for the loss of his ship the Calcutta, but after evidence, “The Court agreed that the conduct of Captain Woodriff was that of a brave, cool, and intrepid officer; and did adjudge him, his officers, and ship’s company to be most honourably acquitted.”
The owners and underwriters of one of the East Indiamen he had saved from capture raised a subscription for the officers and crew, which amounted to about £4,000.
On the 29th July 1808 Captain Woodriff was appointed Agent for Prisoners of War at Forton.
In December 1813 he was appointed Commissioner of the navy at Jamaica. He refused flag rank and was admitted to Greenwich Hospital, 9th November 1830, where he died 24th February 1842. 267
Captain Woodriff was undoubtedly an able and hardworking officer, and he was fortunate in having to assist him the influence of Sir Evan Nepean, Secretary of the Admiralty, himself an able administrator and industrious official, whose correspondence at times exhibits traits of personal kindness and consideration, as rare as valuable in official letters.
Appendix C
SPECIMENS OF ENTRIES IN THE VARIOUS REGISTERS RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS, WHICH ARE PRESERVED IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
(a) GENERAL ENTRY BOOK OF DUTCH SOLDIERS AT NORMAN CROSS
| Current number. | By what ship or how taken. | Time when. | Prizes’ names. | Regiment. | Company. | Prisoners’ names. | Quality. | Time when received into custody. | Ex. D.D. D. or E. S. | Time when. | How disposed of, and by what order. |
| 1 | Sirius | 24th Oct. 1798 | Furie | Bombardier | 5th Cmp. 3rd Batn. Artily. | Pieter Van Dyck | Passenger | 20th Nov. 1798 | D. | 19th Feb. 1800 | Board’s Order |
| 89 | Sirius | 24th Oct. 1798 | Furie | Infantry | Lieut. | Mr. Ritmont | Lieut. | 26th Sept. 1799 | D. | 5th Jan. 1800 19th Feb. | On parole to Peterboro’ To Holland Alkmaar Convention |
(b) DESCRIPTION OF PERSONS IN DUTCH REGISTER
| Current number. | No. on the G.E.B. | Names. | Quality. | Ship or corps. | Age. | Stature. | Hair. | Eyes. | Visage or complexion. | Person. | Harks or wounds. | When discharged. | |
| ft. | in. | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Hannes Lenor | Sailor | Adml. De Vries | 18 | 5 | 6½ | Brown | Blue | Oval and Fair | Middle Size | None | |
| 14 | 24 | B. Atken | 2nd Cooper | Adml. De Vries | 27 | 5 | 7 | Dark Brown | Brown | Oval and Dark | Middle Size | Pitted with Smallpox | D. 20th July 1801 British Fishery |
(c) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF DUTCH SAILORS AND SOLDIERS
| Current number. | No. on the G.E.B. | Names. | Rank. | Ship or corps. | Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. | Place of nativity. | Age. | Time of death. | Disorder or casualty. |
| 109 | 703 | Jan Vanderzwet. | Sailor | De Tonge Leendert | Fishing vessel | Holland | 47 | 28th June 1798 | Fever and bad wound in knee |
| 129 | 674 | Corns. De Baar. | Sailor | De Vries | M. War | Holland | 22 | 12th Decem. 1798 | Fever, &c. |
(d) REGISTER OF DUTCH PRISONERS OF PAROLE AT PETERBOROUGH
| Current number. | Prizes’ names. | Prisoners’ names. | Quality. | Of what country. | Time when received. | From whom or whence | D.D.D. or R. | Time when. | How disposed of if discharged. |
| Frigate | A. Reins | 3rd Lieut. | 19th Nov. 1798 | D. | 7th February 1801 | Exchanged | |||
| Waakzaamheyo | M. Van Meirop | Captain | 1798 | D. | 16th Oct. 1801 | Permitted to return to Holland |
(e) GENERAL ENTRY-BOOK OF PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS—FRENCH
| Current number. | By what ship or how taken. | Time when. | Prizes’ names. | Whether man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. | Of what country. | Prisoners’ names. | Quality. | Time when received into custody. | Ex. D.D.D. or E.S. | Time when. | How disposed of, and by what order. |
| 13 | Arethusa | 21st October 1794 | Révolutionnaire | Man-of-war | Louis Robert | Sailor | 10th April 1797 | Ex. | 10th October 1797 | Board’s Order |
(f) GENERAL ENTRY-BOOK OF SOLDIERS, PRISONERS OF WAR, AT NORMAN CROSS—FRENCH
| Current number. | By what ship or how taken. | Time when. | Prizes’ names. | Regiment. | Company. | Prisoners’ names. | Quality. | Time when received into custody. | Ex. D.D.D. or E.S. | Time when. | How disposed of, and by what order. |
| 401 | Melampus | 14th October 1798 | La Résolue | Frigate | 1 Battn. 81st demi-brigade | Edw. André | Soldier | 11th October 1799 from Edinburgh | D. | 9th January 1800 | To France Martha Cartel |
(g) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF FRENCH PRISONERS WHO DIED AT NORMAN CROSS DURING THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE WAR, 1793–1802
| Current number. | Number on the G.E.B. | Prisoners’ names. | Rank. | Ship or corps. | Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. | Place of nativity. | Age. | Where taken. | Time of death. | Disorder or casualty. |
| 41 | 1411 | Vincent Lydyer | Seaman | La Suffisante | France | 23 | 3rd August 1797 | Killed by a blow in prison by the following black man. | ||
| 42 | 2842 | Jean Beautemps | Seaman | L’Emilie | Dominique | 40 | 5th August 1797 | Hung himself in the Black Hole |
(h) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF FRENCH SOLDIERS WHO DIED AT NORMAN CROSS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD OF THE WAR, 1803–1815
| Current number. | Number on the G.E.B. | Prisoners’ names. | Rank. | Ship or corps. | Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. | Place of nativity. | Age. | Where taken. | Time of death. | Disorder or casualty. |
| 263 | 2384 | Vincent Fontaine | Soldier | La Sophie | Transp. | Veli (départ, de L’Aime) | 31 | Off Port au Prince | 23rd March 1808 | Phthisis |
| 1 | 809 | Jean Benoist | Sailor | Le Hardi | Merchant vessel | Ganzeville, near Fécamp (départ. dela Seine Inférieure) | 48 | Off Barfleur | 24th October 1803 | Fever |
Introductory Note to Appendix D
Two years ago I received from Mr. W. T. Mellows, Solicitor of Peterborough, the loan of an imperfect copy of a Parliamentary paper endorsed, “Supplement 1801 to Appendix No. 59, Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons 1798, being correspondence with the French Government relative to Prisoners of War.” The fragment contained, as far as I recollect, thirty-eight out of the fifty-eight or fifty-nine letters enumerated in the index of contents. Those missing were apparently so important that I went to the British Museum to search through the Parliamentary Reports for this appendix. Failing to find the document, I left the imperfect copy with the assistant librarian, who finally returned it to me, saying that extraordinary as it was, this supplement was not in the Museum library. A search in the library of the House of Commons, in which I was assisted by Mr. George Greenwood, M.P., gave the same result—this supplement was not to be found. I have now to acknowledge that last year this unique but imperfect copy disappeared while under my care—my own impression is that it was lost in its travels through an intermediary from my hands to those of the typist. Fortunately I had already included some of the letters in the text of this work, and Mr. W. T. Mellows, intending to present the document to the Museum when I had done with it, had made his clerk copy six of the letters and an extract from the report of Commissioner Serle; these I reproduce in this appendix, regretting deeply that I am unable to publish the whole of the thirty-eight letters which were once in my possession, but are now lost and probably destroyed.—T. J. W.
Appendix D
EXTRACTS FROM PARLIAMENTARY REPORT SUPPLEMENT 1801 TO APPENDIX NO. 59, REPORT OF THE TRANSPORT BOARD TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 1798, BEING CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT RELATIVE TO PRISONERS OF WAR
At a former period of the present War it became necessary in order to vindicate the Character of this Country for good Faith and Humanity, to render publick the Proceedings and Correspondence of the Governments of Great Britain and France with respect to Prisoners of War. The whole was submitted to a Committee of the House of Commons and became the subject of a Report, followed by certain Resolutions unanimously adopted by the House. The following Correspondence may be considered as a Supplement to the Documents which were printed with that Report, and the motives for rendering it publick are the same as on the former occasion.
Downing Street,
6th January 1801.
Downing Street,
15th December 1799.
My Lords,
In the absence of Mr. Secretary Dundas, I lost no time in laying before the King your Lordship’s Letter to Him of the 12th Instant inclosing the Communication made to Captain Cotes at Paris, respecting the future maintenance of the English and French Prisoners of War, now detained in respective Countries.
It is the less necessary on this Occasion, to recall the Circumstances which gave rise to the Arrangement under which Two Governments agreed to provide for the wants of their respective subjects during their Detention as they have been submitted to Parliament and published to the World, in Refutation of the false and unwarrantable Assertions brought forward by the French Government on this Subject; but His Majesty cannot witness the Termination of an Arrangement, founded on the fairest principles of Justice and Protection, due by the Powers at War to their respective Prisoners, and proved by Experience to be the best calculated to provide for their Comfort, without protesting against this Departure (on the Part of the French Government) from an Agreement entered into between the Two Countries, and which tended so materially to mitigate the Calamities of War.
To prevent the Effect of this Alteration as much as possible with respect to the British Prisoners not on Parole in this Country, it is His Majesty’s Command that from the Date of the French Agent, ceasing to supply them, the Commissioners of Transports and for taking care of Prisoners of War, should furnish them indiscriminately with the same Rations of Provisions as were granted before the late Arrangement took place.
As no mention is made of Clothing, or other necessaries, in Captain Cotes’ letter, I think it right to add that the Commissioners of Transports and for taking care of Prisoners of War are on no Account to furnish any to the French Prisoners, as this Charge has at all times been supported by the French.
It will be proper that his letter should be communicated to Monsieur Niou the French Agent in London, and to the Agents at the several Depots of Prisoners, in order that the real Grounds of the Change which is about to take place, may not be mistaken or misrepresented.
I am, etc.,
(Signed) Portland.
To the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, &c., &c., &c.
Sir,
Having received Directions from the Consuls of the Republic to inform you of a Measure they have adopted upon an important Deliberation, the Principles and Bearings of which they are perfectly well known to you, I have felt it my duty to address myself directly to you in order to guard against delay.
The Consuls of the Republic having been engaged in an Investigation of its Interests, both at home and abroad, have turned their attention to the mode at present observed by France and England with respect to the Subsistence and Treatment of Prisoners of War in the Hands of these two belligerent Powers.
They have caused all the papers relative to the Adoption of this system to be carefully examined and a report having been made to them in this subject they perceive.
1st. That in your letter to the Lords of the Admiralty of the 6th of October 1797 after having claimed the Admission of Captain Cotes into France and the Exchange or at least the Liberation on Parole of Sir Sidney Smith, you proposed in order to put an end to the Recriminations relative to the Treatment of Prisoners continually renewed on both sides that the Prisoners should be furnished in the Country where they were detained with Clothing, Subsistence, and Medicines at the Expence of the Government to which they belonged.
2ndly. That the said Arrangement took place in consequence of the Communications respecting this Proposal made to M. Charretie the French Commissary by the Commissioners of the Transport Office on the 12th October and the 13th November following in pursuance of the orders of the Lords of the Admiralty.
I shall not revert here, Sir, to the circumstances which preceded this Arrangement, but it is my Duty to declare to you, that the Consuls of the Republic having remarked that it was not founded upon any authentic Stipulation, that the Cartel of Exchange signed nearly Ten Months afterwards took not the least notice of it and that it was an obvious contradiction of all the usages and Laws of War, were of opinion, that on the one Hand, the further execution of it was derogatory both to the Interests and to the Dignity of the Republic, and, on the other that neither the good Faith the Government wishes to manifest on every occasion, nor the peculiar solicitude it owes to its Fellow Citizens, did in any manner call upon it to continue to observe this Arrangement.
Indeed, Sir, you have yourself declared, in your letter of the 6th October 1797 the one of the Motives which led you to wish for this Arrangement, was the Difficulty of judging whether the Complaints of the Prisoners were well or ill founded; that some of these Complaints were dictated by Passion by Prejudice or Animosity, whilst others arose solely from the Difference in their Mode of Living, and in the same Letter you acknowledged that the belligerent Powers in preceding Wars when the Account of Expences incurred for their respective Prisoners came to be adjusted admitted only the sums advanced for their Clothing.
The principal Motives alleged by you, Sir, were therefore the necessity of putting an end to the Complaints of the Prisoners and the Benefit they would derive from being subsisted and treated in a Manner conformable to their former Habits.
These motives were undoubtedly sufficient in support of your Proposal and although you added that War, though giving to the Captors an incontestable right over the Discipline and the Police of their Prisoners does not however impose upon them the Obligation of providing for their Wants you would certainly mean to allude to their secondary Wants only and in Proof of this the English Government, as you have already declared, always understood that it must have provided what was absolutely necessary for the subsistence of the French Prisoners even on the Supposition that none of the Demands contained in your letter had been acceded to. The respect paid by all civilized Nations to the immutable Laws of Humanity and the Empire of those Laws over the English Nation will not allow me to give any other Construction to your statement.
The result of this explanation, Sir, is that the mode adopted since November 1797 for the Subsistence and Treatment of Prisoners of War, had chiefly in view to ameliorate their Condition; the Consuls of the Republic in declining to observe this Mode any longer for the reasons before stated are nevertheless determined to neglect no means in order to ensure the same effect.
They have, in consequence, ordered me to assure you, that from the 1st of Nivose next when all remittances of money from England to France and from France to England for the Subsistence and Treatment of Prisoners of War are to cease your Countrymen in France shall be treated whether in Health or Sickness with every attention due to their Rank and Situation and that with a View to their Food being better adapted to their Mode of Living in their own Country; they shall receive both ashore and in any other Place of Detention the Ration fixed by the Fourth Article of the Cartel of Exchange.
As this Order of things will place France and England with regard to the Prisoners made by each of the Two Powers on the Footing on which they have stood previous to the 25th of November 1797 the Consuls of the French Republic desire that the English Commissary at Paris and the French Commissary at London may not interfere after the first of Nivose next in any Details relative to the Prisoners of War except in the cases specified in the 3rd Article of the Cartel of the 13th September 1798.
They have particularly directed me to assure you that the said Cartel shall be executed with that strict Attention to good Faith, which will characterize all the Acts of the French Consuls and that, if they have felt it their duty under the present Circumstances to re-establish the former System of Management with respect to Prisoners of War, they at the same time, understand that the two belligerent Powers may on the Return of a General Peace bring forward such Claims for Compensation as may then be deemed necessary.
I have the Honour to be, &c.,
(Signed) Niou.
Transport Office,
10th September 1800.
Sir,
We inclose for your Information, a copy of a Letter we have this Day received from Captain Woodriff, the Superintendent at Norman Cross Prison, stating the distressed situation to which many of the French Prisoners confined to that place are reduced, from the want of Clothing and by disposing of their Provisions and Bedding.
We are, &c.,
(Signed) Rupert George.
Ambrose Serle.
W. A. Otway.
M. Otto. 276
Norman Cross,
9th September 1800.
Gentlemen,
Inclosed, I transmit a packet for M. Otto from which you will observe, that notwithstanding all I have done, or can do to prevent the Prisoners from selling their ration of Provisions for Days to come, and their Bedding, it has not had, nor is likely to have the desired effect.
Since the commencement of the Wet weather many of them have been taken to the Hospital in a very weak state, in consequence of having sold their Provisions and Bedding and One or Two have died.
Several of the French Prisoners are without Clothing and having sold their Bedding they are destitute of either, and the present wet weather and the approaching winter will if they be not clothed fill the Hospitals.
I have, Gentlemen, thought it prudent to mention these circumstances to you, as I am firmly of opinion, that unless some clothing is issued to the Prisoners who are now destitute many of them will die should the Winter be severe.
I have the Honour to be, &c.
(Signed) D. Woodriff.
Commissioners for the Transport Service.
Translation
London
7th Brumaire 9th Year of the French Republick 29th October 1800
The Commissary of the French Republick in England, To the Commissioners of the Transport Office.
Gentlemen,
I have had the honour of making various Representations to you relative to the insufficiency of the Ration allowed by the British Government to the French Prisoners whom the Fortune of War has thrown into its hands. The fatal effects of this Diminution of Food are already but too sensibly felt. I have now before me a list of those who have died and I perceive that the Number is almost Four times greater than that of last year at the same period, for during the course of One month only, the number of deaths has amounted to One Hundred And Ten while they did not exceed twenty during the same month of the preceding year. But this comparison however afflicting it may appear is only the first outline of the Picture, I shall be obliged to lay before you in a few months unless the most effectual means are speedily adopted in order to prevent the consequences which must otherwise result from the wretched situation of the Prisoners. Indeed it is impossible to look at the state of the different depots without being convinced of the fate which infallibly awaits them.
“It would be useless to state the misery endured by the Prisoners here (writes my Correspondent at Norman Cross) many of them hasten by their own Imprudence or Misconduct the Fate which awaits them all, if things remain in the state they now are. Hunger compels them to sell everything they possess and in so doing they only add to their own wretchedness. Many are literally naked. Amongst those who by their Fortitude and good Conduct have avoided these excesses are to be perceived the melancholy and slow, but certain Effects of a ruined constitution, and if an immediate remedy is not applied, a cruel death must soon terminate their sufferings.”
These details, Gentlemen, are accompanied by bitter Reflections which I forbear to repeat. I shall also pass over in Silence the Accounts received from the other Depots which would only be an afflicting repetition of what you have just read. The Ration issued to the Prisoners proved insufficient even during the fine weather. On this Point I appeal to Persons who have seen the Prisons and experience is a sufficient Proof of it. Urged by the most pressing wants, the Prisoners have employed their small Resources in making up the Deficiency of the Ration. Those who were without pecuniary means Sold even their Clothing. They are now naked and enfeebled by Privations of every kind. The keen air of Winter will sharpen the cravings of Hunger and they must soon experience the Severity of cold Weather without possessing the means of defending themselves against it.
Such is the situation of French Prisoners in England. In France, on the contrary, the English, the Russians, and the Austrians, who have fallen into our hands, not only receive a wholesome and plentiful Subsistence, but are clothed at the expense of the Republic and enjoy a Degree of Liberty which the French Prisoners are not allowed in this Country. At every Period of the War, a great Number of Prisoners have had permission to leave the depots to carry on different trades and to earn by the Fruits of their Labour even more than would have provided them with a comfortable support.
Whatever may be the intentions of the British Government with respect to the Frenchmen now groaning in Irons I request, in the name of Humanity, and the sacred Law of Nations that you will lay before that Government this Picture of their Situation. It cannot fail to affect every feeling mind. It has already made an impression upon you, Gentlemen, and you have ordered a great number of Invalids to be sent home. The Agents entrusted with the charge of selecting the Prisoners falling under this description have discharged their duty in the most humane manner and I owe to you as well as to them my grateful Thanks for their Conduct on this Occasion.
I cannot conclude this letter without replying to two Objections which may appear at first sight to palliate the Difference of Treatment experienced by the Prisoners of the Two Nations “The Republic (it has been said) may easily provide for the subsistence of English Prisoners because there are very few in France.” But if the Chance of War has thrown a greater number of Prisoners into the Power of Great Britain the Duties of Humanity ought certainly to plead more forcibly in their favour in proportion as their numbers Increase at the respective Depots. And on the other Hand, ought not the Russians, the Austrians, the Neapolitans and the Bavarians now Prisoners in France to be taken into the account? Their number is at least equal to that of the French confined in England. Are they not subsisted at the expence of the Republic? And do not the Subsidies paid to their respective Sovereigns appear to assimilate them to British Subjects?
I have also been told “That the People here are not better fed than the Prisoners.” If the scarcity of Provisions is so notorious that Government notwithstanding its Solicitude cannot relieve the wants of the people, why should Government unnecessarily increase the Consumption by feeding more than 22,000 individuals? I have already had the Honour of laying before you two Proposals on this subject, namely that of ransoming the Prisoners, or that of sending them back to France on Parole. Either of these alternatives would afford an effectual remedy for the Evil in question; the Plan of Parole has already been adopted with respect to French Fishermen. No complaint of want of punctuality in this Arrangement has hitherto arisen. A measure of the same nature for all the other Prisoners would be held equally sacred, for no Government unquestionably would allow itself to break an Engagement of this description.
If neither of these proposals is acceded to by the British Government, there still remains another resource hitherto solicited in vain by the Prisoners themselves, but which however has never before been denied by any Government, to the Greatest Criminals. The resource of their own Industry. The ingenious but frivolous Articles manufactured by these unfortunate Persons from the Bones which are left of their Rations are admired. What advantage might they not derive from their Industry, if they were allowed to employ it upon Objects of Trade! Labour would beguile the Hours of tedious Captivity and even the Nation at whose expence they are subsisted would be benefited by their exertions.
I have the Honour to be, &c.,
(Signed) Otto.
Sir,
We have received your Letter of the 29th of last month relative to the present state of the French Prisoners of War in this Country and have agreeably to your Desire, transmitted it to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for their consideration; but, at the same time, we cannot help observing that the distressed situation which you represent the Prisoners to be in is entirely owing either to their being totally destitute of clothing or to their own Imprudence in disposing of their Provisions by Gaming and not as you assert, to an Insufficiency of the Rations of Provisions issued to them which is fully enough to keep men living without labour, in a general state of good health and certainly affords more subsistence than a great part of the labouring People of this Country is able to procure, a full pound of bread, eight ounces of fresh beef, and above a quart of soup compounded of Vegetables or Pease for each Man per diem.
We reiterated to you in our several letters of the 21st March, 24th of May, 28th of August, 11th of September, and 17th of last month the miserable situation of the Prisoners at all the Depots from the Want of Clothing and the melancholy consequences that were to be expected to ensue if the French Government did not cause them to be supplied with that necessary article previous to the commencement of the cold weather.
In giving you such timely premonition we certainly did all that was incumbent on us to do, or that Humanity dictated, and we have no hesitation in saying that if the French Government had expended a few thousand pounds in providing clothing for their People in this Country in proper time the greater part of the evils of which you now complain would not have existed.
As it is certainly the Duty of every State to provide for the support of its people while in Captivity, so whatever may have been its arrangements with respect to victualling it has been the custom in all former wars between Great Britain and France for each Country to provide Clothing for its own Subjects and agreeably to this Custom all the British Prisoners in France as well as the Russian Prisoners taken in Holland, are now actually supplied with clothing by our Agent Captain Cotes at the expence of this Country although you state as a reason for the French Government not clothing their people here that the British Prisoners in France are clothed at the expence of your Government.
Whatever may latterly have been the effects of the prisoners wanting clothing it cannot be denied, that until very lately, the prisoners at all the depots were generally in as good a state of health as at any former period even when victualled by their own Country. Some indeed had fallen victims to an incurable spirit of Gaming, by sporting away their allowance of Provisions as well as their clothing and the Bedding with which they had been amply supplied by us, but we believe that the number that has suffered has hitherto not been very considerable. In our letter of the 22nd April and 20th of May last we represented to you fully the effects of this pernicuous Practise, which had become so prevalent in the Prisons and we proposed to you a measure which if adopted we doubt not would have greatly tended to put a stop to it, but for what reason we know not, you have not hitherto taken any notice to us of our communications on that subject and from the want of your concurrence the utmost exertions of our Agents in pursuance of our orders for prohibiting Gaming have as yet proved ineffectual. While this practise continues it is evident that if the Ration of the Prisoners were tenfold what it is they would still sport it away, and the circumstance of their now disposing of the Rations issued to them is a proof that it is not on Account of the Insufficiency of those Rations, but merely from the Gambling spirit above mentioned, that they also dispose of their bedding and clothing. Indeed, so far from their being obliged to part with their clothing to purchase provisions it appears even from your own Statement respecting the Prisoners at Liverpool that they actually dispose of a part of their Subsistence to procure clothes.
With respect to your observation of the Prisoners not being permitted to increase their means of Subsistence by Labour which you say “the most severe Administration would not refuse to the greatest criminals” we think it proper to acquaint you that the prisoners at all the depots in this Country are at full liberty to exercise their Industry within the Prisons in manufacturing and selling any articles they may think proper excepting hats which would effect the Revenue in opposition to the Laws; Obscene Toys, and drawings, and articles made either from their clothing or the Prison Stores and by means of this privilege some of them have been known to earn and to carry off upon their release, more than 100 guineas each.
Upon this occasion it has become highly expedient for us once more solemnly to impress upon your mind the necessity of a speedy relief being afforded to your people with respect to the article of Clothing a supply of which would materially if not entirely remove the principal causes of their present distress.
If you or rather your Government delay to furnish this supply whatever evils may ensue and these may justly be apprehended, cannot, after such repeated notices as we have for a long time, given you, be imputed to this Country but to the state which in this instance has so entirely neglected its own people.
We are, etc.,
(Signed) Rupert George.
Ambrose Serle.
John Schank.
M. Otto.
Extract from a Report made by Commissioner Serle to the Transport Board dated 25th July, 1800.
The Prisoners complained of the smallness of the Ration but not of the Quality supplied. They wished for more bread and for beer instead of water. I found however that the ration by their mode of Cookery which is left to themselves is not quite so insufficient and destitute as some of them chose to represent it.
The French are generally great devourers of Bread and therefore what would be a very competent allowance to an Englishman appears a contracted one to them, while the meat which an Englishman would scarcely think enough is to them a reasonable allowance. The Ration of a pound of bread with half a pound of meat Vegetables etc. digested into a Broth or soup yielding seven quarts per diem to every six men affords a support which our labouring poor rarely have at any time, but certainly not during the present scarcity, and which to men living without labour seems enough to maintain them in a general state of good health. And I have been informed by some who are most qualified to know, that the French Prisons had never had so few sick as at the present time. 283 Some indeed who had sported away their allowance in Gambling to prevent which the Agents have taken every precaution in their Power are in fact destitute enough and so they might have been if their Ration had been ten times as great. But this is their own fault entirely and it cannot be expected that if a Prisoner be pleased to throw away his food by vice, that Government must be at the expence of supplying him again. However wherever this has been discovered particularly as it may be in the Article of Bread the whole has been seized by the agent of Officers of the Prison, from the Winners or Purchasers and distributed amongst the Prisoners at large.
Many of the Prisoners have stalls in a kind of Market within the walls in which among other articles they sell Provisions and vegetables and I am told acquire considerable sums of money. This interior market is supplied by another without where there is a free access of the Country People with all sorts of provisions Beer and Produce which they are not allowed to sell but at the fair Market Price so that Destitution is only to be found among those few who have been weak or wicked enough to lose their allowance by Gambling. I am also informed that many Thousand pounds have been already remitted, and that sums of money are now continually remitting from France, by the Friends of the Prisoners for additional comforts in their situation. This affords a considerable supply to many of their requirements.
Their clothing in general for which the French Government has ceased to provide (as well as for the victualling) is getting very bad, and to meet the winter fairly must by some means or other be supplied.
Besides the remittances from France, the Prisoners are allowed to sell any kinds of their own manufactures; Straw Hats (which would interfere with the Revenue) and Articles made from Stores excepted, by which means some have been known to earn and to carry off on their Release more than a Hundred Guineas each. This with an open Market as above mentioned operates much to their advantage and Comfort and they show their satisfaction in the Habits of Cheerfulness peculiar to themselves. The Prisoners have free access to the several Apartments from the opening of the Prison in the morning until they are shut up on the approach of night with the exception only of the times when they are fumigating or cleansing for the preservation of Health. Six Prisoners chosen by the body at large have access to the Cook rooms every morning when the Provisions are brought in that they may witness to their full weight and object to any deficiency.
In case of sickness the patients are immediately removed under the direction of the Medical people, to the Hospital and supplied with the necessary assistance.
Nothing can exceed the cleanliness and decency of the Hospitals.
Translation
London
Brumaire 9th Year of the French Republic, 4th November 1800
The Commissary of the French Republic in England, to the Commissioners of the Transport Office.
Gentlemen,
I have just received the honour of your letter of the 1st of November in answer to mine of the 29th October. I shall immediately communicate it to my Government.
In making mention of the deplorable situation to which the Prisoners are reduced you appear to think that I have given no answer to the Communications you made to me respecting the very censurable practise of such of them as risk the loss of their Rations in Gambling. I request that you will refer to my letter of the 2nd of May in which you will find the following Paragraph. “I entirely approve of the Punishment you propose to inflict upon those who according to the information you have sent me, deal in Provisions; and I beg that you will communicate to me a list of the Persons guilty of this conduct. It even appears necessary in order that the Punishment may be the more felt, to separate them from their comrades and to collect them in a Depot for this purpose.” I have written to the Secretaries at the different Depots to the above effect, and I Have procured authority from the Minister to treat with the utmost severity those who made a traffic of the Rations of their comrades. I have done in this respect every thing my situation will admit of my doing, but until I shall know, who are the guilty it will be impossible for me to punish them.
I have the honour to be, &c.,
(Signed) Otto.
Appendix E
Transport Office,
14th June 1811.
RETURN OF NUMBER OF PRISONERS IN HEALTH OR SICK IN THE VARIOUS PRISONS IN GREAT BRITAIN
Distinguishing—The Prisons in which they were confined in the Month of April 1810, and, according to the Latest Returns, Distinguishing those in Health, from the Sick and Convalescents
| In prison. | 30th April 1810. | 11th June 1811. | ||||||
| Total No. | In health. | Sick. 286a | Total No. | In health. | Sick. | Convalescent. | Cases of wounds and accidents. | |
| Chatham | 5,109 | 4,970 | 139 | 3,863 | 3,803 | 38 | 15 | 7 |
| Dartmoor | 5,354 | 5,269 | 85 | 6,329 | 6,280 | 27 | 9 | 13 |
| Edinburgh | — | — | — | 288 | 282 | 4 | 2 | — |
| Greenham | 17 | 17 | — | 4 | 4 | — | — | — |
| Norman Cross | 6,272 | 6,236 | 36 | 5,951 | 5,925 | 11 | 15 | — |
| Porchester | — | — | — | 5,850 | 5,772 | 42 | 22 | 14 |
| Forton Prison and prison ships at Portsmouth | 12,381 | 11,799 | 582 | 9,760 | 9,582 | 64 | 68 | 48 |
| Plymouth and prison ships | 7,907 | 7,725 | 182 | 6,918 | 6,775 | 104 | 23 | 16 |
| Stapleton | 4,797 | 4,705 | 92 | 4,546 | 4,422 | 80 | 20 | 24 286b |
| Valleyfield | — | — | — | 2,425 | 2,384 | 10 | 29 | 2 |
| Yarmouth | 36 | 18 | 18 | 3 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 41,873 | 40,739 | 1,134 | 45,938 | 45,229 | 381 | 204 | 125 | |
| On Parole | 2,710 | 2,538 | 172 | 3,193 | 3,028 | 165 | — | — |
| 44,583 | 43,277 | 1,306 | 49,132 | 48,257 | 546 | 204 | 125 | |
(Signed) R. George.
J. Douglas.
J. Harners.
Appendix F
FULL NOMINAL RETURN OF THE HOSPITAL STAFF AT NORMAN CROSS PRISON
The Hospital accounts seem to commence in 1806; there are none extant before. The first document in the bundle of papers is a report from Captain Pressland, the Agent, to the Board, enumerating the staff and the date of appointment of each member.
George Walker, Surgeon, allowed for stationery by letter from the Sick and Hurt Board, 12th August 1803, and by warrant from the Transport Board, 11th February 1806, 15s. per diem and three guineas per annum for stationery.
Samuel Waight, Dispenser, S. & H.B. warrant, 4th July 1803, and order for stationery 24th August 1803.
Orbell Fairclough, Hospital Mate, S. & H.B. letter, 21st September 1805.
John Waller, Hospital Mate, S. & H.B. letter, 25th February 1805.
A. Munro, Clerk, 16th September 1803.
John Prethenan, Steward of Bedding, 6th July 1803, order for lodging 22nd September 1803.
Thos. Giffard, Steward of Victualling, 7th October 1803, order for lodging 15th October 1804.
Robert Hobart, Turnkey, S. & H.B. warrant, 22nd December 1803, Supert. Carpenter, order, 30th April 1804.
Thos. Allan, Turnkey, warrant, 1st January 1806.
Ann Key, Matron, warrant, 14th March 1804.
Eliza Munro, Seamstress, letter, 22nd December 1803 (N. B.). She was formerly Eliza Key, and is the daughter of Mrs. Key.
Abraham Sevan, letter, 27th October 1804, to discharge the messenger Collins, when Sevan was entered in his place, 3rd November 1804. This was the only member of the staff who made his mark on the pay-sheet.
Pierre Larfeuil, Asst.-Surgeon, S. & H.B. order, 18th May 1804.
Anty. Howard, ditto, order, 17th September 1804 and 18th April 1805.
Pierre Glize, Asst.-Dispenser, order, 6th March 1805.
P. E. Breand, Taylor.
P. Vanheekhoet, Interpreter.
Yves Gueonet, 26th October 1804.
Pierre Landean, to carry medicines, 26th October 1804.
Pierre Douvre, Washerman, order, 28th January 1805.
Pierre Avey, Carpenter, first employed to make cradles for keeping the bedclothes off injured limbs, etc., and afterwards on odd jobs, then Washerman.
Pierre Gradel, Asst.-Lamplighter, S. & H.B. order, 14th December 1804.
J. B. Anjou, Serving in Dispensary, order, 21st November 1804.
Louis Clairet, to refill beds, etc., employed by Dr. Gillespie.
Pierre Drissan, Asst. to Bedding-Steward, order 11th December 1805.
Pierre Jansen, Shoemender, order, 21st August 1805.
P. A. Daird, Stocking Mender, employed by Dr. Gillespie.
Francis Dening, ditto, 11th December 1805.
Louis Le Besse, Labourer, to clean drains, yards, etc., order, 15th October 1804.
Pierre Andierne, ditto.
Pierre Vennin, Barber to infirm and itchy men, order 29th April and 29th October 1805.
P. M. Langlais, Nurse to ditto.
John Rivet, ditto.
Jean Taste, ditto. This man was appointed at the request of Mr. Walker, on account of the increased number of patients with Fits and Mania.
The Surgeon, William Walker, quitted the Hospital in February 1806, and was succeeded by George Walker, Surgeon, by warrant, dated 11th February 1806, and entered 21st February 1806. On 1st October had an allowance of £10 10s. per annum for coals and candles. On 6th July 1809 his pay was increased to 21s. per diem.
Orbell Fairclough resigned 20th September 1809.
Daird Povle appointed in his place.
Up to 1811 each had to sign the pay-sheet; this was discontinued, and the payments certified by the Agent and two of the staff. In the absence of the Agent, the Surgeon and the Clerk certified.
Salaries and Allowances
George Walker, Surgeon, entered 21st February 1806 as Surgeon at £1 1s. per day, £3 3s. per annum for stationery, and £10 10s. per annum for coals and candles. Had an abatement of 3d. in the £ for Widows’ Pension Fund.
John Watkins, Dispenser, entered 7th May 1810, at 10s. per day, £1 1s. per annum for stationery, and £10 10s. for coals and candles.
Alexr. Gordon, 5th June 1812, Hospital Mate, 6s. 6d. per day.
John Wilkinson, Clerk, 25th December 1810 at 30s. 6d. per week.
Barnard Smith, Victualling Steward, 1st November 1806, 3s. 6d. per day.
A. E. Key, Matron, 1st March 1804, £25 per annum, 10s. 6d. per annum for stationery, 1s. 3d. per day rations.
H. Key, Seamstress, 25th April 1804, at 4s. 6d. per week, and 1s. 3d. per day rations.
After the prison was emptied in 1814 there were still sick in the Hospital, and the pay-sheets show that it was not until the 31st July in that year that the payments of the staff entirely ceased.
The Hospital Mate, Victualling Steward, Matron and Seamstress, were only paid twenty days in July 1814, the Dispenser twenty-three and the Surgeon the complete thirty-one days.
Appendix G
CORRESPONDENCE REFERRING TO THE BISHOP OF MOULINS, LORD FITZWILLIAM, SIR RUPERT GEORGE, LORD MULGRAVE, AND THE BISHOP, THE LATTER ADDING A BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
| CONTENTS | ||
| PAGE | ||
| I. | Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam, 21st March 1808 | 291 |
| Translation | 292 | |
| II. | The Note enclosed in the Bishop’s Letter, being a Narrative of his Experiences, from the Date of Nomination to the See of Moulins to that of his taking up his Residence at Stilton | 293 |
| Translation | 295 | |
| III. | Draft of Portion of Lord Fitzwilliam’s Reply to the Bishop | 297 |
| Translation | 298 | |
| IV. | Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam, 27th March 1808 | 298 |
| Translation | 300 | |
| V. | Mr. Commissioner Rupert George to Captain Moorsom, Secretary to Lord Mulgrave, 19th March 1808 | 302 |
| VI. | Lord Mulgrave (Admiralty) to Lord Fitzwilliam, 21st March 1808 | 303 |
| VII. | Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam, 3rd April 1808 | 304 |
| Translation | 306 | |
| VIII. | Lord Mulgrave to Earl Fitzwilliam, 6th April 1808 | 308 |
| IX. | Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam, 7th April 1808 | 309 |
| Translation | 310 | |
| X. | Passport of Jean Baptiste David I referred to in the Bishop’s Letters | 310 |
I
The Rt. Rev. Stephen John Baptist de Galois de la Tour, Bishop-designate of Moulins, to the Rt. Hon. William, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.
Mylord,
Vous exprimer combien j’ai été touché de vos bontés et de l’accueil que vous avez daigné me faire me seroit impossible. Permettés moi de vous offrir le juste hommage de ma reconnoissance. Depuis vingt ans bientôt que tous les genres de malheurs n’ont cessé de m’accabler, j’ose dire que c’est à vous seul que je suis redevable d’avoir pu les oublier un instant, et depuis ces vingt années les heures que j’ai passées à Milton sont bien les plus heureuses que je puisse compter, ce n’est point ici ni compliment ni phrase, le cœur seul parle dans ce moment et c’est le seul hommage qui puisse vous plaire et qui soit digne de vous, je n’ai point osé vous parler, Mylord, de tous les sentiments qui m’ont fait éprouver la bienfaisance et la noblesse avec lesquelles vous avez daigné venir à mon secours sur ma première demande et sans que j’eusse l’honneur d’être connu de vous j’aurois craint de blesser votre délicatesse—j’ai encore moins osé vous faire connoître tout le malheur de ma position actuelle, mais je vous l’avoue, Mylord, en vous voyant, j’ai tout à la fois été pénétré de respect et de confiance. Je ne puis vous dire ce que j’ai éprouvé, il n’appartient qu’à un cœur tel que le vôtre de pouvoir le juger: j’ai tout perdu—fortune—amis—famille. Il ne me reste que l’honneur, en vous j’ai cru tout retrouver. Pardonnés, Mylord, cet excès de franchise et de liberté, je joins ici une note dont je vous supplie de faire lecture; daignés y donner quelqu’ attention; elle est tout à la fois importune et indiscrette, mais elle ne sauroit vous blesser. Le malheur a des droits sur une âme aussi grande et aussi élevée que la vôtre, et elle pardonne l’importunité et l’indiscrétion. La grâce que j’implore de vous par dessus toutes les autres, Mylord, c’est que cette note ne me fasse point tort auprès de vous; soit que vous daigniés y avoir quelqu’ égard, soit que vous la rejettiés ne me privés pas de vos bontés quoique je n’aye aucun titre pour y prétendre; permettés moi d’espérer que l’excès de liberté que j’ose prendre ne m’en privera pas. Tout chés vous et dans vous m’a persuadé que je trouvois un père, un bienfaiteur.
J’ai l’honneur d’être avec respect,
Mylord,
Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur,
L’Evêque de Moulins.
Bell Inn, Stilton,
ce 21 Mars 1808.
[Translation]
My Lord,
To express to you how much I have been touched by your goodness, and by the reception you have given me, would be impossible. Permit me to offer you the just homage of my acknowledgement. For almost twenty years all sorts of misfortune have not ceased to overwhelm me, and I venture to say, that it is to you alone that I am indebted for having been able to forget them for an instant, and during these twenty years, the hours that I have passed at Milton are the happiest that I am able to count up. This is neither a compliment nor phrase, the heart alone speaks in this moment, and it is the only homage which can please you, and which is worthy of you. I have never dared to speak to you, my lord, of all the sentiments that have made me feel the goodness and the nobleness with which you have deigned to come to my help on my first request, and if I had not had the honour of being known to you I should have feared to wound your delicacy; I have dared still less to acquaint you with all the misfortune of my actual position, but I confess to you, my lord, that on seeing you I was at once filled with respect and with confidence. I cannot tell you what I have felt, it only belongs to a nature such as yours to be able to judge; I have lost all, fortune, friends, family—my honour only remains. In you I have believed to find all again—pardon, my lord, this excess of frankness and freedom. I enclose a note which I beg you to read, please give it some attention. It is both importunate and indiscreet—but I am sure it will not hurt your feelings. Misfortune has claims upon a soul as great and as noble as yours, and it will pardon the importunity and indiscretion. The favour which I implore of you, above all others, my lord, is, that this note may not be taken amiss by you; whether you deign to have any regard for it, or whether you reject it, pray do not deprive me of your goodness; although I have no right to lay claim to it, permit me to hope that the excess of liberty that I dare to take will not deprive me of it. Everything with you and in you has convinced me that I have found a father and a benefactor.
I have the honour to be, with respect, my lord,
Your very humble and very obedient servant,
The Bishop of Moulins.
Bell Inn, Stilton,
21st March 1808.
II
The Memoir in the handwriting of the Bishop, inclosed in his letter of the 21st March 1808, addressed to the Earl Fitzwilliam.
L’Evêque de Moulins parti de France en 1791, avec très peu de moyens, a passé en Italie. Assés heureux pour obtenir la place de premier Aumônier de Mde. Victoire de France, c’est aux bontés de cette auguste Princesse qu’il a dû son existence. A sa mort arrivée en 1799, il s’est vu privé de toutes ressources. A cette époque, il a passé en Angleterre, où il a obtenu le traitement fixé pour les Evêques, qui était alors de £10 par mois. Il s’est établi à Londres chés M. de Pontcarré, ancien Premier Président du Parlement de Rouen, qui avoit épousé sa sœur en premières noces, dont il a en deux enfans; il ne connoissoit point le malheureux état des affaires de cette famille. Son cœur et le désir de l’obliger, l’ont entraíné fort au delà de ce que ses moyens lui permettoient de faire. Il ne eraint pas sur cela d’avouer ses torts, et de dire que pour soutenir cette malheureuse famille, il a été jusqu’à se mettre en avant pour plus de £1600, d’après les promesses qui lui étoient faites d’un remboursement prochain. Son père vivoit alors, et il avoit lieu de croire qu’il pourroit en espérer quelques ressources. Son neveu et sa nièce étoient en France, et il avoit quelque droit d’espérer qu’ils auroient égard à ce qu’il faisoit pour aider leur père et sa famille. Il ne prétend point diminuer ses torts, mais sur ces espérances, il s’est laissé aller à la facilité de son caraetère, et n’ayant par lui-même aucuns moyens, a contracté divers engagements dont il est aujourd’hui la victime. Son père est mort en 1802 sans avoir fait aucunes dispositions; on l’a frustré de tout ce qu’il pouvoit prétendre, et un frère qu’il a encore en France, ainsi que son neveu et sa nièce se sont emparés de la succession sans lui en rendre aucun compte. M. d’Aligre, son cousin germain, à qui il a rendu le service de contribuer à lui conserver trois millions qu’il avoit sur la banque d’Angleterre, est venu à Londres pour recueillir cette somme, et lui a promis alors de lui prêter 12,000f. de France sous le cautionnement de son neveu et de sa nièce, et lui en a même donné parole. La caution a été promise, et de retour en France, M. d’Aligre ainsi que les autres n’ont tenu nul compte de leurs promesses. Il peut dire avoir éprouvé sous tous les rapports tous les genres de procédés les plus injustes et les moins délicats. On a été jusqu’à lui faire entrevoir qu’on ne penseroit à le secourir, qu’autant qu’il retournerait en France, et qu’il se soumettroit au gouvernement qui y domine, ce qu’il ne fera jamais, quelque malheureux qu’il puisse être. Il y a donc bientôt 9 ans que l’évêque de Moulins gémit sous le poids du malheur, et que ses jours ne sont comptés que par ses peines; ce n’est que par des engagemens nouveaux qu’il a pu satisfaire aux plus anciens, et ses embarras, par conséquent, loin de diminuer, n’ont fait qu’augmenter. Il ose avouer que dans le nombre de ses dettes, il y a une de £200 pour laquelle il paye £60 d’intérêt par an. Il a tout perdu: rien ne lui reste en France, puisque d’une part le gouvernement, et de l’autre, sa famille lui ont tout enlevé il ne lui reste uniquement pour vivre que les £20 qu’il reçoit par mois de la générosité du gouvernement Britannique. Il commence à avancer en âge; il est affreux pour lui de penser à l’avenir. Il ne connoit personne en Angleterre, n’y a ni appui, ni soutien. Sa seule ressource étoit pour s’assurer une existence tranquille de trouver une somme de £1000 sterlings à emprunter, et n’ayant point d’autre assurance à donner, il a offert de faire assurer sa vie pour cette somme, et de donner les sûretés nécessaires pour le pavement des intérêts, et pour l’intérêt de l’assurance. Par ce moyen on seroit sûr à sa mort de ne rien perdre. Il y a plus de deux ans qu’il cherche ce moyen de se libérer sans avoir pu y réussir. La somme de £200 pour laquelle il paye £60 d’intérêt par an est assurée au bureau d’assurance. Telle est la position exacte dans laquelle se trouve l’Evêque de Moulins, sans cesse exposé à des embarras, à des inquiétudes, et menant par conséquent la vie la plus pénible et la plus malheureuse. Tels sont les faits dans la plus exacte vérité, qu’il ose exposer à Milord Fitzwilliam. C’est dans ces circonstances, qu’il vient se jeter entre ses bras, et implorer, il ne craint pas de se servir de ce terme vis-à-vis d’un homme tel que lui, non pas seulement ses bontés, mais sa pitié,—si Mylord par quelques moyens peut alléger sa malheureuse situation, il rendra en quelque manière la vie et l’existence à un homme qui ne se croit pas indigne de son estime.
[Translation]
The Bishop of Moulins, who left France in 1791, with very small means, went into Italy and was fortunate enough to obtain the post of first Chaplain to Madame Victoire of France. It is to the bounty of this august princess that he owed his existence. At her death, which took place in 1799, he found himself deprived of all his resources. At this period he went to England, where he got the salary fixed for Bishops, which was then £10 a month. He settled down in London in the house of M. Pontcarré, the former First President of the Parliament of Rouen, whose first wife was the Bishop’s sister; by her M. Pontcarré had two children. He had no idea of the unhappy state of affairs in this family. His kindness of heart and his wish to help them involved him far beyond what his means allowed him to do. He is not afraid of confessing that in that he did wrong, and of saying that to support that unhappy family he went so far as to advance £1,600 on the strength of the promises which had been made to him of an early repayment. His father was still living, and he had cause to believe that he might hope for some resources from him. His nephew and niece were in France, and he had some right to hope that they would be mindful of what he was doing to help their father and his family. He did not attempt to minimise his fault, but because of this hope he gave way to the weakness of his character, and, not having any means himself, contracted various bonds of which he is now the victim. His father died in 1802 without having made any provision; he was defrauded of all to which he could lay a claim, and a brother who was still in France, as well as his nephew and his niece, took possession of the inheritance without taking him into consideration. M. d’Aligre, his first cousin, to whom he had done a service by contributing to keep for him three million which he had in the Bank of England, came to London to collect that sum, and promised him then to lend him 12,000 francs (of France) on the security of his nephew and niece, and even gave his word for it. The security was promised. On his return to France neither M. d’Aligre nor the others kept their promise. He may be said to have had to endure during this time the most unjust and indelicate behaviour. They even went so far as to hint to him that they could not help him, unless he returned to France and submitted himself to her government that was then ruling, a thing which he would never do, however unfortunate he might be. It is now nearly nine years that the Bishop of Moulins has groaned under the load of his misfortune. His days could only be counted by his struggles, and it was only by fresh bonds that he was able to satisfy the older ones, and his embarrassments consequently, far from diminishing, only increased. He dares to confess that amongst his debts there is one of £200 for which he pays £60 interest per annum. He has lost everything, nothing remains to him in France, as the government on one side and his family on the other have taken everything from him. There only remains for him to live on the £20 which he receives every month through the generosity of the British Government. He is beginning to advance in age, and it is terrible for him to think of the future. He knows no one in England who can help or support him. His only resource was, to make sure of a quiet existence, to find the sum of £1,000 sterling to borrow, and having no other assurance to give, he offered to have his life insured for that sum, and to give the sureties necessary for the payment of the interests and for the interest of the insurance. By these means they would be sure of losing nothing at his death. For more than two years he has been trying to get himself out of debt by this means, but has not succeeded. The sum of £200, for which he pays £60 interest per annum, is insured at the Insurance Office. This is the position the Bishop of Moulins finds himself in, always exposed to embarrassments and anxiety, and consequently leading a most difficult and unhappy life. These are the exact facts, which he ventures to confide to Lord Fitzwilliam. It is under these circumstances that he throws himself on his mercy and craves, he is not afraid of using such a word to such a man, not only his favour, but his pity. If his Lordship can by some means alleviate this unhappy situation, he will in some manner give back life and existence to a man who does not believe himself unworthy of his esteem.
III
Unfinished draft of Lord Fitzwilliam’s reply to the letter of the Bishop of Moulins, dated 21st March 1808, in which letter was enclosed the autobiographical notes.
Depuis la recette de l’exposé que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de me confier, je me suis adonné à faire la revue, de mes propres moyens, préliminaire très necessaire dans les circonstances dans lesquelles moi-même je me trouve actuellement, ayant à payer la dépense de l’élection de mon fils, une occasion que me coûte guère moins de £100,000 sterling. Après cet aveu, vous voiez bien, monseigneur, qu’il doit me rester que moyens bien serrés. Cependant, sentant bien l’état embarrassant de vos affaires, monseigneur, et touché du désir d’y porter autant de soulagement que mes propres moyens peuvent fournir, et considérant que l’interêt de £60 per annum que vous payez pour la somme de £200 d’emprunt, doit peser fort, j’ai l’honneur de vous offrir le montant pour vous libérer de cette charge. Pour le reste, je suis au désespoir de ne pouvoir aller plus loin, sentant bien que la situation embarrassante dans laquelle vous vous trouvez, provient des circonstances que vous ne pouviez pas avertir d’une conduite, qui ennoblit le caractère, étant l’effet d’une probité patriotique, trop pure et trop sincère, pour chercher faveur et protection des mains impies de l’usurpation.
[Translation]
Since the receipt of the story of your life which you have done me the honour to confide in me, I have been devoting myself to looking into my own private means, a very necessary preliminary step in the circumstances in which I find myself at the present moment, having had to pay the expenses of the election of my son, a transaction which has cost me hardly less than £100,000 sterling. After this avowal, Monseigneur, you will see that I must be left with very narrowed means. In the meantime, perceiving clearly, Monseigneur, the embarrassing state of your affairs, and touched with the desire to relieve them to the extent which my circumstances can furnish, and considering that the interest of £60 per annum, that you pay for the loan of £200, must weigh heavily upon you, I have the honour to offer you the amount to free you from that charge. As to the rest, I am in despair that I can go no further, perceiving well that the embarrassing position in which you find yourself arises from circumstances which you could not have avoided and from a conduct which ennobles your character, being the result of a patriotic uprightness, too pure and too sincere to seek favour and protection from the impious hands of usurpation.
IV
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam
Mylord,
Les nouvelles bontés dont vous daignes me combler, me pénétrent d’une reconnoissance qu’il m’est impossible de vous exprimer; mais si j’ose vous le dire, ce sont encore moins ces bontés relatives au soulagement et au secours qu’elles me procurent qui me font éprouver tout ce qu’un cœur honnète et sensible doit sentir, que la lettre que vous m’avés fait l’honneur de m’écrire, tout ce que je craignois, étoit d’avoir pu vous déplaire par mon importunité et par mon indiscrétion et la manière aimable et obligeante sous tous les rapports, dont vous avés daigné me répondre, m’a fait éprouver une satisfaction dont il n’appartient qu’à un cœur tel que le vôtre de juger, si vous eussiés pu être témoin de ce qui se passoit en moi en la lisant, pensant comme vous le faites, je crois pouvoir assurer que vous auriés eu une véritable jouissance vous faites pour moi, Milord, bien au delà de ce que j’aurois pu espérer et en me mettant à portée par vos dons de me libérer de la dette onéreuse de £200 que j’ai contractée c’est me procurer un soulagement tel que je n’aurois pu l’espérer, et me mettre à portée de jouir de beaucoup plus de tranquillité et d’aisance et ce qui y ajoutera infiniment, ce sera de vous en être redevable, il me reste une grâce à vous demander, Mylord, c’est de me permettre d’aller un jour vous dire de vive voix et tout ce que je sens et tout ce que j’éprouve. J’ai pris la liberté, Mylord, de vous exposer tout ce qui s’étoit passé entre le transport office et moi relativement au jeune prisonnier qu’on m’avoit accordé pour domestique, et dont m’a privé en le faisant rentrer dans la prison, ma position vous est connue, et d’après cela il vous est aisé de juger qu’elle ne me permet pas d’avoir à mon service un domestique au même prix où sont les domestiques Anglois, d’ailleurs je ne parle point assés cette langue pour être servi par un Anglois, et cependant le malheureux état de ma santé, même une sorte de décence ne me permettent pas de n’avoir personne pour me servir, j’ai recours à votre protection, Mylord, et si par celle que vous daigneriés y mettre et l’intérêt que vous avés la bonté de prendre à moi, il étoit en votre pouvoir de me faire accorder soit par l’amirauté principalement, ou du transport office, j’ai pensé espérer non pas, le jeune homme qu’on m’avoit accordé, et que je ne réclame pas, pour des raisons particulières, mais celui que j’ai demandè à sa place nommé Sébastien Lequelleux, Mousse pris â bord de la Marie Françoise âgé d’environ 15 ans, aux mêmes conditions, mises à la liberté du premier, dont je joins ici le passeport en vous priant de ne pas vous en dessaisir et de le garder entre vos mains, parce qu’il peut m’être utile, passeport qui vous justifiera qu’on n’avoit point le droit de le reprendre, ni d’en user à mon égard comme on l’a fait, je vous en aurois une bien véritable obligation. Depuis que je n’ai eu l’honneur de vous voir j’ai beaucoup souffert de vomissements de sang auxquels je suis sujet, et il est bien dur—et bien pénible pour moi—si je hazarde cette demande, Milord; ce sont vos bontés seules qui m’inspirent cette confiance. Mais je vous supplie de la regarder comme non avenue et de n’y avoir aueun égard pour peu qui vous y voyez la moindre difficulté et qu’elle puisse vous compromettre sous le moindre rapport. Si je puis avoir le jeune homme que je demande c’est à vous seul que je veux en être redevable, c’est à vous seul qu’il sera accordé de manière que le Transport Office ne puisse voir dans tout cela que l’intérêt que vous daignés m’accorder. Pardonnés moi tant de liberté, tant d’importunités, mais un françois honnête et malheureux qui a le bonheur de vous voir, voit en vous son appui et son soutien.
J’ai l’honneur d’être avec respect, Mylord,
Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur,
L’Evêque de Moulins.
Stilton,
ce 27 Mars 1808.
[Translation]
My Lord,
The fresh bounties with which you deign to overwhelm me fill me with a gratitude which it is impossible for me to express, but if I dare say so, it is again, less, the kindnesses, in their relation to the comfort and help they have given me, which make me feel all that an upright and sensitive nature should feel, than the letter which you have done me the honour to write.
All that I feared was to displease you, by my importunity and indiscretion, but the amiable and obliging manner in which under all circumstances you have deigned to reply to me, has made me experience a satisfaction, of which only a heart like yours can judge. If you had been able to see what passed within me when reading it, I feel sure that you, thinking as you do, would have had real pleasure, and by putting me, through your gifts, in a position to free myself of this heavy debt of £200 which I have contracted, you have relieved me far beyond my expectations, and made it possible for me to enjoy much more peace and ease of mind—and what will add to it still more, is the fact of my being indebted to you. There still remains one more request, my lord, and that is to allow me to go and see you some day, and tell you in person all that I feel.
I have taken the liberty, my lord, of telling you all that passed between the Transport Office and me, about the young prisoner, whom they allotted to me, as servant, and of whom they deprived me, by sending him back to prison. My circumstances are known to you, and therefore it is easy for you to judge that they will not allow me an expensive servant, such as are the English ones, moreover, I do not speak the English language well enough to be served by one of these, and yet the unfortunate state of my health and a sort of propriety do not allow me to have any servants. I have recourse to your protection, my lord, and, if by what you deign to give me, and the interest which you have the goodness to take in me, it were in your power to have awarded to me, either by the Admiralty principally, or by the Transport Office, I might hope, not for the young man whom they allowed me before, and whom I do not ask back for private reasons, but for him whom I asked in his place, called Sebastian Sequelleux, a cabin boy, taken on board the Marie Françoise, aged about fifteen years, under the same conditions as the first whose passport I enclose, begging you not to give it up, but to keep it in your own hands, because it may be useful to me—a passport which will justify you that they had not the right to take him back again, nor to act in the manner towards me that they have done—I should be under a real obligation to you.
Since I had the honour of seeing you I have suffered much from vomiting of blood, to which I am subject, it is very hard and very trying for me, under these circumstances, to have no one near me. If I hazard this request, my lord, it is your kindness alone, which inspires this confidence, and I implore you to consider it null and void, if you see the least difficulty—and if it should compromise you in the least. If I can have the young man that I ask for, it is to you alone that I wish to be indebted, and to you alone that he will be granted, so that the Transport Office can see in all that, only the interest you have deigned to take in me. Forgive so much liberty, so much importunity—but an honest and unhappy Frenchman, who has the happiness to see you, finds in you his prop and stay.
I have the honour to be, with respect, my lord,
Your very humble and very obedient servant,
The Bishop of Moulins.
Stilton,
27th March 1808.
V
Mr. Commissioner Rupert George to Captain Moorsom, Secretary to Lord Mulgrave
Transport Office,
19th March 1808.
Dear Sir,
In answer to what is stated in Lord Fitzwilliam’s letter to Lord Mulgrave, I request you will inform his Lordship that the Bishop of Moulins was introduced to me by the Bishop of Montpellier, and at his request I prevailed on my colleagues to release a Prisoner of War from Norman Cross Prison to attend upon him; this, I am sorry to acknowledge, was irregular and unauthorised, but I was actuated by motives of humanity, as the Bishop complained that his finances were so limited that he could not afford to keep any servant of a different description. This should have influenced the Bishop to keep his servant from carrying on any improper traffic with the Prisoners; on the contrary he became the instrument of introducing straw, manufactured, to the Prisoners for the purpose of being made into hats, bonnets, etc., by which the Revenue of our country is injured, and the poor who exist by that branch of trade would be turned out of employ, as the prisoners who are fed, clothed, and lodged at the public expense would be able to undersell them.
I must observe that this is the only article which the Prisoners are prevented from manufacturing.
When the Bishop’s servant had established himself in this trade the Bishop wrote to me, that he had found means of getting his livelihood, and desired he might remain at large, and that another prisoner might be released to serve him, neither of which the Board thought proper to comply with, for the foregoing reasons; upon which the Bishop of Moulins complained to the Admiralty, who directed us to give such answer as the case called for.
I have only to add that the Bishop experienced greater indulgence from us than any other French Ecclesiastick ever did, to which in my opinion he has not made an adequate return, nor felt himself, as he ought to have done, answerable for the conduct of his servant; and if a strict discipline is not maintained in the Prisons as the Prisoners are daily increasing, the consequences may be incalculable.
I am, Dear Sir,
Very faithfully yours,
Rup. George.
Capt. Moorsom.
VI
Lord Mulgrave to Lord Fitzwilliam
Admiralty,
21st March 1808.
My Lord,
On receipt of your Lordship’s letter, I made immediate enquiry at the Transport Board into the circumstances of the case of the Bishop of Moulins. I enclose the answer of Sir Rupert George, for your Lordship’s information, and am sorry to find that the conduct of the Bishop of Moulins has not been such as to justify a repetition of the indulgences which have heretofore been extended to him. I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s
Most Humble and obedient Servant,
Mulgrave.
To the Earl Fitzwilliam.
VII
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam
Mylord,
C’est à votre âme généreuse et bienfaisante qu’il appartient de sentir tout ce que j’éprouve, privé de tout secours, de toutes consolations, plongé dans le malheur depuis près de vingt ans, la providence m’a conduit à Stilton pour y trouver dans vous, ce que je n’aurois jamais osé espérer, sans aucun mérite, sans aucun titre, auprès de vous, vous seul avés daigné me servir de consolation, d’appui, et me procurer des secours, que je n’aurois jamais cru devoir attendre. Il n’est ici question ni de phrases, ni de tournures Françoises, que ne puissiés vous lire dans mon cœur, vous y verriés tout ce qu’il sent, et de quelle reconnoissance il est pénétré. Vous avés la bonté de vous intéresser à ma santé: elle a été bien misérable depuis que je n’ai eu l’honneur de vous voir, les accidents de sang auxquels je suis sujet m’ont fort fatigué; ces deux derniers jours-ei j’ai été extrêmement souffrant, comme depuis longues années, je suis accoutumé à souffrir, cela ne m’empêche pas de continuer ma besogne comme à l’ordinaire, et bien certainement, cela ne m’empêchera pas de profiter de vos bontés, et de vous aller faire ma cour à Milton, le jour que vous m’indiquerés; le désir que Monsieur votre fils veut bien avoir de faire connaissance avec moi me flatte au delà de tout ce que je puis vous exprimer, et il sera bien heureux pour moi d’être à portée en lui rendant mes hommages de lui exprimer tout ce que je sens et tout ce dont je suis redevable au père qu’il a le bonheur d’avoir, et qui en est devenu un pour moi. A l’exception des dimanches, et du jeudi et du vendredi de la Semaine Sainte, c’est à dire de celle qui précède la fête de Pâques, tous les jours, où vous daigneriés me proposer de venir à Milton seront libres pour moi, parce que je puis m’arranger pour que vers les trois heures ou trois heures et demie après je puisse être libre.
Je ne saurois vous dire, Milord, combien je suis touché de toutes les démarches que vous avés eu la bonté de faire pour me procurer un jeune prisonnier pour me servir de domestique, ce que j’ai souffert dans ces derniers temps m’a encore plus prouvé combien il étoit nécessaire d’avoir auprès de moi quelqu’un pour me servir. Je désire bien que les démarches que vous avés daigné faire ne soient pas sans succès, c’est à vous, si la chose réussit que j’en serai uniquement redevable, et dès lors j’en sentirai doublement le poids. J’ose dire qu’il y avoit une véritable injustice à m’en refuser un, car, indépendamment de ce qu’on n’avoit pas le droit à ce que je crois, de m’ôter celui qui j’avois d’après le passeport qui avoit été donne, je puis certifier que les raisons qu’on a mises en avance pour le faire rentrer dans la prison, et surtout celle qu’on a alléguées d’avoir introduit de la paille dans les prisons, est dénuée de toute vérité, et à l’égard de cette dernière raison qui n’est aujourd’hui mise en avant que pour la première fois, je crois pouvoir répondre que l’accusation est absolument fausse. Mais comme je ne reviens pas sur le passé si l’on m’en accorde un autre par votre protection, j’en aurois une vraie satisfaction, car je suis réellement malheureux, dans la position où je me trouve, de n’avoir personne pour me servir.
Vous avés la bonté de me dire, Milord, que lorsque j’aurai fait mes arrangements pour liquider la somme de £200, vous voudrés bien me faire transmettre cette somme de la manière qui me sera la plue commode. Comme de raison ce sera à l’époque qui vous sera la plus convenable, ce que vous faites pour moi, est trop au delà de tout ce que je pouvois jamais espérer, pour que le terme qui vous sera le plus agréable ne soit le mien.
A la vérité plutôt je pourrai être libéré de cette dette, plutôt ce sera le mieux pour moi. Et puisque vous me permettés de vous parler avec franchise, si cela vous convient, je prendrai la liberté de vous observer que comme dans ce moment-ci il nous est dû quatre mois de notre traitement, ce qui ne laisse pas pour l’instant de rendre la position un peu embarrassante, si vous daigniés me faire passer ici 100 livres sterlings en papiers du pays, ou en papiers de la banque d’Angleterre, et un draft de 100 livres sterlings sur votre banquier à Londres, alors je laisserois les 4 mois qui avec celui qui sera dû au premier mai feroient la somme de £100 pour compléter les £200, et ce que vous auriés la bonté de m’envoyer ici, me serviroit à ma dépense habituelle et nécessaire. Pardonnés ma franchise et ma liberté, vos bontés seules m’y autorisent, mais d’ailleurs, ce qui vous conviendra le mieux à cet égard, fera toujours mon arrangement. Pou-vois-je jamais espérer tant de bonté de quelqu’un dont je n’avois pas seulement l’honneur d’être connu.
J’ai l’honneur d’être avec respect, permettés moi d’ajouter avec une reconnoissance qui durera autant que ma vie,
Mylord.
Votre très humble et
très obéissant serviteur,
L’Evêque de Moulins.
Stilton, Bell Inn,
ce 3 Avril 1808.
[Translation]
My Lord,
It is of the nature of your generous and kind soul to understand all that I feel. Deprived of all help and all consolation, plunged in the depths of misery for almost twenty years, Providence led me to Stilton to find in you what I had never dared to hope for without any merits, without any title. Near you, you alone deigned to give me comfort, support, and have secured me the help which I should never have dared to hope for. There is no language in which I can tell you what I feel. If you could only read into my heart you would see there all that it feels and with what gratitude it is filled. You have the kindness to show interest in my health. It has been very wretched since I last had the honour of seeing you. The blood complaint to which I am subject has exhausted me very much, and these last two days I have suffered a great deal; but as I have been used to suffering for many years, it does not prevent me from going about as usual, and it certainly will not stop me from profiting by your kindness to go and pay my respects to you at Milton the day which you name. The desire that your son has to make my acquaintance flatters me more than I can say, and it will give me great pleasure to pay my respects to him, and to express to him all that I feel and how indebted I am to the father whom he has the happiness to possess and who has become such for me. With the exception of Sundays, Thursday and Friday in Holy Week, that is to say that which precedes Eastertide, any day which you propose to me for coming to Milton will be free for me, for I can arrange to be free at about three or half-past three o’clock in the afternoon. I cannot tell you, my lord, how much I have been touched by the steps you have taken in trying to procure me a young prisoner to act as my servant. What I have suffered lately has proved to me still more how necessary it was to have somebody to wait on me. I hope very much that the steps which you have so kindly taken will not be without success, and it is to you only, if the affair proves successful, that I shall be indebted, and from then onwards I shall be doubly grateful. I take the liberty to say, that it was a real injustice to refuse me one, because, independently of the fact that they have not the right as far as I can make out, to take away the one I had, according to the passport which had been given to him, I can certify that the reasons they put forward for sending him back to prison, and especially that of his alleged taking of straw into the prison, is devoid of all truth; and with regard to this last reason, which to-day has been advanced for the first time, I believe that I can take upon myself to answer that the accusation is absolutely false; but as I do not wish to rake up the past, if I am granted another under your protection, I shall have a real satisfaction, for I am really miserable in the position in which I find myself, without anyone to wait upon me. You had the goodness to tell me, my lord, that when I had made my arrangements to pay off the sum of £200, you would forward me that sum in the manner which would be most convenient to me. Of course that would be at the time most convenient to you. That which you are doing for me is far beyond all that I could ever have hoped, and so the date which is most agreeable to you will be mine too. Indeed, the sooner I shall be freed from that debt the sooner my position will improve. And as you allow me to speak to you candidly, if it is convenient to you, I take the liberty of pointing out to you that four months of my salary is owing to me at the present time, which does not make the position less embarrassing at present. If you will deign to send me here £100 sterling in notes or in English bank-notes and a draft of £100 on your bank in London, then I would lay aside the four months’ salary, which, together with that which I ought to receive on the first of May, would make the sum of £100 to complete the £200, and what you will have the goodness to send to me here will serve me for my usual and necessary expenses. Pardon my frankness and the liberty; your kindness alone authorises me, but after all, whatever suits you best in this matter will suit me also. Could I ever have hoped for so much kindness from someone I had not even the honour of knowing?
I have the honour to be with respect, allow me to add with a gratitude which will last all my life.
My Lord,
Your very humble and obedient servant,
The Bishop of Moulins.
Stilton, Bell Inn,
3rd April 1808.
VIII
Lord Mulgrave to Earl Fitzwilliam
Admiralty,
6th April 1808.
My Lord,
The earnest interest which your Lordship takes in the Request of the Bishop of Moulins could not fail to determine me to make further enquiry respecting that person, from Sir Rupert George:—From him I learn, that in point of fact the Bishop of Moulins was only designated as such, and has not, in addition to his other sacrifices, to lament the splendour of a Bishop’s establishment. The allowance of a servant from amongst the Prisoners was a particular indulgence to the Bishop of Moulins, which has in no instance been extended to any other person, and could not indeed, from the general conduct of the French Prisoners, be admitted as a general practice; under all these circumstances the Bishop of Moulins has certainly not conducted himself with the discretion and propriety which might have been expected from him. But if I can have the pledge of your Lordship’s assurance that the Bishop of Moulins will not again abuse the indulgence of Government, as a mark of respect to your Lordship I will certainly give directions that a servant shall be again allowed to that Prelate, from amongst the Prisoners.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship’s
Most obedient Humble servant,
Mulgrave.
To the Earl Fitzwilliam.
IX
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam
Mylord,
J’ai reçu avec la lettre que vous m’avés fait l’honneur de m’écrire, les £200 sterl. qui y étoient jointcs, donc £100 en billets de banque, et £100 en une traite sur votre Banquier à Londres. Vos bontés pour moi sont à leur comble, ma reconnoissance leur est proportionnée, les expressions me manquent pour vous la témoigner.
A tant de choses que vous faites pour moi, My lord, vous daignés encore y ajouter de vous occuper du domestique: je désire si la chose réussit ce sera bien à vous que je le devrai, et ce sera un nouveau bienfait dont je vous serai redevable. Ce sera un jour bien heureux pour moi que celui qui me mettra à portée de vous renouveller de vive voix à Milton, l’assurance du respect avec lequel j’ai l’honneur d’être,
Mylord,
Votre très humble et très
Obéissant serviteur,
L’Evêque de Moulins.
Stilton,
ce 7 April 1808.
[Translation]
My Lord,
I have received with the letter you have done me the honour to write, the £200 sterling which were enclosed—£100 in bank-notes and £100 in a draft on your Banker in London.
Your kindness to me has reached its highest point, and my gratitude is commensurate, I cannot say enough to convince you how deep it is. To the many things you have done for me, my lord, you still deign to add by busying yourself about the servant I want, and if the affair is successful it will be to you that I owe him, and it will be a fresh kindness for which I shall be indebted to you. It will be a happy day for me when I shall be able personally to renew to you at Milton the assurance of the respect with which I have the honour to be
Your very humble and obedient servant,
The Bishop of Moulins.
Stilton,
7th April 1808.
X
Passport of Jean Baptiste David referred to in the Bishop’s Letters
By the Commissioners for conducting His Majesty’s Transport Service, for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and for the care and custody of Prisoners of War.
These are to certify, that Jean Baptiste David, as described on the back hereof, a French boy taken in the capacity of Domestic on board L’Aigle, French ship of War, has been released from Norman Cross Prison, for the purpose of his entering into the service of the French Bishop of Moulins, upon his having engaged that he will not enter into any Naval, Military, or Civil Service, which may directly or indirectly tend to hostility against Great Britain or her Allies during the present War, unless he be regularly exchanged for a British Prisoner of the same description and rank with himself.
Given under our hands and Seal of Office at London, the 2nd of June 1807.
Rupert George.
Ambrose Serle.
J. Boman.
Gratis.
| Name | Jean Baptiste David. |
| Rank | Servant. |
| Age | Sixteen years. |
| Stature | Five feet one inch and ½. |
| Person | Inclined to be stout. |
| Visage | Oval. |
| Complexion | Rather fair. |
| Hair | Dark brown. |
| Eyes | Dark brown. |
| Marks or wounds | Has a few marks of small-pox, and a scar just below the left ear, cut on the right thigh—another scar under his chin. |
Appendix H
PRIVATE REGISTER OF HIS FELLOW PRISONERS AT VERDUN, KEPT, DURING HIS CONFINEMENT THERE, 1804–1814, BY NAVAL CADET JOHN HOPKINSON, WHO WAS LATER RECTOR OF ALWALTON, NEAR PETERBOROUGH, WITH, IN THE LAST COLUMN, NOTES ADDED LATER IN HIS LIFE 312
| Name of the Officer. | Rank or Condition. | Date of Arrival at Verdun. | Date of Capture. | Mode and Date of the Termination of his Imprisonment at Verdun. |
| Post-Captains and Commanders | ||||
| Jahleel Brenton | Post-Captain, Minerve | 15th Dec. 1803 | 3rd July 1803 | Tours 31st Oct. 1805; returned to England |
| Simon Miller | Do., Hostage | 18th Dec. do. | ||
| Ed. Lov Gower | Do., Shannon | 10th Jan. 1804 | 10th Dec. 1803 | Returned to England 21st May 1806 |
| Henry Gordon | Commander, Woolverene | 1st June do. | 24th Mar. 1804 | Melun 10th May; escaped Nov. 1810 |
| Will. Lyall | Post-Captain, Passenger in a packet | 10th Aug. 1805 | ||
| Dan. Woodriff | Do., Calcutta | 18th Feb. 1806 | Returned to England 1807 | |
| Sir Thos. Lavie | Do., Blanche | 20th April 1807 | 4th Mar. 1807 | Melun 1811 |
| Chs. Strachey | Commander, Dauntless | 29th June do. | 19th May do. | |
| Ch. Otter | Post-Captain, Proserpine | 7th April 1809 | 28th Feb. 1809 | |
| Fr. W. Fane | Do., Cambrian | 29th Jan. 1811 | 18th Dec. 1810 | England 1811 |
| Benj. Walker | Do., Passenger Merchantman | 14th Mar. do. | 1st Feb. 1811 | |
| God. Blemverhapet | Commander, Challenger | 26th April do. | 12th Mar. 1811 | |
| Hen. Fanshaw | Do., Grasshopper | 7th Feb. 1812 | 25th Dec. 1811 | |
| John Joyce | Post-Captain, Manilla | 17th do. | 28th Jan. do. | |
| Frederick Hoffman | Commander, Apelles | 27th May do. | 3rd May do. | |
| Lieutenants, Sub-Lieutenants | ||||
| J. Lucas Yeo | Lieutenant, Hostage | 20th Nov. 1803 | England parole 1804 | |
| W. H. Dillon | Do., Africaine | 13th Dec. 1803 | 25th July 1803 | England 1807 |
| Jno. Fennell | Do., Minerve | 15th Dec. do. | 3rd July do. | |
| Wm. Fitzgerald | Do., do. | |||
| Wm. Walpole | Paris 1807, then to England | |||
| Lewis Nanny | A Détenu | 17th Dec. 1803 | Escaped Arras 1807 | |
| T. L. Prescott | Do. | Do. | Escaped 1813 | |
| T. P. Crosdale | Do. | Do. | Escaped 1811 | |
| G. Gratrix | Lieut., Cruiser | 24th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Jno. Lambert | Do., Shannon | 10th Jan. 1804 | Dec. 1803 | |
| Rod. T. Douglas | Do., do. | England by Russia 1809 | ||
| G. A. Simer | Do., do. | Died 1806 | ||
| Jno. Mackenzie | Do., Maidstone | Aug. 1803 | ||
| A. W. Thomas | Do., Grappler Gp. | 30th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Richard Pridham | Do., Hussar | 25th Mar. 1804 | 10th Feb. 1804 | |
| H. T. Lutwidge | Do., do. | |||
| Edward Barker | Do., do. | Killed in a duel 18th Feb. 1810 | ||
| Philip Levesconte | Do., Magnificent | 25th Mar. 1804 | Escaped 1810; died 1850 | |
| Geo. Ingham | Do., Woolverine | 24th Mar. 1804 | ||
| James Wallis | Do., El Vincego | 8th May 1804 | Escaped 10th July 1813; died 1850 | |
| T. S. Hall | Do., do. | |||
| T. W. Miles | Do., Mallard | 25th Dec. 1804 | Killed in duel 13th July 1806 | |
| Francis Bassan | Do., Bouncer | 22nd Feb. 1805 | Died 1811 | |
| Aug. Donaldson | Do., Folkestone | 4th Jan. 1805 | Died | |
| R. B. Cooban | Lieutenant, Arthur | 19th Jan. 1805 | Died 1810 | |
| W. C. C. Dalzell | Do., Rattler | 4th Jan. do. | Left for Greenwich, England 1813 | |
| G. L. Ker | Do., Tearer | 16th July do. | Died 1809 | |
| G. S. Bourne | Sub-Lieutenant, do. | |||
| Wm. Richards | Do., Plumper | |||
| G. S. Wingate | Lieutenant, Biter | 10th Nov. 1805 | ||
| Thos. Scandlan | Sub-Lieutenant, do. | Escaped 1811 | ||
| Thos. Innes | Lieutenant, Woodlark | 14th Nov. 1805 | ||
| Richard C. Ross | Sub-Lieutenant, do. | |||
| Jno. Essel | Do., Archer | Killed in escaping from Bitche | ||
| J. Cotham Penny | Lieutenant, Ranger | 19th July 1805 | ||
| W. Spence | Do., do. | Died at Verdun 1809 | ||
| Alen Bozark | Do., Dove | 5th Aug. 1805 | ||
| T. G. Westlake | Sub-Lieutenant, do. | |||
| W. Tuckey | Lieutenant, Calcutta | |||
| Richard Donovon | Do., do. | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| John Collas | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Nich. Wray | Do., Venus | Do. | Died at Verdun 1809 | |
| Rich. Ross | Sub-Lieutenant, Rapid | Do. | Escaped 1807 | |
| Will. Richards | Lieutenant, Constance | 12th Oct. 1806 | ||
| Molyn. Shuldham | Do., Adder | 9th Dec. 1806 | ||
| Edward Johnson | Do., Magpie | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| Robt. Basten | Do., Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Will. Apreece | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| James Allan | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| G. M. Higginson | Do., Pigmy | 5th Mar. 1807 | ||
| John McDougal | Do., Passenger | |||
| Will. Japper | Do., Dauntless | 19th May 1807 | ||
| W. B. Fabien | Acting, do. | Do. | ||
| Will. Arnold | Lieu., Inconstant | Do. | ||
| Robt. Crosbie | Do., Trompeuse | 19th Oct. 1807 | ||
| Matt. Young | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| W. I. Dixon | Sub-Lieutenant, Conflict | Do. | ||
| John Bingham | Lieutenant, Endymion | Do. | ||
| John Carslake | Do., Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| R. P. Rigby | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| V. W. H. Bogle | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| I. H. Sanders | Do., Statira | 2nd June 1809 | ||
| C. C. Owen | Do., Dreadnought | 26th July 1809 | Escaped 21st Mar. 1810 | |
| Allen Stewart | Do., Alceste | |||
| W. C. Jervoise | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Alex. Davidson | Sub., Bruizer | 3rd Nov. 1808 | ||
| Wm. Miln | Lieu., Carrier | 18th Jan. 1808 | ||
| Chas. Stewart | Do., Jackall | 29th May 1807 | ||
| Thos. Smith | Do., Lyra | 28th Oct. 1809 | ||
| Henry Conn | Do., Junon | 13th Dec. 1809 | Escaped 22nd Sept. 1812 | |
| Evelyn Norio | Do., Goldfinch | |||
| Daniel Nuller | Do., Racer | 28th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Francis Duval | Do., Unité | To England | ||
| Gilbert Kennicott | Do., Minorca | 27th Nov. 1810 | ||
| G. W. Brown | Do., Passenger | 1st Feb. 1811 | ||
| John Taylor | Do., Reynard | |||
| Robert Snell | Do., Minotaur | 23rd Dec. 1810 | ||
| G. P. Cowley | Do., Challenger | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Joseph Miller | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Norton | Do., Inveterate | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| Thos. Connell | Do., Téméraire | 12th June 1811 | Died 28th Aug. in consequence of a wound received in a duel with Captain Penrice on the 13th | |
| Geo. V. Jackson | Lieutenant, Junon | 13th Dec. 1809 | ||
| Henry Taylor | Do., Olympia | 2nd Mar. 1811 | ||
| Henry Thrackston | Do., Snapper | 14th July 1811 | ||
| Henry Guy | Sub., do. | Do. | ||
| James Brown | Lieu., Sceptre | 11th Oct. 1811 | ||
| Edmond Stackpoole | Do., Conquistador | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| John Hawkins | Do., Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| Alex. McKnockie | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. L. Robins | Do., Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| J. G. Wigley | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Fredrick Lloyd | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| John Brine | Do., Laurel | 31st Jan. 1812 | ||
| Chas. Green | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| W. W. P. Johnson | Do., Curaçoa | 20th May 1812 | ||
| Chas. Simeon | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| R. J. Gunnell | Sub., Martial | 12th Nov. 1812 | ||
| John Tracey | Lieu., Linnet | 27th Feb. 1813 | ||
| Geo. Smithers | Do., Goldfinch | |||
| Masters, Pilots, and Second Masters | ||||
| Thos. Price | Pilot, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | ||
| Henry Gooch | Master, Shannon | 10th Dec. do. | ||
| Henry Edwards | 2nd Master, Redbridge | 4th Aug. do. | ||
| Jas. Dillon | Master, Woolverene | 24th Mar. 1804 | Died at Verdun 15th May 1805 | |
| G. L. Bishop | Do., Constance | 23rd May 1804 | ||
| Caleb Hiller | Ac.-M., Vincego | 8th May 1804 | ||
| Richard Skinner | Do., Pass, Serapis | 1st Aug. do. | Escaped 1808 | |
| Thos. James | Pilot, Woolverene | 24th Mar. do. | ||
| Philip Bandains | Do. Grappler | 30th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Will. Cochran | Master, Minerve | 3rd July do. | Died Verdun 30th Nov. 1807 | |
| Geo. Brown | 2nd Master, Mallard | 25th Dec. 1804 | Escaped 22nd May 1811 | |
| Jas. Ayles | Pilot, do. | Died Sarrelibre 1807 | ||
| Fras. Rebour | Teazer | 16th July 1805 | ||
| Jno. le Rougetelle | Pilot, Plumper | Died Sarrelibre | ||
| John Beatson | 2nd Master, Woodlark | 14th Nov. 1805 | ||
| John Steedman | Pilot | |||
| Benj. Hazell | Master, Ranger | 19th July do. | ||
| David Beynon | 2nd Master, Minx | 28th Feb. 1806 | ||
| Hugh Ross | Pilot, Ranger | 19th July 1805 | ||
| Joseph Giles | 2nd Master, Rapid | 16th Sept. 1806 | ||
| Fras. Hernaman | Do., United Brothers | 9th Dec. 1806 | ||
| John McDougal | Master, Pigmy | 5th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Henry Fraser | Do., Sheldrake | 12th Oct. 1806 | ||
| John Atherdon | Pilot, Inveterate | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| Alex. Handisyde | 2nd Master, do. | |||
| Thos. Knockner | Pilot, Ignition | 19th Feb. 1807 | Escaped 14th Jan. 1811 | |
| John Dear | 2nd Master, Jackall | 29th Jan. 1807 | ||
| Roger Taylor | Master, Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Robt. Adamson | 2nd Master, Biser | 10th Nov. 1805 | ||
| John Goodson | Master, Dauntless | 19th May 1807 | ||
| Robert Pope | Pilot | |||
| Henry Brown | Master, Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Thos. Menton | Acting-Master, Arethusa | 6th April 1809 | ||
| Ed. Brown | Master, Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | Died at Verdun 6th Oct. 1813 | |
| John le Corney | Pilot, Amelia | 16th July 1809 | ||
| Jas. Long | Master, Brisies | 12th Aug. 1809 | ||
| John Cowan | 2nd Master, Cracker | 16th May 1808 | ||
| Samuel Tuck | Master, Linnet | 3rd April 1810 | ||
| Thos. Foster | Do., Racer | 28th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Richard Vannall | Pilot, do. | Escaped 22nd May 1811 | ||
| Jer. Mcnamara | 2nd Master, Blazer | 8th July 1810 | ||
| J. H. Gillo | Do., Thresher | 9th July 1810 | ||
| Henry Taylor | Master, Podargus | 15th Aug. 1809 | ||
| John Harrow | 2nd Master, Sparkler | 12th Jan. 1808 | ||
| Robert Thomson | Master, Minotaur | 23rd Oct. 1810 | ||
| John Filleule | Do., Thunder | 24th April 1811 | ||
| John Sullivan | Do., Challenger | 2nd Mar. 1811 | ||
| Robert Templeton | 2nd Master, Bloodhound | 22nd Oct. 1810 | ||
| Jer. Tapley | Do., Olympia | 2nd Nov. 1811 | ||
| Field Moytham | Do., Monkey | 28th Dec. 1810 | ||
| Wm. Walker | Do., Growler | 18th June 1811 | ||
| Peter Priaulx | Pilot, Royal Oak | 30th Oct. 1811 | ||
| Thos. Read | Master, Passenger, Chesterfield Packet, Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| John Hales | Master, Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| Andrew Napier | 2nd Master, Adder | 9th Dec. 1806 | ||
| Geo. Crockett | Acting-Master, Linnet | 25th Feb. 1813 | ||
| Surgeons, Assistant-Surgeons, and Mates | ||||
| Alex. Allen | Surgeon, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | ||
| Robert Gordon | Mate, Do. | Died at Verdun 8th Feb. 1803 | ||
| Chas. Taylor | Assistant-Surgeon, Hostage | 18th Dec. 1803 | ||
| John Bell | Do., Shannon | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Alex. Crigan | Mate, Do. | Escaped from Arras | ||
| Wm. Porteus | Assistant-Mate, Grappler | 30th Dec. 1803 | Escaped 1808 | |
| John Graham, living at Verdun 1853 | Surgeon, Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | As surgeon to the depot to England, 4th Jan. 1814 | |
| J. P. Hayden | Surgeon’s-Mate, Hussar | Died at Blois 18th Mar. 1814 | ||
| Chas. Newman | Do., do. | |||
| Wm. Hill | Surgeon, Passenger, M. Vessel | 24th April 1804 | Escaped 18th Nov. 1809. | |
| Morgan Williams | Do., Woolverene | 24th March 1804 | Escaped 18th Nov. 1809 | |
| John Lawmont | Do., Vincego | 8th May 1804 | ||
| Ed. McGrath | Surgeon-Mate, Acasta | 30th June 1804 | Died at Verdun 9th June 1808 | |
| Bernard Allcock | Do., Mallard | 24th Dec. 1804 | Died at Metz March 1808 | |
| Benjm. Lawder | Assistant-Mate, Bouncer | 22nd Feb. 1805 | Poisoned himself at Verdun 25th May 1805 | |
| Dan. Cameron | Do., Biler | 10th Nov. 1804 | Escaped 11th May 1809 | |
| James Moir | Do., Woodlark | 14th Nov. 1805 | ||
| Alexr. Simpson | Surgeon, Ranger | 19th July 1805 | Strasburg 5th Jan. 1807; died there | |
| John Roberts | Assistant-Mate, Calcutta | 11th Feb. 1806 | ||
| Robert Stewart | Surgeon, Do. | 18th Feb. 1806 | ||
| Jas. Breman | Do., Blanche | 20th April 1807 | ||
| John Patterson | Assistant-Surgeon, do. | |||
| Chas. Mitchell | Surgeon, Pigmy | 24th April 1807 | ||
| Robert Hoggan | Assistant-Surgeon, Inveterate | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| David Gray | Surgeon-Mate, Rapid | 16th Sept. 1806 | ||
| John Roberts | Do., United Brothers | 9th Dec. 1806 | Died Sar Libre 10th Oct. 1808 | |
| Jos. H. Hughes | Do., Dauntless | 19th May 1807 | ||
| John Watson | Assistant-Surgeon, Jackall | 29th Mar. 1807 | Died at Verdun 17th Dec. 1809 | |
| Fras. Connin | Surgeon, Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| Jos. Hawthorn | Surgeon-Mate, do. | Escaped 10th Nov. 1810 | ||
| Robert Abbott | Surgeon, Racer | 28th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Lewes Jones | Surgeon-Mate, Minotaur | 23rd Oct. 1810 | ||
| Danl. Godbehere | Assistant-Surgeon, Challenger | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Thos. Wells | Do., Monkey | 28th Dec. 1810 | Died, 20th Jan. 1812, in consequence of a wound received in a duel on the 27th with Mr. Abbott | |
| P. H. Scott | Acting-Assistant-Surgeon, Olympia | 2nd Mar. 1811 | ||
| M. C. Woods | Assistant-Surgeon, Growler | 18th June 1811 | ||
| Wm. Campbell | Do., Colossus | 30th Jan. 1812 | ||
| Thos. Sanderson | Surgeon, Grasshopper | 25th Oct. 1811 | ||
| Wm. Donaldson | Do., Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| Richard Tobin | Do., Laurel | 31st Jan. 1812 | ||
| Wm. Watts | Assistant-Surgeon, Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| P. T. Maiming | Surgeon, Apelles | 3rd May 1812 | ||
| Jas. Hunter | Assistant-Surgeon, Passenger in Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| C. M. Snooke | Surgeon, Linnet | 8th May 1813 | ||
| Pursers | ||||
| John Hyslop | Shannon | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Saml. Trewin | Vincego | 8th May 1804 | Died 2nd Mar. 1809 | |
| John Innes | Ranger | July 1805 | ||
| Alex. Livie | Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | Died 12th Aug. 1808 | |
| Jas. Wilson | Diligence | 24th Mar. 1806 | ||
| H. F. Willcocks | Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| I. C. Cummings | Constance | 12th Oct. 1807 | England, by order of French Government 13th Feb. | |
| Arch. McMillar | Atalante | 12th Feb. 1807 | ||
| Dan. Sullivan | Dauntless | 19th May 1807 | ||
| Wm. Lamotte | Falcon, Passenger in Dauntless | Escaped 22nd May 1811 | ||
| Geo. Ellis | Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| Simon Heley | Amphion | 28th Sept. 1809 | ||
| W. S. Black | Briseis | 10th Oct. 1809 | ||
| Hugh Corbyn | Goldfinch | 10th May 1810 | ||
| John Boone | Trident, Passenger in a transport | |||
| John Richardson | Challenger | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Chas. Ross | Alacrity | 26th May 1811 | Died 22nd Nov. 1813 | |
| Thos. Bastin | Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| John Paterson | Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | Died 31st Oct. 1813 | |
| Hugh Hannay | Apelles | 3rd May 1812 | ||
| Marine Officers | ||||
| Geo. Aug. Bell | Lieutenant, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | ||
| Alex. Eckford | Do., Shannon | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Robt. Phillips | Do., Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | ||
| Geo. Jones | Captain, Magnificent | 25th Mar. 1804 | ||
| John Ridley | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Jasper Farmer | Lieutenant, do. | Do. | ||
| Chas. Stanser | Captain, Passenger | |||
| Wm. Sampdon | Lieutenant, Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Robt. Alexander | Captain, Calcutta | 18th Feb. 1806 | ||
| John Campbell | Lieutenant, Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | Escaped 1810 | |
| Henry Loveridge | Captain, Majestic | 16th Nov. 1807 | ||
| R. R. Bignall | Lieutenant, Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| John Blackeney | Do., Statira | 2nd June 1809 | ||
| Thos. Morgan | Do., Cambrian | 25th Mar. 1810 | ||
| Jerh. Collins | Do., Manilla | 28th Jan, 1812 | ||
| B. Chaproniere | Do., Laurel | 31st Jan. 1812 | ||
| Phillips | Do., Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | ||
| Petty Officers | ||||
| Chas. Halford | Master-Mate, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | Escaped 14th May 1811 | |
| John Moore | Died 14th Nov. 1810 | |||
| John Hawkey | Midshipman | |||
| John Nelson | Died 8th March | |||
| Geo. Hall Dacre | Do. | Escaped in 1809 | ||
| Robert Sutton | Escaped in 1811 | |||
| C. S. Ricketts | Escaped in 1809 | |||
| Sam Mottley | Died in 1809 | |||
| Robert Burridge | Escaped in 1806 | |||
| Jack Pearson | Died 11th Mar. 1807 | |||
| Richard Weatherley | ||||
| W. J. Bradshaw | ||||
| Chas. Hare | Midshipman, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | Escaped 1809 | |
| William Streeting | 1st Class, Minerve | Escaped 1811 | ||
| Frank Cutler | Minerve | Escaped 12th May 1809 | ||
| Wm. Wymer | Do. | |||
| Geo. Fitzgerald | Do. | Escaped 9th Nov. 1810 | ||
| Robert Marsden | Clerk | |||
| Ed. Dillon | Midshipman, Cruiser | 24th Dec. 1803 | Escaped 25th April 1809 | |
| Wm. Gilpin | Master-Mate, Shannon, made Lieutenant at Verdun | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Abr. Robinson | Midshipman | Escaped 4th June 1805 | ||
| T. W. Cecil | Do. | Bitche escaped when on road, 14th July 1807 | ||
| Wm. Allen | Do. | |||
| Fras Little | Do. | Escaped 19th July 1805 | ||
| Edw. Knipp | Clerk | Do. | ||
| Maurice Hewson | Midshipman, Diamond | Do. | Escaped 1809 | |
| John Barclay | Master-Mate, Maidstone | 2nd Aug. 1803 | ||
| Ed. Boys | Midshipman, Phoebe | Escaped | ||
| F. J. Whitehurst | Phoebe | Escaped; retaken on board La Juno | ||
| John Murray | Do. | Escaped 4th June 1805 | ||
| Fras. Maxwell | Clerk, Redbridge | 4th Aug. 1803 | Bitche; escaped on road | |
| Robert Blakeney | Midshipman, Amphion | Returned to England | ||
| E. E. Temple | Narcissus | Escaped 19th April 1807 | ||
| Richard Morris | Minerve | 3rd July 1805 | ||
| John Whitefield | Grappler | 30th Aug. 1805 | ||
| Henry Leworthy | A.B., do. | 13th Dec. 1803 | Escaped from Port Chaussée 1st Dec. 1810; retaken; sent to Bitche | |
| Henry Worth | Midshipman, Argus; Passenger on merchant vessel | Jan. 1804 | Run 5th Dec. 1811; retaken; sent to Bitche | |
| R. L. Gordon | Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | Bitche; escaped on road | |
| W. C. Smithson | Do. | Died 30th Nov. 1809 | ||
| Eran Nepean | ||||
| Henry Ashworth | Escaped 1808 | |||
| Edward Nickoll | ||||
| Arthur Vine | Died at Verdun 24th Oct. 1812 | |||
| J. R. Lichford | Died at Gt. Gonesby | |||
| Jas. Mathias | ||||
| Wm. Sutton | ||||
| John Hopkinson | 1st Class | Died 4th Feb. 1853, aged 65 | ||
| Jas. Mascal | Clerk | Died at Verdun 4th Nov. 1806 | ||
| Chas. Parker | Midshipman, Tribune | 13th Mar. 1804 | Escaped 3rd Aug. 1810 | |
| John Parkman | Master-Mate, Magnificent; made Lieutenant at Verdun | 25th Mar. 1804 | ||
| Chas. Shaw | Midshipman | Escaped 1809 | ||
| John Vale | ||||
| Robt. Thorley | Master-Mate, Impetueux; made Lieutenant at Verdun | Escaped 10th July 1813; died at Godmanchester | ||
| Christ Tutthill | Midshipman, Impétueux | 25th Mar. 1804 | Escaped 1808 | |
| Martin Miller | Woolverene | 24th Mar. 1804 | Escaped 14th Dec. 1809 | |
| Philip Race | Do. | |||
| Wm. Richards | Do. | |||
| I. S. Fletcher | Do. | Escaped 14th Dec. 1807 | ||
| Denis O’Brien | Master-Mate, Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | Escaped 1808 | |
| Jer. Mahoney | Do. | |||
| Jas. Wood | Vincego | 8th May | Died 20th May 1806 | |
| Robt. Morland | Midshipman, Vincego | Died 16th July 1806 | ||
| I. R. J. Wright | Do. | Escaped 24th Dec. 1810 | ||
| Geo. Sidney Smith | 1st Class, Do. | |||
| Wm. L. Mansall | Do. | Escaped 1808 | ||
| John Trewin | Do. | |||
| Isaac Brown | Clerk, Vincego | 8th May 1804 | Died 16th Feb. 1809 | |
| Thos. G. Wills | Master-Mate, Acasta | 30th June 1804 | ||
| Thos. Dawson | Midshipman, Morgiana | 3rd June 1804 | Died at Verdun 15th Oct. 1810 | |
| Matthew Low | Master-Mate, Cameleon | Died Nov. 1809 | ||
| John Adams | Clerk, Woolverene | 24th Mar. 1804 | ||
| John Perryman | Clerk, Grappler | 10th Dec. 1803 | Died 11th Mar. 1813 | |
| B. Belchambers | Do., Leda | 31st July 1804 | ||
| Edward Hunt | Midshipman, Imperial Service | 4th Feb. 1804 | Escaped 8th Dec. 1813 | |
| Geo. P. Potts | Midshipman, Vincego | 8th May 1804 | ||
| Robt. James | Rambler | 11th Aug. 1804 | ||
| Obediah Waller | Mallard | 24th Dec. 1804 | Escaped on the road from Blois to Guéret 14th Feb.; retaken 21st Mar. 1814 | |
| Richard Stockings | Clerk, do. | |||
| Scroope Ayston | Midshipman, Bouncer | 22nd Feb. 1805 | ||
| John Lynch | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. Webb | Master-Mate, Nautilus | 16th Feb. 1805 | ||
| Thos. Davies | 1st Class, do. | Do. | ||
| I. M. A. Hervey | Midshipman, Doris | 20th April 1805 | Died at Metz | |
| Samuel Blackmore | Do., Imperial Service | 25th Mar. 1805 | ||
| Augs. O. Kenessy | Midshipman, Nautilus | 16th Feb. 1805 | ||
| Andrew McDougal | Do., do. | Do. | Died Verdun | |
| John Woodroffe | Do., Teazer | 16th July 1805 | ||
| Jas. March | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| John McGraw | Do., do | Do. | ||
| W. I. Devonshire | Do., Biter | 10th Nov. 1805 | Escaped 21st July 1811 | |
| John Wingate | 1st Class, do. | Do. | Escaped 27th April 1809; retaken 29th May 1809 | |
| Roger Aitkin | Do., Woodlark | 14th Nov. 1805 | ||
| Wm. Hamilton | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Robert Rawlins | Master-Mate, Passenger in Woodlark to join Eagle | Do. | ||
| Valent. Stone | Midshipman, Passenger in Woodlark to join Eagle | 14th Nov. 1805 | ||
| R. B. Robertson | Do., do. | Do. | Died 1810 | |
| John Crick | Do., do. | Do. | Died 1808 | |
| Joseph Harries | 1st Class do., Eagle | Do. | ||
| John Robertson | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Patrick Nairne | Midshipman, do., Eagle | Do. | ||
| Aug. Arabin | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Robert Legg | Master-Mate, Calcutta | 25th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Andrew Munro | Master-Mate, Ranger; made Lieutenant at Verdun | 19th July 1805 | ||
| Robert Ed. Hunter | Midshipman, Ranger | Do. | Escaped 1808 | |
| Geo. Bissett | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped Dec. 1809 | |
| Chas. Robinson | 1st Class, do. | Do. | Escaped do. | |
| Theos. Thomson | Midshipman, Dove | 5th Aug. 1805 | Killed 21st Mar. 1811 | |
| Robt. Rochford | Master-Mate, Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | Escaped 1809 | |
| John Low | Midshipman, Calcutta; made Lieutenant at Verdun | Do. | ||
| Thos. Denniston | Do., do. | Do. | Died at Verdun 29th June 1806 | |
| Rich. Nason | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 28th Jan. 1811 | |
| W. W. Kingstone | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 14th Sept. 1807 | |
| Donald Mackey | Clerk, Dove | 5th Aug. 1805 | ||
| Geo. C. Chappell | Do., Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | Died at Verdun 19th Feb. 1813 | |
| J. F. Hughes | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| John Hallows | 1st Class, Ranger | 19th July | Escaped 9th Nov. 1810 | |
| J. H. Wall | Midshipman, Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Andrew Scott | Do., do. | Do. | Killed in a duel 14th Oct. 1811, by M. P. Morris | |
| Wm. Hall | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. Sheers | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Carter | Do., do. | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Cornels Randel | Clerk, Ranger | 19th July 1805 | Escaped 1809 | |
| Henry Lewis | Master-Mate, Diana | Do. | Escaped 1809 | |
| Lochlan Grant | Midshipman, Growler | 10th Mar. 1806 | ||
| Richard Dew | Master-Mate, Impétueux | Do. | Died at S. Libre Feb. 1811 | |
| Wm. Campbell | Clerk, Teazer | 16th July 1805 | ||
| Thos. Blackinston | Midshipman, Revenge | Escaped 1809 | ||
| Thos. Marriott | Clerk, Adder | 9th Dec. 1806 | Escaped and retaken | |
| Jas. H. Glasscott | Midshipman, do. | Do. | Died at Verdun 3rd Mar. 1807 | |
| Isaac Haberfield | Do., United Brothers | Do. | ||
| J. B. Tatnall | Do., Impérieuse | Do. | Escaped 1809 | |
| Roger Hall | Midshipman, do. | Do. | Escaped 1809 | |
| Roger Grant | Master-Mate, Renown | 10th Feb. 1807 | Escaped 1809 | |
| John Wildey | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| W. Herniman | Do., United Brothers | 9th Dec. 1806 | ||
| Joseph Stingsby | Master-Mate, Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Henry Stanhope | Midshipman, do. | Do. | Escaped 14th May 1811 | |
| J. S. P. Masters | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 27th Nov. 1808 | |
| John Rootes | Do., do. | 4th Mar. 1807 | Died 22nd April 1813 | |
| F. C. L. Viret | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| W. T. Williams | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Chs. Street | 1st Class, do | Do. | Escaped 21st July 1811 | |
| Geo. Gordon | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped do. | |
| Robert Hoy | 1st Class, do. | 4th May 1807 | ||
| J. F. Secretan | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. C. G. Mowatt | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Wm. Moyses | Master-Mate, Pomone; Passenger in Blanche | Do. | ||
| Wm. McLeod | Midshipman, Pigmy | 4th May 1807 | Escaped in 1809 | |
| John Butterfield | Do., Impétueux | Do. | Deserted and retaken | |
| Chas. Turrell | Do., Minerva | 16th Dec. 1806 | ||
| Joseph Meek | Clerk, Inveterate | 18th Feb. 1807 | Escaped in 1809 | |
| David Wilson | Master-Mate, Magpie | Do. | ||
| Wm. Heard | Midshipman, Magpie | Do. | Escaped and retaken | |
| Robert Mortimer | Do., do. | Do. | Entered French service 1809; quitted it in 1880 | |
| Jas. H. Gale | Do., Ignition | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| Alfred Parr | Do., do. | Do. | Entered French service 1809; quitted it in 1810 | |
| Chas. F. Thompson | Do., Kangaroo | 24th Feb. 1807 | ||
| H. J. Hill | Do., Speedwell | 26th Dec. 1806 | ||
| John Sheckleton | Master-Mate, Dove | 5th Aug. 1805 | ||
| J. N. Lyall | Ord.-Midshipman, Blanche | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Thos. Greg | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Simn. Ounkovesky | Midshipman, Egyptienne | 26th June 1807 | ||
| John Wier | Do., Inconstant | 12th July 1807 | ||
| Reuben Paine | Master-Mate, Jamaica | 4th Mar. 1807 | ||
| Andr. Russel | Do., Hydra | 30th Oct. 1807 | ||
| Lord John Boyle | Do., Gibralta | 22nd July 1807 | ||
| Wm. Brander | Do., Amphion | 10th Sept. 1807 | ||
| Jas. S. G. Caffry | Do., Monkey | 19th Oct. 1807 | ||
| Geo. Blake | Midshipman, Lively | 14th Oct. 1807 | ||
| Wm. Heywood | Do., Alfred | 6th Jan. 1808 | ||
| Edward Brydges | Do., Rose | 26th Dec. 1807 | ||
| Wm. Hutchinson | Master-Mate, Rose | Jan. 1808 | Escaped 14th Jan. 1811 | |
| Wm. Astley | Midshipman, Pomona | 20th Feb. 1808 | ||
| John McFee | Master-Mate, Alfred | 30th April 1808 | Escaped 14th Jan. 1811 | |
| W. Hearbour | Midshipman, Carrier | 18th Jan. 1808 | ||
| David Littlejohn | Master-Mate, Shannon | 6th Dec. 1808 | Escaped 21st Dec. 1810; died | |
| J. W. Dupre | Do., Melpomone | 7th Jan. 1809 | ||
| E. P. Montague | Midshipman, Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | Escaped 21st July 1811 | |
| Wm. Pratt | Do., do. | Do. | Died 6th Jan. 1810 | |
| Chas. Lardner | 1st Class, do. | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| R. G. M. Darrocott | Midshipman, Bonne Citoyenne | 18th Feb. 1809 | Escaped 15th Dec. 1811; retaken to Blois | |
| N. J. Reynolds | Master-Mate, Proserpine | 28th do. | ||
| Jos. Petfield | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 21st Dec. 1810 | |
| John Wilcke | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| W. H. Savigny | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Forbes | 1st Class, do. | Do. | Escaped 20th Feb. 1810 | |
| Peter Allen | Do., Proserpine | |||
| Thos. Rodnell | Midshipman, Arethusa | 6th April 1809 | Afterward in Customs at Hull | |
| Henry Thomas | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 20th July 1810 | |
| Edward Crowe | 1st Class, do. | Do. | Do., do. | |
| Geo. Back | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Jas. Reid | Midshipman, Statira | 2nd July 1809 | ||
| Robert Hemer | Midshipman, Dreadnought | 26th July 1809 | ||
| John Bee | Do., Padmus | 29th May 1809 | ||
| Ed. Herbert | Do., Amelia | 16th July 1809 | ||
| Geo. Powell | Master-Mate, Amphion | 28th Sept. 1809 | Escaped 20th July 1810 | |
| H. B. Mason | Midshipman, do. | Do. | Escaped 9th Nov. 1810 | |
| J. R. Drew | Do., Belle poule | 28th Sept. 1809 | Escaped do. | |
| Wm. Randal | Master-Mate, Wizard | Do. | Escaped 24th Dec. 1809 | |
| Jas. P. Parker | Midshipman, Alceste | 30th Sept. 1809 | Escaped 20th Jan. 1810 | |
| Edward Walker | Master-Mate, Herald | 14th Dec. 1808 | ||
| Fredk. Lacaste | Do., Thames | 2nd Mar. 1808 | ||
| Geo. Cordry | Midshipman, Polyphemus | 20th Dec. 1805 | ||
| Geo. Bateman | Do., L’Aimable; made Lieutenant at Sarrelibre | 12th Jan. 1807 | ||
| Thos. Lowis | Midshipman, Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Peter Stark | Do., Eudymion | 19th Nov. 1809 | Escaped 9th Nov. 1810 | |
| Saml. Kneeshaw | Master-Mate, Alcmène | 15th Jan. 1809 | ||
| John Atkinson | Do., do. | 30th Mar. 1809 | ||
| Wm. Walker | Clerk, Jackall | 28th May 1807 | ||
| John Taylor | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| Henry Richardson | Do., Rapid | 14th Nov. 1807 | Died 23rd Feb. 1812 | |
| Wm. Baker | Do., Strenuous | 27th June 1808 | ||
| Thos. Morris | Do., Inveterate | 19th Feb. 1807 | ||
| H. E. Hawkins | Master-Mate, Raleigh | 9th Sept. 1809 | ||
| Ralph Cornutt | Midshipman, Lyra | 28th Oct. 1809 | ||
| Chas. Mayo | Do., Jackall | 29th May 1807 | Escaped 28th Jan. 1811 | |
| Hamilton Davies | Do., Conqueror; made Lieutenant at Verdun | 20th Jan. 1808 | ||
| Robert McWha | Do., Sylvia | 10th Sept. 1807 | ||
| John Coulson | Do., Guerrière | 25th Feb. 1808 | ||
| Thos. McDougal | Do., Medusa | 11th Sept. 1809 | ||
| Wm. Radford | Master-Mate, Hydra | 3rd Oct. 1809 | ||
| Adam Gordon | Midshipman, Seahorse | 21st Oct. 1809 | ||
| Ed. Bold | Master-Mate, Virginie | 16th Jan. 1810 | ||
| Godfrey Fosbery | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| Wm. Thomas | Master-Mate, Junon | 13th Dec. 1809 | ||
| Chas. Paynter | Midshipman, Indefatigable | 14th Jan. 1810 | Escaped 27th Dec. 1813 | |
| Peter Morris | Master-Mate, Goldfinch | April 1810 | ||
| P. H. Mollett | Midshipman, Escort | 20th June 1810 | Died in hospital at Fontainebleau 1814 | |
| John Brothers | Midshipman, Goldfinch | 8th May 1810 | ||
| Wm. Handby | Do., Atlas | 8th Mar. 1810 | ||
| John Webster | Master-Mate, Parthion | 10th Nov. 1810 | ||
| Henry Jackson | Midshipman, Pacer | 28th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Thos. Jackson | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| E. F. Price | Midshipman, do. | 28th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Geo. Jenson | Clerk, do. | Do. | Died 1st June | |
| I. C. Taylor | Midshipman, Bruiser | 9th July 1810 | ||
| Robert Holder | Do., Spencer | 10th Jan. 1811 | Escaped 28th Jan. 1811 | |
| I. P. Campbell | Do., Blazer | 9th Nov. 1808 | ||
| John S. Smith | Master-Mate, Kent | 13th Dec. 1810 | ||
| John Parsons | Do., Podargus | 15th Aug. 1809 | Escaped 24th Dec. 1813 | |
| Benj. Hart | Midshipman, Minotaur | 23rd Dec. 1810 | ||
| Jos. O’Brien | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped 24th Dec. 1813 | |
| G. T. Mitchell | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Elry | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| I. I. Hamilton | Master-Mate, Minorca | 27th Nov. 1810 | ||
| Wm. Lyth | Clerk, Biter | 10th Nov. 1805 | Died 15th May 1811 | |
| Wm. Hains | Midshipman, Impétueux | 13th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Jos. Barrett | Do., Cadmus | 6th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Henry Davis | Do., Challenger | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Thos. Jennings | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Francis Stevenson | 1st Class, do. | Do. | ||
| Wheatley Byass | Do., do. | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Stephen Green | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Norton | 1st Class, Inveterate | 18th Feb. 1807 | ||
| F. Wahtstrand | Midshipman, Olympia | 2nd Mar. 1811 | ||
| Jas. I. Sullivan | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. Rowe | Master-Mate, Challenger | 12th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Anth. Gibbs | Midshipman, Pioneer | 21st Feb. 1811 | ||
| Chas. Blissett | Do., Vesuvius | 20th Nov. 1809 | ||
| F. I. Whitehurst | Midshipman, Junon; made Lieutenant at Bitche | 13th Dec. 1809 | ||
| Ed. Turner | Master-Mate Boyne | 21st May 1811 | ||
| Henry Kirkpatrick | Midshipman, Poictiers | Do. | Deserted from Gueret 30th Mar. 1814 | |
| Jas. Barton | Master-Mate, Snapper | 14th July 1811 | ||
| Richard Pickersgill | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| Robert Furze | Do., Semiraris | 16th July 1811 | ||
| I. P. Were | Do., Sceptre | 15th Sept. 1811 | ||
| Jas. Woolcock | Do., Hibernia | 15th July 1808 | ||
| Dal. Baird | Master-Mate, Conquistador | 27th Dec. 1811 | ||
| Fra. Sutherland | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Peard | Do., do. | 17th Dec. 1811 | ||
| Edwin I. Caulfield | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Donet O’Brien | Vol.. do. | Do. | ||
| John Franklyn | Midshipman, Colossus | Do. | ||
| Peter Hodder | Do., do.; made Lieutenant at Verdun | Do. | ||
| Niel Malcolm | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| H. L. Parry | Master-Mate, Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | Escaped 11th Feb. 1814 | |
| Edw. Yelland | Midshipman, do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. W. Tyler | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| John Strong | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Dk. Sarsfield | Midshipman, Flypass, do. | Do. | ||
| Phil. Harvey | Master-Mate, Porcupine | 16th Dec. 1811 | ||
| W. C. Robins | Vol., Manilla | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| W. A. Willis | Do., do. | 17th Feb. 1812 | ||
| David Harrop | Midshipman, Christian | 7th Feb. 1812 | ||
| John Gowdie | Master-Mate, Manilla | Do. | ||
| Wm. Hubbard | Do., do. | Do. | Escaped from Blois 11th Feb. 1814 | |
| Geo. Bland | Midshipman, Do. | Do. | ||
| M. W. Batty | Do., do. | 28th Jan. 1812 | ||
| J. H. Johnstone | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Henry Randall | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Henry Sadler | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| I. M. Johnson | Vol., do. | Do. | ||
| John Ward | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Maryon | Midshipman, Arrow | 28th Aug. 1811 | ||
| Jos. Townsend | Do., Rose | 23rd Jan. 1812 | Escaped 24th Dec. 1812 | |
| Hanbury Clements | Do., Laurel | 31st Jan. 1812 | ||
| Danl. Galway | Vol., do. | Do. | ||
| Montg. Digges | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. Pettigrew | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Robert Tighe | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Danl. McCarthy | Clerk, Laurel | 31st Jan. 1812 | ||
| G. E. Davies | Midshipman, Alacrity | 26th May 1811 | Escaped 27th Dec. 1818 | |
| J. E. Sterling | Do., Grasshopper | 25th Dec. 1811 | Escaped 11th Feb. 1814 | |
| J. Lechmere | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Chas. Jeaffreson | Do., Manilla | 31st Jan. 1812 | Escaped Feb. 1814 | |
| W. S. Johnston | Do., Apelles | 3rd May 1812 | ||
| Jas. Craggs | Do., Calypso | 25th Dec. 1811 | ||
| W. B. Hare | Do., St. Finengo | 14th Dec. 1810 | ||
| John Downey | Master-Mate, Nieman | 22nd July 1812 | ||
| Jas. Birch | Midshipman, Alban | 8th July 1812 | ||
| Henry King | Do., Venerable | 17th July 1812 | ||
| J. J. Lane | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Arch. Grant | Do., New Magnificent | Do. | ||
| Richard Rosser | Do., Volontaire | Do. | ||
| Henry Barrow | Do., Strenuous | 25th June 1812 | Escaped 27th Dec. 1813 | |
| Henry Carrique | Midshipman, Wizard | 24th Aug. 1812 | ||
| A. W. Nicholls | Clerk, Pigmy | 24th Nov. 1812 | ||
| H. A. Whitcomb | Do., Apelles | 5th Mar. 1807 | ||
| J. H. Hindley | Clerk, La Constance | 2nd Oct. 1806 | ||
| Henry Jho. Callaghan | Midshipman, Arrow | 26th Jan. 1813 | ||
| Geo. Simmonds | Clerk, Osprey | 29th July 1812 | ||
| John Barnes | Midshipman, Britonart | Do. | ||
| Saml. Cornish | Do., Linnet | 25th Feb. 1813 | ||
| Hugh Carroll | Clerk, do. | Do. | ||
| Bendon Sharvell | Master-Mate, Horatio | 23rd Dec. 1812 | ||
| Robert O’Neil | Do., Dispatch | 14th April 1813 | Escaped Feb. 1814 | |
| Geo. Evans | Midshipman, Cretan | 13th Jan. 1813 | ||
| Thos. Keith Steward | Master-Mate, Clarence | 18th Sept. 1813 | Escaped Feb. 1814 | |
| Wm. Alex. Longmore | Midshipman, Hannibal | 21st Sept. 1813 | ||
| John Frith | 1st Class, Désirée | 3rd Dec. 1813 | ||
| Wm. Litheby | Midshipman, Telegraph | 4th Mar. 1814 | ||
| Saml. Edwards | Do., Impérieuse | Do. | ||
| Warrant Officers | ||||
| Wm. Little | Gunner, Minerve | 3rd July 1803 | Died 26th Sept. 1806 | |
| Andrew Brown | Boatswain, do. | Do. | ||
| Wm. Rice | Carpenter, do. | Do. | ||
| John Johnson | Gunner, Woolverene | 24th Mar. 1804 | ||
| Robert Bulger | Boatswain, Vicengo | 8th May 1804 | ||
| Andrew Allen | Carpenter, do. | Do. | ||
| Wm. Cliff | Boatswain, Woolverene | 24th Mar. 1804 | Escaped from Bitche | |
| John Richards | Carpenter, Woolverene | Do. | ||
| Ed. Gilligan | Boatswain, Shannon | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Rd. Carne | Gunner, Vincego | 8th May 1804 | ||
| Danl. Chadwick | Do., Shannon | 10th Dec. 1803 | ||
| Jas. Dobbins | Do., Shark; taken in a Cartel | 20th April 1805 | ||
| Wm. Lennard | Do., Calcutta | 26th Sept. 1805 | ||
| Geo. Heard | Carpenter, do. | Do. | ||
| Tim. Quin | Gunner, Ranger | 19th July 1805 | ||
| John Windham | Carpenter, do. | Do. | Died 1st Oct. 1809 | |
| Wm. Richardson | Boatswain, do. | Do. | Died Jan. 1810 | |
| Wm. Carey | Do., Hussar | 10th Feb. 1804 | Died 25th May 1808 | |
| Thos. Simpson | Gunner, do. | Do. | Escaped 1809 | |
| John Treacher | Do., Diligence | 24th Mar. 1806 | ||
| Thos. Strong | Do., Dauntless | 19th May 1807 | ||
| Thos. Gray | Boatswain, do. | Do. | ||
| Peter Lunn | Carpenter, do. | Do. | ||
| John Osborn | Boatswain, Flora | 18th Jan. 1808 | ||
| Alex. Henderson | Do., Proserpine | 28th Feb. 1809 | ||
| Field Officers of the Army | ||||
| Henry de Bernier | Lieutenant-Colonel, 9th Foot | 3rd Jan. 1806 | ||
| George I. Hall | Major | Do. | ||
| Campbell Callender | Captain, 88th Foot | 18th Feb. 1806 | ||
| Guy L’Estrange | Major, 31st Foot | 1st Jan. 1809 | ||
| Thos. W. Gordon | Captain, 3rd Foot Guards | 3rd Nov. 1809 | ||
| Wm. Guard | Lieutenant-Colonel, 45th Foot | Do. | ||
| Thos. Fotheringham | Lieutenant, 3rd Foot Guards | 6th Dec. 1809 | ||
| S. T. Popham | Major, 24th Foot | 13th Dec. 1809 | ||
| Sir W. W. Sheridan | Captain, 2nd Foot Guards | 17th Jan. 1810 | ||
| Thos. N. Wyndham | Major, 1st Dragoons | 19th Oct. 1810 | ||
| Wm. Cox | Lieutenant-Colonel, late 61st Foot | 12th Nov. 1810 | ||
| Andw. Lord Blaney | Major-General, 61st Foot | 15th April 1811 | ||
| Redmond Morris | Captain, 13th Dragoons | 20th June 1811 | ||
| Geo. Hill | Captain, 1st Foot Guards | 7th Aug. 1811 | ||
| Captains | ||||
| H. Falconer | Captain, 1st Foot | 12th Jan. 1804 | ||
| Thos. Roberts | Do., 30th Foot | 3rd Jan. 1806 | ||
| P. R. Hawker | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| P. W. Lambert | Do., 9th Foot | 8th Jan. 1806 | ||
| Danl. Orchard | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| G. H. Sarjant | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Samps Godfrey | Captain 1st Foot | 4th May 1807 | ||
| Geo. Barrow | Do., 15th Foot | 7th May 1808 | ||
| Chas. de Haviland | Do., Royal Malta | 26th Sept. 1809 | ||
| J. Somerfield | Do., 83rd Foot | 26th Oct. 1809 | ||
| J. Laing | Do., 61st do. | 27th Oct. 1809 | ||
| Jas. Allen | Do., 23rd Dragoons | 31st Oct. 1809 | ||
| D. Goodsman | Do., 61st Foot | 2nd Nov. 1809 | ||
| T. H. Blair | Do., 91st Foot | 3rd Nov. 1809 | ||
| Wm. Cowran | Do., 21st Foot | 18th Nov. 1809 | ||
| Andv. Patison | Do., 29th Foot | Do. | ||
| Savil Spear | Do., 1st Foot | 26th Nov. 1809 | ||
| F. M. Milman | Lieutenant-Colonel Guards | 1st Dec. 1809 | ||
| Hartley | Captain, 61st Foot | 9th Dec. 1809 | ||
| Geo. Coleman | Do., 31st Foot | 12th Jan. 1810 | ||
| Geo. Brice | Do., 3rd Dragoon Guards | 13th May 1810 | ||
| Chas. Collis | Do. 24th Foot | Do. | ||
| Henry Stephens | Do., 66th Foot | 6th July 1810 | ||
| J. A. Wolff | Do., 60th Foot | 15th Aug. 1810 | ||
| H. J. Shaw | Do., 4th Foot | Do. | ||
| J. W. Hewitt | Do., 6th Foot | 12th Nov. 1810 | ||
| L. Lazzarini | Do., Royal Malta | 29th Dec. 1810 | ||
| P. Jestaferrati | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Fredk. Albaldini | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| F. Kertsberg | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. P. Howard | Do., 23rd Dragoons | 7th May 1811 | ||
| John Taylor | 2nd Captain, Royal Artillery | Do. | ||
| P. Matthews | Captain, 47th Foot | 26th May 1811 | ||
| Jas. Reynolds | Do., 83rd Foot | 4th June 1811 | Died | |
| — Belli | Do., 13th Dragoons | 20th June 1811 | ||
| Thos. Andrews | Do., 24th Foot | |||
| Lieutenants and Ensigns | ||||
| Thos. Prater | Lieutenant, 21st Foot | 21st Jan. 1804 | ||
| C. E. Freeman | Ensign, 29th Foot | 1st Mar. 1805 | ||
| Robert Howard | Lieutenant, 30th Foot | 3rd Jan. 1806 | ||
| Wm. Sullivan | Ensign, do. | Do. | ||
| Alex. Simpson | Lieutenant, 9th Foot | 8th Jan. 1806 | ||
| Geo. Saunderson | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Wm. Armstrong | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| R. G. Thomson | Ensign, do. | Do. | ||
| Edward Worth Newenham | Do., do. | Do. | Living at Verdun 1853 | |
| Peter Sutton | Do. and Adjutant | Do. | ||
| Joseph Smith | Lieutenant, 65th Foot | 6th Sept. 1806 | ||
| H. Bermingham | Do., 29th Foot | 8th May 1807 | ||
| Joseph R. Welsh | Do., 6 W. I. Regiment | 7th May 1808 | ||
| Alex. Fraser | Do., Royal Engineers | Do. | ||
| John Harper | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. E. De Lappinot | Ensign, 16th Foot | Do. | ||
| Robert Lewis | Lieutenant, 15th Foot | 15th do. | ||
| John Seaver | Ensign | Do. | ||
| Edward l’Estrange | Lieutenant, 71st Foot | 6th May 1809 | ||
| John Penrice | Do., 15th Hussars | 21st May 1809 | ||
| Rd. M. Brennan | Do., 14th Foot | 26th June 1809 | ||
| Colin Campbell | Ensign, 26th Foot | Do. | ||
| Wm. Laurie | Do. | 12th July 1809 | ||
| G. L. Davies | Do., 9th Foot | 6th Sept. 1809 | ||
| Angus Mackay | 1st Lieutenant, 21st Fusiliers | 25th Sept. 1809 | ||
| Henry Perry | Ensign, Royal Malta | Do. | ||
| Peter Wallace | Lieutenant and Adjutant | 26th Sept. 1809 | ||
| Wm. Auhagen | 2nd Dragoon Guards | 1st Oct. 1809 | ||
| G. L. Shipley | Lieutenant, 97th Foot | 2nd, do. | ||
| Fras. Abell | Do., 83rd Foot | 27th do. | ||
| Fras. Johnstone | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Rd. Kirwan | Do., 7th Foot | 30th do. | ||
| Thos. Allen | Do., 24th Foot | Do. | ||
| Henry Tench | Do., 61st Foot | Do. | ||
| Robert Mitchell | Do., 60th Foot | Do. | ||
| W. E. Page | Do. and Adjutant, 7th Foot | 12th Nov. 1809 | ||
| John Clarke | Lieutenant | 18th Nov. 1809 | ||
| Jas. McNab | Do., 21st Fusiliers | Do. | ||
| Fredk. Gaban | Do., 1 Batt. | Do. | ||
| Lewis Mordaunt | Do., 61st Foot | 3rd Dec. 1809 | Died at Verdun 17th April 1850 | |
| Wm. Friess | Do., 60th Foot | 1st Jan. 1810 | ||
| Robert Muter | Do., 7th Foot | 5th Jan. 1810 | ||
| Wm. Pennyfather | Ensign, 3rd Foot | Do. | ||
| Chas. Jackson | Lieutenant, do. | Do. | ||
| Henry Letoler | Ensign, 83rd Foot | Do. | ||
| Thos. Boggie | Lieutenant, do. | Do. | ||
| Henry Altenstein | Ensign, 60th Foot | Do. | ||
| A. W. Gamble | Lieutenant | Do. | ||
| Geo. Mackay | Do., 48th Foot | 9th Jan. 1810 | ||
| E. P. During | Do., 5 Batt. | Do. | ||
| Geo. Beamish | Do., 31st Foot | 14th Jan. 1810 | ||
| Add. Beamish | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Fredk. Kitcher | Do., Royal Malta | 29th Mar. 1810 | ||
| Fredk. Clossiers | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Lewis Schlozer | Do., Royal Malta | 3rd April 1810 | ||
| Graves Collins | Do., 61st Foot | 13th May 1810 | England | |
| Theod. Butler | Ensign, 87th Foot | Do. | Died 1st July 1813 | |
| Chas. Stanhope | Lieutenant, 29th Foot | Do. | ||
| App. Morris | Do., 66th Foot | 29th May 1810 | ||
| John Nicholson | Do., 83rd Foot | Do. | England | |
| Wm. Graham | Ensign, 4th Foot | 13th July 1810 | ||
| W. H. Scott | Ensign and Lieutenant, 3rd Guards | 18th July 1810 | ||
| Geo. Richardson | Lieutenant, 4th Foot | 20th July 1810 | ||
| Edmd. Field | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. M. Foley | Do., 28th Foot | 12th Nov. 1810 | ||
| L. Canehi | Do., Royal Malta | 29th Dec. 1810 | ||
| Fras. Bucere | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| J. H. Rodmer | Do., do. | Do. | ||
| Ph. Prochaska | Lieutenant, Royal Malta | 29th Dec. 1810 | ||
| Chas. Saintcroix | Do., Royal Artillery | 9th Mar. 1811 | ||
| R. H. Daley | Do., 64th Foot | Do. | ||
| Jas. Fulcher | Do., York Vol. | 14th Mar. 1811 | ||
| Roger Sheehy | Do., 89th Foot | 22nd Mar. 1811 | ||
| Chas. Watts | Ensign, do. | Do. | ||
| Thos. Reeve | Lieutenant, 48th Foot | 26th Mar. 1811 | ||
| E. P. Dormer | Do., 14th Dragoons | 11th April 1811 | ||
| Edward Moulson | Ensign, 89th Foot | 15th April 1811 | ||
| Alex. Skeen | Lieutenant, 24th Foot | 5th May 1811 | ||
| I. I. Moss | Do., 13th Dragoons | 20th June 1811 | ||
| Fredk. Wood | Do., 11th do. | |||
| Geo. Baker | Do., 16th do. | |||
| Frs. Grant | Do., 24th Foot | England | ||
| — Binney | Do., 13th Light Dragoons | |||
| Herbert Morgan | Do., 66th Foot | England | ||
| Surgeons, Paymasters, etc. | ||||
| Jas. Johnston | Surgeon, 9th Foot | 8th Jan. 1806 | ||
| H. W. Hall | Pay-Master, 9th Foot | Do. | ||
| Renny Langley | Artillery Store Keeper | 18th Feb. 1806 | ||
| Andrew Blake | Assistant-Surgeon, 98th Foot | 28th April 1807 | ||
| Wm. Bartley | Artillery Store Keeper | 7th May 1808 | ||
| John Gregory | Assistant-Surgeon, Royal Artillery | Do. | ||
| Arch. Armstrong | Do., 26th Foot | 26th June 1809 | ||
| Joph. Brown | Surgeon, do. | Do. | England | |
| Geo. Winter | Hospital Purveyor | 12th July 1809 | England | |
| John McCoy | Quarter-Master, Royal Malta | 25th July 1809 | ||
| Clement Banks | Surgeon, do. | 26th July 1809 | ||
| Thos. Walker | Assistant-Surgeon, 52nd Foot | 28th July 1809 | England | |
| James Dunn | Do., 53rd Foot | 30th July 1809 | Do. | |
| Henry Cowan | Do., 23rd Dragoons | Do. | Do. | |
| Fredk. Fiorillo | Assistant-Surgeon, 9th Hussars, Ks. Gn. Ln. | 2nd Nov. 1809 | Do. | |
| Jas. O’Meally | Do., 16th Dragoons | 8th Nov. 1809 | Do. | |
| John Glasco | Do., 83rd Foot | 28th Nov. 1809 | Do. | |
| Montn. Mahoney | Do., 7th Foot | 5th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| Edward Kirby | Do., 29th Foot | 12th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| J. G. Elkington | Do., 24th Foot | 14th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| Alex McDowall | Surgeon, Staff | 17th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| Saml. Higgins | Do., do. | Do. | Do. | |
| Thos. Rule | Assistant-Surgeon, 87th Foot | 19th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| John Herriott | Do., 61st Foot | 20th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| Fredk. Depper | Do., 5th Battalion, K. Han. Legion | 20th Jan. 1810 | Do. | |
| Henry Bruggeman | Do., 7th Battalion D. | 3rd Doc. 1810 | ||
| Fras. Camillere | Do., Royal Malta | 29th Dec. 1810 | ||
| J. Bertis | Chaplin, Royal Malta | Do. | ||
| Thos. Richards | Quarter-Master, 4th Foot | 11th June 1810 | ||
| — Coleman | Assistant-Surgeon, 3rd Dragoon Guards | |||
Footnotes
0a Fortescue: History of the British Army, iv. 904–6. Clode: Military Forces of the Crown, i. 240.
0b The Story of Dartmoor Prison, by Basil Thomson. (London: William Heinemann. 1907.)
0c The French Prisoners of Norman Cross. A Tale by the Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of Catfield, Norfolk. (London: Hodder Brothers, 18, New Bridge Street, E.C.)
4 Vattel, Les Droits des Gens, book iii, chap, iii, sec. 49, p. 150.
5 “Prisoners of War,” Chambers’ Journal, No. 21, 1854, p. 330.
6a It will be seen in a later chapter what class of men the prisoners were to whom these words would come home.
6b July 1797—Reports House of Commons, “18th Report of Committee of Finance.”
7 Schomberg, Naval Chronology, chap. v., p. 213.
9 In 1803 the Earl of Carysfort of the Irish Peerage took the title of Lord Carysfort of Norman Cross, as a Peer of the United Kingdom.
12 The price of timber had risen in December 1806 to £8 8s. a load; at one date the contractor complained that even by paying £12 a load he could not obtain fifty loads in Plymouth. The Story of Dartmoor Prison, Basil Thomson. (London: William Heinemann, 1907.)
14 The sum of £14,800 was paid to Adams between the 1st January 1797 and 29th November 1797 in the following instalments:
| Jan. | 1797 | £1,500 | April 12th 1797 | £1,000 |
| ,, | 2nd 1797 | 1,000 | May 5th 1797 | 500 |
| ,, | 6th 1797 | 1,000 | Aug. 5th 1797 | 150 |
| ,, | 13th 1797 | 1,000 | „ 15th 1797 | 400 |
| ,, | 17th 1797 | 500 | Sept. 28th 1797 | 500 |
| ,, | 31st 1797 | 1,000 | Oct. 6th 1797 | 370 |
| Feb. | 9th 1797 | 500 | ,, 9th 1797 | 500 |
| ,, | 21st 1797 | 600 | ,, 13th 1797 | 500 |
| Mar. | 5th 1797 | 500 | Nov. 23rd 1797 | 1,000 |
| ,, | 19th 1797 | 500 | ,, 28th 1797 | 500 |
| ,, | 26th 1797 | 450 | „ 29th 1797 | 500 |
| ,, | 30th 1797 | 330 |
The total amount paid to 19th November 1797 for the Norman Cross Prison was £34,518 11s. 3d., for Hull £22,600, for Lewes £12,400, and for Colchester £15,620.
16 As illustrating the hardship which, already in its fourth year, this war had imposed upon the nation, the following extract from the report furnished to the Transport Office, by Captain Woodriff, R.N., agent to the Commissioners, of the average price of provisions and the rate of wages in the district in which the Depot had been established, during the time that the prison and barracks were erecting, may be of interest. Mutton was 10½d. per lb., beef 1s. per lb., bread 1s. per quartern loaf. Carpenters’ wages were 12s. per week, shoemakers’ 10s., bakers’ 9s., blacksmiths’ 8s., and husbandmen 7s. Starvation wages were then a literal truth. Four years later from a Parliamentary Report we find the Government granting a bounty on all imported wheat, in order to keep the price down to £5 a quarter, other grain being treated in the same way. We can well understand that, as the price of provisions went up, and the taxation increased with the prolongation of the war (a war which, however it originated, was prolonged for years by the ambitious projects of Buonaparte for the aggrandisement of himself and of France), the animosity not only of the actual combatants, but also of the suffering men, women, and children, steadily grew against the man and the nation whom they regarded as the authors of all their misery.
18 Appendix A.
23a Auctioneer’s Catalogue, (Jacobs’ Peterborough, 1816).
23b M. Foulley’s description of his model on Key Plan, Pl. xx., p. 251.
24 The following entry in the Register of Marriages in St. John’s Church, Peterborough, probably explains the reason for the housing of the surgeon in a comfortable brick house within those prison walls, instead of in the very indifferent quarters in the hospital casern:—
“October 18th, 1808, George H. Walker of Yaxley to Elizabeth Colinette Pressland of St. John’s.—Witnesses: Thomas Pressland, Thomas Alderson Cook, James Gibbs.”
Mr. George H. Walker was the surgeon to the Prison, which was in the Parish of Yaxley, and Captain Pressland, R.N., had been for some years, after the renewal of the war in 1803, Superintendent of the Prison, so among all these dry details crops up the picture of our human life. We see the young medical officer passing through the door in the Prison wall which communicated with the Superintendent’s house (the door over which the wall is seen rising with a ramp in the photographs of the only fragments of the wall now remaining) to spend happy hours with Captain Pressland’s family. We see friendship ripening into love, the story told by the entry in the Register of St. John’s Church, Peterborough, and then in the Register of St. Peter’s, Yaxley, we are brought face to face with a tragedy, for the last entry of a burial from the Depot is “Captain Thomas Pressland, Norman Cross. March 21st, 1814. 59 years. Signed, J. Hinde, Curate,” and there can be little doubt that from the house to which, mainly through his future father-in-law’s influence, Surgeon Walker was able in the third year of its existence to bring Elizabeth Colinette Pressland as his bride, while the bells of Yaxley Church rang out a merry marriage peal, six years later passed the body of Captain Pressland himself to be laid in Yaxley Churchyard, while the death bell tolled its solemn note. For six years this house was the house of the couple for whom it was built. It was in the auctioneer’s catalogue, when it was sold on the 2nd October 1810, nothing more than “An excellent brick dwelling-house, containing a cellar 12 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft. 2 in., parlour 13 ft. 3 in. by 13 ft. 8 in., etc., etc.” To us, 100 years later, it is a part of the great tragedy of Norman Cross, and by the light of the registers we see it in those short eight years from its building to its destruction the scone of the brightest joys and the deepest griefs of men and women whose names we know, whose persons we can imagine, and who help to clothe those cold, dry records with the warmth of human life.
28a On a range of the stabling purchased in 1816 to be re-erected as farm buildings in a neighbouring village, over one of the doors there stands out in bold relief, owing to the protective influence of the paint, the letters B. A. T., and in the auctioneer’s catalogue the Range is described as Bathorse Stable Range. From Stœqueler’s Military Encyclopædia, we learn that “Bat” signified a pack saddle; “Bathorse,” one which carried a pack; “Batman,” the man in charge of the Bathorse. The latter term came to be used for an officer’s servant, while the Bathorse Stable was applied to a military stable for draught and other horses.
28b In his interesting romance, The French Prisoners of Norman Cross, the Rev. Arthur Brown speaks of Mr. Vise as Chief Surgeon at the Prison; this, of course, is an error, the prisoners were not attended by the neighbouring practitioners. The statement that the surgeons were all English is also erroneous.
29 Major Kelly was highly esteemed and at the time of his death (when the Indian Mutiny was not yet quelled) the following lines were published in a local newspaper:—
A MONODY ON THE LATE MAJOR KELLY
Peace to the virtuous brave!
Another son of chivalry lies low:
Not in the flush of youth he finds a grave,
Not stricken to the dust by foreign foe
He fainting falls;—but laden with full years,
With white-hair’d glory crown’d, he lays him down
In earth’s maternal lap, and with him bears
Benevolence, high honour, renown,
And love-begetting mem’ries, such as throw
A halo round the thoughts of mortals here below.
Earth! keep thy treasured dead
Awhile, in holy trust! Not with vain tears
Wail we the loss of him who bravely bled
For England’s might and weal, in early years,
When life’s warm pulse beat high, and buoyant hopes
On tip-toe look’d afar at distant fame;
When views of greatness fill’d his vision’s scope,
And daring deeds lent glory to a name:
Here on our soldier’s grave no tear should fall;
All hidden be our grief, as ’neath a funeral pall.
O! that in this, our need,
This hour of trial, when the swart Sepoy
Blurs the fair front of nature, with each deed
Of villainy conceiving; when the joy
That, like the sun, lights up affection’s eyes,
Is blotted out by Indian hate and lust—
O! that a host of Kellys could arise,
And with avenging steel, unto the dust,
Smite down the Smiter, that the world might know
How true the Briton as a friend, how mighty as a foe!
O. P.
The Peterborough Advertiser, 13th February 1858.
This monody not only shows the esteem in which the Major was held by the local poet and his neighbours, but in the last stanza it revives the memory of a crisis in the history of the empire, and of the throes of the Indian Mutiny, from which our country was suffering when Major Kelly died.
30 Auctioneer’s Catalogue (Peterborough: G. Robertson, Bookseller. 1816!)
31 The most valuable direct evidence as to the appearance of the barracks and prison which I was able to obtain in 1891, was from an old Mr. Lewin of Yaxley, who was born in 1802, and had been very familiar with the Depot in his childhood. He used frequently to ride in through this west gate in the tradesmen’s carts, but he spoke always of the entrance on the south front as the main entrance. This old gentleman’s memory was wonderfully clear, and his accounts I regarded as thoroughly trustworthy.
34 The well-known Stilton cheese was never made at Stilton, which was not in a dairy district; it was made in Leicestershire and sent to Stilton, where Mr. Cooper Thornhill, the sporting landlord of the old sixteenth-century coaching inn, The Bell (he once for a wager rode 218 miles on horseback in 12 hours and 15 minutes), used to supply it to his customers, selling the cheeses, it is said, at half a crown a pound.
38a To the post of agent at Norman Cross there were appointed, during the seventeen years in which the prison was occupied, two civilians and four naval officers. Of the two civilians, Mr. John Delafons sent in his formal resignation eight days after his appointment.
Mr. James Perrot, appointed on the 7th April 1797, held his office until January 1799.
Captain Woodriff, R.N., appointed January 1799, held his office until the Peace of Amiens, April 1802 (see Appendix B).
Captain Thos. Pressland, R.N., was appointed after the War was renewed in May 1803, and served from 18th June 1803 until August 1811.
Captain J. Draper, R.N., succeeded to the post, and held it until his death in February 1813.
Captain W. Hansell, R.N., became agent on the death of Captain Draper, and relinquished the post in August 1814 after the Abdication of Buonaparte and his retirement to Elba.
38b There is evidence in correspondence still extant, that much friction arose between the commander of the Military Guard and the agent, as to the power of the latter to interfere in the steps required for the safe custody of the prisoners.
40 This shows that about 4,000 prisoners were to be removed from Falmouth to Norman Cross, their hammocks, added to the 1,000 on the way from London, making the number correspond with the 5,000 sets of bedding.
42 Lavengro, chap. iii.
44 Evidence that two years later meat could be obtained at a much lower rate has come under my notice, from an unexpected source. On the fly-leaf of a copy of Batty’s Bible, in the possession of a descendant of Mr. W. Fowler, is written below the name W. Fowler (in the same writing, but in paler ink), “Came down to Norman Cross March 10th, 1799, to serve the prisoners of War at Yaxley.” In a different handwriting has been inserted after “Came down,” “from London,” and after Yaxley, “with Beef at 28s. the cwt.” The date 1799 has also been altered in dark ink to 1795, which was of course a wrong correction, as there was no prison at Norman Cross until 1797.—T. J. W.
46 Appendix B, Biographical Sketch of Captain Woodriff.
49 So slowly did the Government inquiry which followed on Captain Woodriff’s report progress, that it was not until two years later that judgment was pronounced.—Naval Chronicle, vol. i., pp. 523–6.
50 For examples of the individual entries in the General Register, the Death Register, and the Register of Prisoners on Parole, see Appendix C.
52 Cartel is an agreement between foreign states as to the exchange of the prisoners; its meaning was extended to the document authorising the exchange of an individual prisoner, and it was even used to signify the transport vessel engaged to convey the exchanged prisoners to their native country.
59 In All Souls’ Church at Peterborough is preserved the Register, kept by the resident Priest at King’s Cliff, of the baptisms performed by priests within the mission of his church. Stilton, the Depot, and the surrounding villages were within that district. Two of the entries are baptisms of the sons of Delapoux; they will be referred to in a future chapter. They have always been supposed to be those of the baptism of the children of a French prisoner, who had married an English wife (these marriages were of rare occurrence), and the discovery in the Record Office of this entry of John Andrew Delapoux’s appointment as a clerk is an instance of the way in which research upsets old traditions. I find the entry of Delapoux’s marriage to Sarah Mason on the 2nd September 1802, in the Register of Stilton church. His children were baptized as Catholics, and the priest specially calls Sarah Mason his lawful wife. Another instance in this list, selected haphazard by Mr. Rhodes from papers in the Record Office, shows how in two generations a false family tradition may arise. In 1894 I visited, in search of information, the daughter-in-law, then a widow aged eighty-six, of the James Robinette whose engagement as a permanent mason and labourer at the Depot is recorded on page 61. She told me her husband’s father was a French prisoner, who had been made a turnkey at the Barracks! On searching the church Register, 1 found that the Robinettes had been residents in Yaxley fifty years at least before the arrival of the prisoners at Norman Cross, and between 1748 and 1796 the records of three generations appear in the register—James, the son of James and Catherine Robinette, born in 1780, was doubtless the man appointed in 1813 to the job at the Barracks.
The Robinettes were probably some of the many French Huguenots who came over after the repeal, on the 15th October 1685, of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in the neighbourhood of Peterborough to further reclaim and cultivate the lately drained fens. The fallacy of coming to conclusions, founded on names only without other evidence, is illustrated by the following sentence in a series of papers on Norman Cross published in the Peterborough Advertiser by the late Rev. G. N. Godwin: “At Stilton the names of Habarte, of Drage, and of Tesloff, and near Thorney the name of Egar, and at Peterborough, among others, the name of Vergette, still speak of the old war time.” Of these names, Habarte alone is that of descendants of a French prisoner, the majority of those bearing the others are of the old Huguenot stock, while the Vergettes, who formerly believed themselves to be descendants of an ancestor of this same stock, now know that they were an old-established English family in 1555, when their ancestor, Robert Vergette, was Sheriff of Lincoln.
65 Loc. cit., 93–95.
69 In a Parliamentary Report for the year 1800 it is stated that the price of wheat was only kept down to £5 a quarter by the system of bounties on imported wheat, the same applying to the prices of other grain. The present proprietor of “The Oundle Brewery” kindly extracted from the Books of the Firm particulars as to the beer supplied to the Regiments quartered at Norman Cross in the year 1799. The total amount was 4,449 barrels of 36 gallons each. This gentleman adds, the beer could not be very good, the price being about 6d. a gallon. His father said that he had often been told by his father, that the great expansion of the business was due to the contract with the Barracks. Buckles Brewery, a Peterborough business, also flourished on a large contract to supply the prisoners with “Small Beer.” Mr. George Gaunt, who was formerly in a large business as a butcher, informed me that, taking the figures which I gave him as a basis, and the average weight of a bullock at about 850 lb., he considered that from five to six would be required every day, if beef alone and no other meat were supplied. These figures give some idea of the advantages derived by the neighbouring traders from this great Government Establishment.
The following extract from a letter addressed to me by Mr. Samuel Booth shows how many people in one family group alone found employment in connection with the Depot:
“I send you a few particulars about my relatives, which may, or may not, be useful to you.
“My great-grandmother, Mrs. Allen, who lies in the old graveyard, used to carry green-grocery to sell to the prisoners.
“My father’s father was Pay-Sergeant at the Barracks.
“My grandfather, Samuel Briggs, of Ailsworth, was constable; he was also in the Militia, and was told off to keep guard on Thorpe Road, at the entrance to Peterboro’, on the escape of some prisoners, but who went the way to Ramsay. I have a box made by the prisoners, presented to my grandfather, who was also a carpenter, and at times went to work there. The prisoners used to beg pieces of wood and other materials of him. He used to speak of their cleverness in the making of fancy articles, and of their endeavours to escape—one got in the manure cart, and got away.”
70 When Greens are issued in lieu of Pease, one pound stripped of the outer leaves and fit for the copper shall be issued to each prisoner.
Each prisoner shall receive two ounces of Soap per week.
71 Knowing how dogs as a rule refuse to eat meat impregnated with herbs and condiments, we probably have here the explanation of little George Borrow’s impression of the food of the prisoners, which forty years later made him write of it, “Rations of Carrion meat and bread from which I have seen the very hounds occasionally turn away.” Every one who knows the habit of dogs, knows that many of them would turn away from the meat which had been boiled for four or five hours with a broth impregnated with herbs.
74a In the light of modern science, we can well understand the origin of the accusation by the British that the wells had been purposely poisoned in order to kill the English prisoners. Enteric fever had not then been differentiated from typhus, the mode of its spread was unknown, and probably defective sanitation had led to poisoning of the well, as it has done and still is doing in many a British town and village.
74b Correspondence with the French Government relative to Prisoners of War Supplement, 1801, to Appendix No. 59. Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons, 1798.
75 This will be dealt with in the following chapter.
[76] Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons, 1798, Appendix No. 59—Most valuable information on the merits of the dispute between the two Governments has been obtained from the Report and its Appendix, and from an imperfect copy of a Supplement to the Appendix, issued from Downing Street, 6th Jan. 1801. This supplement is not to be found either in the Library of the House of Commons or in the British Museum, and the Fragment which contained thirty-nine out of fifty-three letters indexed in the table of contents, in the course of its travels through my hands and my agents’ and the typewriters’, has been lost. This loss is irreparable, but I am able to publish in the text or in the Appendix five of the fifty-three letters which were printed in this supplement to the report. Appendix D.
77 AFFIDAVITS OF PERROT, THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH SURGEON
Copy of an Affidavit made by Mr. James Perrot, Agent for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross. Dated Peterboro’, 15th December 1797.
These are to certify, that James Perrot, Agent for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, voluntarily maketh Oath, that to the best of his knowledge and belief, the Certificate and Affidavits given by Dr. Higgins, Physician, Mr. James Magennis, Surgeon, and Messiours Chatelin and Savary, the French Assistant Surgeons to the Hospital at Norman Cross Prisons, are strictly true, and corresponding with the accounts, daily brought to him; and that the number of Patients in the said Hospital on the 19th day of November last, were one hundred and ninety-four, including twenty-four nurses, and the whole number of Prisoners, including the Sick, were on that day confined in the said Prisons, 5028, and from the first the establishment never exceeded 5178, and that to the present date only 59 have died in the said Hospital; and further to the best of his knowledge, neither contagious or epidemic disorders have ever prevailed in the said Hospital or Prisons.
(Signed) J. Perrot, Agent.
Given under my hand at Peterboro’ this 15th day of December 1797.
(Signed) H. Freeman.
Copy of an Affidavit made by Dr. Higgins, Physician, and Dr. Magennis, Surgeon.
We the undersigned do voluntarily certify upon Oath that the number of Sick in the Hospital under our care at Norman Cross, on the 19th November last, was 194, including 24 nurses; that the daily number from the 7th August was always less; and that at no one period since the commencement of the establishment did the actual number exceed 260. That the prisons are systematically visited and searched every morning by the surgeon or his assistants, and that every prisoner having feverish symptoms, however slight, is immediately removed to the hospital.
No epidemic or contagious Fever.
(Signed) James Higgins, M.D., Physician,
James Magennis, Surgeon.
Translation of a certificate by the French Surgeons, M. Savary of the Hardy, and M. Chatelaine, Surgeon-Major of the Ville de l’Orient.
The 24 men were employed as nurses. Whenever the prisoners are sent to the Hospital, they are admitted, whether their disorders are slight or violent, and while there, they are treated with humanity and attention, and provided with everything necessary for the re-establishment of their health. No epidemic or contagious distemper.
(Ref. Parly. Paper, 1797–8, vol. 50. pp. 131–3.)
81 These extracts are from the lost supplement of date 1801 to the Parliamentary Report, 1798.
82 Alison’s History of Europe, from the commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815.
90 The total number of prisoners in Britain increased greatly during the second period of the war, until in 1814, after the abdication of Buonaparte, there were 67,000 prisoners to be returned to France. To provide for this vast body, Dartmoor and Perth, each capable of holding as many prisoners as Norman Cross, had been built.
99 My mother, who remembered being driven over at the age of five to the stalls at the prison gate to buy a toy, could recall the appearance of the stalls and the toys, but nothing more. It was probably one of the fixed stalls shown at the eastern gate in MacGregor’s plan. The materials of the stalls, the pebble paving, and the paled fence in front of the market were sold, when the prison was demolished, for £20.
—T. J. W.
100a Appendix D.
100b Loc. cit., p. 131.
103 Capt. Woodriff’s letter, Appendix D.
104 In July 1799 the Dutch prisoners applied for the use of a building for theatrical exhibitions, but “My Lords” would not hear of such a thing, as “not being according to law, and might be attended with inconvenience to the neighbourhood”; but about ten years later, as seen in Foulley’s model, there is a theatre in the centre of the south-west quadrangle.
105 Appendix A.
107 Appendix D.
109 No. 10, Appendix D.
111 When M. Foulley knew the prison seven years later, this block was set apart for petty-officers and civilians.
113 The remainder of this chapter is quoted verbatim from the Story of Dartmoor Prison (Basil Thomson).
125 Basil Thomson, loc. cit., chap, xix., p. 202.
126 Vide Appendix A.
129 In the great action off Cape Trafalgar on 21st October 1805, the Leviathan, seventy-four guns, under Captain Bayton, was next to the Victory. After passing through the enemy’s line she dismasted her opponent, raked the Santissima Trinidad, and passed on to the San Augustin, one of seven coming to surround her; this ship was silenced in fifteen minutes, and the crew of the Leviathan, making her fast with a hawser, towed her into the English Fleet with the English Jack flying. The French ship L’Intrépide had by distant firing cut into the sails and rigging of the Leviathan, but three more British ships coming up, L’Intrépide was, after a noble resistance, also compelled to surrender, and was set on fire by the Britannia. The crews were landed at Portsmouth and transferred to Norman Cross, where they were received on 8th January 1806. One was Corporal Jean De la Porte, whose name appears as the maker of signed straw marquetry pictures, and to whom are attributed many other unsigned pictures of the same character. Mr. Jean De la Porte is spoken of as an officer; had he been of that rank he would not have been in the prison, but out on parole. He was a Petty Officer, and would be in the Petty Officers’ prison. He was confined at Norman Cross for nearly nine years, and during this long captivity his artistic skill and taste must have enormously mitigated his suffering.
131a On Horn and Tortoiseshell, by H. Akin, late Secretary of the Society of Arts, London. Journal of the Franklin Institute, London. Series vol. xxvi., pp. 256–9. 1840.
131b I have a drinking-horn, given to me by the daughter-in-law of the man for whom it was made, engraved with his name—J. Bates—surrounded by a floral pattern.—T. J. W.
133a This art was practised by amateurs in the 18th century. In 1875 an attempt was made to reintroduce the work. “Mosaicon, or Paper Mosaic,” W. Bemrose, jun. (Bemrose & Sons, 10, Paternoster Buildings, E.C., and Irongate, Derby.)
133b The authenticity of the wine slides as Norman Cross work is absolute. Mr. Vinter, who gave them to the author for presentation to the museum, affirmed that his mother had known them all her life in the house of her parents, an inn opposite the prison. Her father had purchased them in the prison market. Mr. Vinter’s mother had herself seen from a window of the house a prisoner shot by a sentinel as he was attempting to escape. Of the caddies, one is in the possession of the Countess of Lindsey at Uffington Park, twelve miles from Norman Cross (Plate VII., Fig. 2, p. 40). Mr. Bodger has the second; it is of beautiful design, but dilapidated. The third is in the collection of Miss Paull, of Truro, and is known as the work of a French prisoner at the Falmouth Depot (Plate VIII, Fig. 1, p. 46). It is possible that the three caddies were all the work of the same artist, who may have been one of the thousands of prisoners who were sent from Falmouth to Norman Cross.
134a Parliamentary History, xxxvi. 450.
134b There were two rates for the tax on hats, those of a wider diameter being taxed at the higher rate.
134c Norman Cross. Correspondence with the French Government relative to prisoners of war, issued from Downing Street 1st January 1801, as a supplement to Appendix 59. Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons, 1798.
135 The Rev. E. Bradley (Cuthbert Bede), who half a century ago was the incumbent of Denton, a village a little over a mile from Norman Cross, left the following note among the MSS. which were prepared for a history of Huntingdon, or, as he called it, Cromwell’s County, which was never completed:
“The French prisoners at the prison made beautiful straw plaits, which were purchased by people in Stilton and sold at a high rate. For a long time they were forbidden to sell these plaits, but they found means to do so through the soldiers. No doubt the soldiers made a great deal of money in this way, although the plaits were sold so cheaply that many people in Stilton made very respectable fortunes by their sale. The soldiers secretly brought the straw plaits to the houses, sometimes wrapped round their bodies under their clothes; in this case they would go upstairs and undress, and then come down with the straw plaits.
“I do not know how the prisoners got the straw, but as they could no more make straw plaits without straw than the Israelites could make bricks, I suppose the soldiers helped them to it. Much of the plait (which was more neatly made than the English manufacture) was made up and sold in Stilton. Other was hawked about round the district; also sent to wholesale houses in London or elsewhere. One vendor of the straw plaits cleared a thousand pounds in a few years.”
136 Vol. 106.
137 An old lady friend of mine, recently deceased, remembered in her childhood seeing the children following a woman in the streets of Peterborough, and singing, “Wind or storm, hail or snow, To the Barracks she will go,” a doggerel which had been fastened on to her when she carried over goods for sale at the market, and was supposed to smuggle in cut straw and to bring back concealed about her person straw plait, which she disposed of to the bonnet makers.—T. J. W.
138 Chambers’ Journal, xxiii. 327. In the same journal (issue of September 1908) is an article by A. F. Morris upon straw marquetry, in which the introduction of that art into this country is ascribed to the French.
144 Historical Sketch of the Old Depot, Perth, William Sievwright, 1894.
146a Vol. ix., chap. lxiv., par. 127.
146b This information Alison gave from his own personal recollection. I can confirm his account from what I have been told by my father, who in his sixteenth and seventeenth years was living in Perth, and was in the habit of going to the prison to take lessons in French and in fencing from one of the officers confined there.—T. J. W.
147 Curiously this article does not appear in Poole’s original Index, but in the second supplement under “Banker’s Notes.”
156 These were a part of the troops who in 1797 landed at Fishguard to invade England through Wales. This long-planned invasion ended in a fiasco.
157a Laws, Little England Beyond Wales, pp. 373–4.
157b Legends of Huntingdonshire, W. B. Saunders.
158 W. H. Bernard Saunders, loc. cit., 1888.
160a Archæologia Cantiana, ix.–xciii.
160b Chambers’ Miscellany, No. 92, vol. vi., p. 32, New Edition. Story of a French Prisoner of War in England.
161 Story of Dartmoor Prison, pp. 32, 33.
166 Aperçu du Traitement qu’éprouvent les Prisonniers de Guerre français en Angleterre: Paris, 1813.
167a Appendix E.
167b Naval Chronicle, xxviii., 282.
168 The expense of the prisoners’ clothing, provision, and supervision was £1,000 a day exclusive of buildings.—Naval Chronicle, xxxiv., 460.
169 Appendix F. Full return, with names, etc., of the hospital staff.
171 The following, copied from a loose paper lying between the pages of Reg. 628 at the Record Office, is evidently an answer to the inquiries of a prisoner’s friends, made ten years after his death. It gives a chance insight into one of the duties of the agent, and is evidence that the French were at least treated with courtesy:
“Le Soussigné Agent du Gouvernement Britannique Chargé du soin et de la Surveillance des Prisonniers de Guerre au Dépôt de Norman Cross, Certifie que le Nommé Vincent Fontaine, natif de Veli, Pris à Bord du transport La Sophie, en qualité de soldat, entre en Prison au Dépôt de Norman Cross le 25 Septembre 1804, est mort à l’hospital du susdit Dépôt le Vingt trois mars, mil huit cent huit, âgé de Trente ans et demi, ainsi qu’il couste par les Registres de la Prison.
“En foi de quoi j’ai délivré le Présent Extrait pour servir à qui de Raison.
“Norman Cross le 1er Juin 1814.
“(Signed) W. Hanwell, Capt. R.N., Agent.”
[Translation]
“The Undersigned Agent of the British Government in charge of the care and the superintendence of the Prisoners of War at the Depot of the Norman Cross, certifies that the named Vincent Fontaine, native of Veli, taken on board the transport La Sophie, as being a soldier, entered into the Prison at the Depot of Norman Cross on the 25th September 1804, died in the Hospital of the above-mentioned Depot, 23rd March 1808, Age 30½ years, as shown by the Prison Registers.
“In Witness whereof I have delivered the present Extract to be used by Whom it may concern.
“Norman Cross, 1st June 1814.
“(Signed) W. Hanwell, Capt. R.N., Agent.”
Vincent Fontaine was the only prisoner who died during the week ending 27th March 1808. The certificate was signed by Thos. Pressland, the agent at that date.
177 Notes and Queries, Ser. ii., v. 204.
180a Appendix G.—Letter enclosing short autobiography from the Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam. Reply from Earl Fitzwilliam and correspondence between his lordship and Lord Mulgrave, etc.
180b The French Prisoners of Norman Cross. A tale by the Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of Catfield, Norfolk. (Hodder Brothers.)
181 This house is selected by tradition as that of the Bishop, being the one most suited to a wealthy ecclesiastic of high rank. The Bishop’s letters are dated from the Bell Inn, where he probably could live, en pension, on what was left out of his £240 a year, after paying the interest due to the money-lenders.
182 This was a remarkable election, and created immense excitement at the time. There had been no contested election for forty-six years, and in 1807 there were four candidates for the two seats. One, a Mr. Fowkes, received two votes. William Wilberforce, the great advocate for the abolition of slavery, led all the way; the real contest was between Milton and Lascelles. Wilberforce’s expenses were largely met by subscription; the cost to the other two was enormous. The Recorder of Leeds said, “The yellow had not only been in the hats, but had also been in the pockets of the voters for Lord Milton.” The state of the poll at the end was:
| Wilberforce | 11,806 |
| Milton | 11,177 |
| Lascelles | 10,988 |
| Fowkes | 2 |
Smith, Parliaments of England, ii. 136, 140. The Times, 26th, 28th, 30th May, 2nd, 4th, 6th June 1807.
Wm. Wilberforce, Esq.; Rt. Hon. Chas. Wm. Wentworth, commonly called Viscount Milton; Hon. Henry Lascelles.
185 “Ces jeunes captifs furent instruits par les soins de M. l’Évêque de Moulins.”
186 As these pages are passing through the press, the opportunity offers of seeing through the observant eyes of Mrs. Larpent the Bishop as he was when she met him in London, about 1804, and for the “man with a fine presence” we must substitute the “little deformed lively man,” described in that lady’s diary, “Nineteenth Century and After,” No. 438, August 1913, p. 318.
187 Appendix G.
188a Mémoire des Évêques français résidant à Londres qui n’ont pas donné leur démission, Londres, May 1802; Biographie des Hommes vivant, 1818, Paris; Biographie des Contemporains, Paris.
188b Mémoire des Évêques français résidant à Londres, pp. 108, 217, 284.
188c The only reference by his French biographer to his work at Norman Cross, which looms so large in this book, is that “he is said to have visited the prisoners of war when in England.”
191a Supplement to Appendix 59, Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons, 1798. Issued from Downing Street 6th January 1801.
191b If the commander of a privateer before lowering his flag threw overboard as many of his guns as he could, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and thus reduced their number below fourteen, he was no longer eligible for parole, but remained in prison.
192 List of places where French prisoners of war were allowed on parole at different periods of the war.
| Abergavenny. | Eye. | Penrith. |
| Alresford. | Falmouth. | Penryn. |
| Andover. | Fareham. | Perth. |
| Ashbourne. | Foxton. | Peterborough |
| Ashburton. | Greenlaw. | Petersfield. |
| Ashby-de-la-Zouch. | Hawick. | Plymouth. |
| Bandon. | Jedburgh. | Pontefract. |
| Basingstoke. | Kelso. | Porchester. |
| Bedale. | Knaresborough. | Portsmouth. |
| Bideford. | Lanark. | Reading. |
| Biggar. | Landore. | Redruth. |
| Bishops Castle. | Launceston. | Regilliack. |
| Bishops Waltham. | Leek. | Richmond. |
| Bodmin. | Lichfield. | Roscor. |
| Boroughbridge. | Llanfyllin. | Sanquhar. |
| Brecon. | Lockerbie. | Selkirk. |
| Bridgnorth. | Lockmaben. | Stapleton. |
| Bristol. | London. | Tavistock. |
| Callington. | Melrose. | Thame. |
| Carlisle. | Mill Prison Hospital. | Tiverton. |
| Carnarvon. | Montgomery. | Tynemouth. |
| Chatham. | Montrose. | Valleyfield. |
| Chepstow. | Moreton Hampstead. | Wakefield. |
| Chesterfield. | Newton. | Wantage. |
| Crediton. | Norman Cross. | Welshpool. |
| Cupar. | Northampton. | Whitchurch. |
| Dartmoor. | Okehampton. | Wincanton. |
| Derby. | Oldham. | Winchester. |
| Dover. | Oswestry. | Wisbech. |
| Dumfries. | Peebles. | York. |
| Edinburgh. | Pembroke. |
200 Basil Thomson, loc. cit., pp. 28, 29.
202 A RETURN OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR AT PRESENT IN GREAT BRITAIN
Transport Office,
26th June 1812.
| On Parole. | French Prisoners. | Danish Prisoners. |
| Officers, Army | 1,615 | — |
| Officers, Navy | 718 | — |
| Masters and Mates of Merchant Vessels | 211 | 33 |
| Captains, etc., of Privateers | 176 | — |
| Passengers and other Persons of Respectability | 211 | 3 |
| Servants to Officers | 149 | — |
| Women and children | 115 | — |
| 3,231 | 36 | |
| In Confinement | ||
| Soldiers | 22,916 | 5 |
| Seamen, taken in Men-of-War | 11,198 | 305 |
| Seamen, taken in Merchant Vessels | 4,076 | 977 |
| Seamen, taken in Privateers | 10,146 | 530 |
| All others | 1,045 | 15 |
| Women and Children | 37 | — |
| 49,418 | 1,832 | |
| Abstract. | ||
| Prisoners belonging to the Army | 24,567 | 5 |
| Prisoners belonging to the Navy | 26,525 | 1,845 |
| Others | 1,557 | 18 |
| 52,649 | 1,868 | |
| N.B.—There are not any prisoners in Ireland. | ||
| Total, French prisoners | 52,649 | |
| Total, Dutch prisoners | 1,868 | |
| 54,517 | ||
(Signed) Rup. George, J. Bowen, J. Douglas.
(Parl. Pap. 1812, vol. ix., p. 225.)
In reference to this return it may be here mentioned that very few of the Danes were brought to Norman Cross, either in the first period of the war, or in the second period in which this return was made.
204 French Prisoners’ Lodges, by John T. Thorp, Leicester. Printed by Bro. Geo. Gilbert, King Street, 1900.
208 Of the after history of the young men and maidens who contracted these romantic marriages I can give information in only two cases. Charles Peter Vanderaa, entered in the register of the Record Office as lieutenant on a brig-of-war, was married on the day of his release. Whether he took his wife to Holland or not, his grandson, from whom I got my information, did not know. All he knew was that his grandfather, in some capacity or other, again took to the sea, and that he died of yellow fever in Spain or one of the Spanish colonies, leaving his widow with two sons, Thomas and Peter. The widow, after his death, lived in Peterborough in very poor circumstances. The second son, Peter, I well remember earning a living as a schoolmaster in Peterborough, where he had at one time been in the police force; he married and had one daughter, who married a blacksmith named Dawson. The couple moved to London, where there may be a colony of the cadet’s descendants, recking nothing of their Dutch blood. The oldest son, Thomas Vanderaa, had two sons, one of whom I knew well. His mental capacity was not very high; he got his living as a casual, respectable gardener and handy man. He died a few years since, but I have preserved the letter in which he gave me the information about his relatives.
When in 1894 Mr. Vanderaa gave me the information about his family, he said he had a brother, who was, he believed, alive, but he did not know where he was living.
Of the descendants of the Miss Roelans, who married Mr. Joseph Little, several are living in a good social position; but the Dutch blood does not seem to have passed into the collateral branches of Moores, Buckles, and other well-known families who have intermarried with the Littles.
210a The gunsmith’s business was a good one, and remained in the family, and the grandson, M. Hubert Habart, who had succeeded to it, had an exhibit of guns in the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park in 1851.
210b Several of M. Habart’s descendants are still alive. One of his granddaughters, Miss Habart, is my consulting-room attendant. The family of the Rev. Father Robert A. Davis, from whose copy of Macgregor’s plan the plate on p. 18 is taken, is connected by marriage with that of the Habarts.—T. J. W.
213a Parl. Paper, 1812, vol. ix., p. 223.
213b Maberly Phillips, The Connoisseur, xxvii., No. 105, May 1910.
215a Notes and Queries, ser. iv., vol. v., pp. 376, 546.
215b Sleigh, History of Leek, 2nd edn., p. 221.
218 Wellington’s Despatches.
222 This is how the naval authorities summed up the failure of the negotiations for exchange: “There is no fixing the French Government to any basis of exchange. Every concession on our part has produced fresh demands. We have about 50,000 prisoners of war in England, in France there are about 12,000, two-thirds of whom are not prisoners, but détenus, many of them women and children. Even these our Government were willing to exchange, when the French Government proposed that their 50,000 should be sent over en masse, for the 12,000, and then afterwards the Spaniards would be released. This would enable it to man twenty-five sail of the line, and still retain the Spaniards, our allies, in his hands.”—Naval Chronicle, vol. xxiv., p. 327.
232 Appendix H.
233 A good description of Verdun in 1811 will be found in the Narrative of a Forced Journey through Spain and France an a Prisoner of War in the Years 1810 to 1814, by Major-Gen. Lord Blanfrey. In 2 vols. 1814. Vol. ii., chaps, xxxvi.-xxxvii., good account, viii., ix., xl., xli., xlii., xliii., xliv.
The author says he was confined for seven weeks as a hostage to prevent the English Government from punishing a French officer who had projected a rising of the French prisoners in England.
238 Naval Chronicle, xiv., 17; xv., 122; xvi., 108; xvii., 108; Douglas Jerrold, The Prisoner of War, 1842; A Picture of Verdun, or the English detained in France, from the Portfolio of a Détenue, 1810, 2 vols.; Letters from France, written in the Years 1803 and 1804, including a Particular Account of Verdun and the Situation of the British Captives in that City, 2 vols. 1806; Chambers’ Journal of Literature, Science, and Art, 1854, vol. i., p. 330.
240 Few of the Danes were brought to Norman Cross, either at this period of the war or in the second period when there were a considerable number confined in Great Britain. From a return made to the House of Commons in 1812, it appears that of 54,508 prisoners confined at the various depots, 52,640 were French and 1,868 Danes, but no register of Danish prisoners confined at Norman Cross has been found.
241 Mr. Share often heard his grandmother speak of her husband’s acts of kindness to the prisoners who were landed at Plymouth. One incident which he recollects was, that one day, just as the family were sitting down to dinner, Captain Holditch ran in, seized the large beefsteak pie just placed on the table, and carried it off, saying, “I want this, there are a batch of French prisoners going by, and they look famished, they must have it.”
Mr. Godwin (loc. cit.), mentioning that on Christmas Day 1805 some 250 French prisoners from Porchester Castle marched into Basingstoke on their cheerless way to Norman Cross (probably some of the heroes who had fought against Nelson and his captains on the 21st October), asks the question, “Did the Hampshire folk give them a share in their festivities?” The above anecdote justifies us, I hope, in saying that the answer to this question would be “Yes.”
242 These had been a considerable source of profit to the farmers, who had contracted to remove them regularly from their positions below the latrines, and had used their contents, with the rest of the refuse of the prison, as a guano to the great benefit of their land.
245 Histoire générale des traités de paix et autres transactions principales entre toutes les puissances de l’Europe depuis la paix de Westphalie. Ouvrage comprenant les travaux de Koch, Schoell, etc., entièrement refondus et continués jusqu’à ce jour. Paris 1848–87, 15 tom., vol. vi., p. 49.
247 His staff was as follows:
Wm. Gardiner, entered first clerk 1st September 1803 at £118 per annum, abate taxes 1s. in the pound, £9 6s., Civil List at 6d., leaving £8 19s. 8¾d. net per month.
Wm. Todd, 1st September, as store-clerk, at £118 per annum, and an extra £30 as French interpreter, with 18s. abatement; net per month £11 5s. 3½d.
John Andrew Delapoux, extra clerk, 1st September, at 3s. 6d. per diem. He was very uneasy about the proclamation against aliens, but was assured it would not apply to him.
Wm. Belcher, steward, at 3s. per day.
Thos. Adams, steward, 3rd September, at 3s. per day.
John Hobbs, turnkey, £50 per annum.
John Nolt, turnkey, £50 per annum.
John Belcher, turnkey, £50 per annum.
Alex Halliday, ditto, and as superintendent carpenter, £20, with 2s. 10½d. abatement for Civil List.
John Hayward, labourer, 12s. a week.
Wm. Powell, labourer, 12s. a week.
Captain Pressland was informed that no clothing of any kind was to be served out to any prisoner, though most were captured with none beyond what they stood upright in. No soup was to be served out, except to the prisoners who acted as barbers. He asked for some modification of this, but was refused. He was allowed £25 per annum for coals and candles, and 10s. 6d. each time he went to Peterborough on the Board’s Order or to make affidavits as to his accounts, etc. A few days afterwards this was increased to 12s. 6d. The military guard consisted of 400 of the North Lincoln Militia.
248 Chambers’ Journal of Literature, etc., loc. cit.
250 At this time Norman Cross and the other existing prisons were greatly overcrowded, but Wellington found it impossible to guard and maintain his prisoners on the Continent. Not only were the troops actually captured overwhelmingly numerous, but to their number were added deserters. In one of his dispatches, he writes: “Two battalions of the Regiment of Nassau, and one of Frankfort having quitted the enemies’ Army and passed over to that under my command.... I now send these troops to England.” The long-delayed completion of the prisons at Dartmoor and Perth would relieve the overcrowding of Norman Cross; but the resources of the staff must, in the meantime, have been strained to an extreme point to prevent the evils which might result from the state of matters. The breakdown of the various negotiations for exchange prevented the relief which was afforded during the first period of the war by the steady drain of prisoners sent back to their own country.
252 It is said that a memorandum exists in a private diary that the price paid for a picture of straw marquetry of Peterborough Cathedral was only £2; the picture must have taken weeks to construct.
253a The prison register confirms this paragraph. The last death certificate is that of Petronio Lambertini, a soldier of the Italian Regiment of the French Army. He died of consumption, and was presumably the last prisoner buried in the cemetery adjoining the North Road.
253b Loc. cit., p. 120.
254 The copy of the catalogue used by the auctioneer, with his note of the purchaser of and the price paid for each lot, is for the time in the writer’s hands, and has afforded much information, especially as to the construction of the buildings and the use to which each was appropriated.
Two years before this sale took place the Depot had been evacuated, and in the Public Record Office is the Barrack Master’s receipt to Captain Hanwell, dated 30th October 1814, for the Depot at Norman Cross, delivered over to him, agreeably to the Transport Board’s order of 24th September 1814. The document consists of ten pages in double columns.
267 Admiralty Records, Transport Department, Minutes No. 38; Records of Captains’ Services, O’ Byrne; Naval Biographical Dictionary; Naval Chronicle, vol. viii., 438; xiv., 283; xvi., 107, 108; xviii., 28; xix., 170–2; The Times, 26th February 1842.
276 M. Otto had at the date of this letter succeeded M. Niou as Commissary for the French Prisoners of War confined in Great Britain.
283 This was written three months before the fatal epidemic broke out in the prison.—T. J. W.
286a The number stated to be sick, on the 30th April 1810, includes convalescents, cases of wounds, accidents, etc.
286b Parliamentary Papers, 1810–11, vol. xi. (263), p. 115.
312 This is not a facsimile copy of the Register, which contains many abbreviations; it has been set out in columns, and abbreviated words have been written in full.