Reflections on A Journey to St Helena

Madame Colin: A Tribute

2012-02-01T12:33:00.014Z

Alix Colin, née Olivier, (1891-1942)
On Michel's blog I have recently read the moving story of Madame Colin, wife of one of the former curators of the French Properties on St Helena. I feel it is well worth retelling in English.

Born in Haut Provence in May 1891, Alix Olivier married Georges Colin, a retired soldier, in December 1915. In early 1917 the couple and their 4 month old daughter set out for St Helena from the United Kingdom on the Alivinck Castle. A few days later, on March 17th, between the Scilly Isles and Brittany, their ship was torpedoed. Nine days adrift in a life boat until landing on the north west coast of Spain, they suffered the loss of their baby daughter, Madame Colin's contraction of gangrene, and the consequent partial amputation of her legs.

The couple spent the next two years in Ferrol, where Alix had artificial limbs fitted and also gave birth to a son, Charles. The family finally left Spain for St Helena in October 1919, and on the island, in 1921, Alix gave birth to a daughter, France, attended by Dr Arnold. A second son, Pierre, was born whilst they were on leave in Toulon in 1928.

During the second World War the family had to spend time away from the island in the Cape for treatment for Madame Colin's breast cancer, but they returned to St Helena and she died, at Longwood in November 1942, in her 52nd year, in fact at almost the same age as Napoleon.

She was buried on St Helena, the island she loved and in which she had found happiness.

The Emperor's Last Campaign - A Review

2012-01-25T11:26:00.018Z

The Emperor's Last Campaign: A Napoleonic Empire in America - Emilio Ocampo

This is a fascinating and important book which provides a totally new perspective on Napoleon's captivity on St Helena. Based on a tremendous amount of research, notably in diplomatic archives, the author puts Napoleon's captivity on St Helena within an international context. Here it is not a footnote on a history written by the victors of Waterloo, but the symbolic centre of a liberal struggle against hereditary monarchy, reaction and oppression in Europe and the Americas.

From it one appreciates again that none of the great powers trusted each other, not least the Bourbon monarchy, restored to France by British and Prussian arms, yet fearful that the ancient enemy, Perfidious Albion, seemingly unperturbed at harebrained plots to free Napoleon, might connive at his escape to further its imperialist ambitions in Latin America.

The only thing they all had in common was fear of revolution, and a determination that the trouble maker in chief, as they saw him, should remain on his island in the South Atlantic. Thus Metternich, the Austrian chancellor and arranger of Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise, which had given Napoleon the heir whose very existence gave the Bourbons sleepless nights, blamed Napoleon for the discontent of the lower orders in Europe: by fleeing Elba and setting himself at the head of a constitutional monarchy in 1815 he had betrayed his previous work and "set free the Revolution which he came to France to subdue."(1)

The book provides a mine of information from which the author attempts, perhaps not totally satisfactorily, to weave together a number of intersecting narratives:

the conflict in England between Loyalists and the Tory Government on the one hand and radicals, reformers, and some Whigs on the other, over reform at home and the fate of Napoleon;

the interaction of Bonapartist soldiers, refugees, adventurers and filibusters assembled largely in the United States with the independence struggles in Latin America;

the rather desperate speculations of Napoleon on St Helena as recounted by those around him; the thoughts and views of the Austrian, French and Russian commissioners who never saw Napoleon but kept themselves and their Governments very well informed; the suspicion and fear of the hapless Sir Hudson Lowe, whose career would be finished if Napoleon escaped, but as it turned out was finished even though he didn't.

Perhaps most interesting from the perspective of this blog is the light it throws on Napoleon's sympathisers and supporters in England. The author has done research in a number of private archives in the UK, and here one can read about the activities of General Sir Robert Wilson and his Bonapartist sister Fanny Wallis in France and England, and Wilson's planned but ultimately aborted adventures in the Americas.

Here along with the George IV's estranged wife, Queen Caroline, and his brother, the Duke of Sussex, appears a future Whig Prime Minister, Earl Grey, trying to hold the disparate Whig factions together, cautioning Sir Robert Wilson about the company he was keeping and particularly against involvement with the mad schemes of Lord Cochrane, but himself apparently privately sympathetic to the plight of the fallen Emperor.

"My son - the sailor - sails for St Helena next week on the Conqueror", Wilson wrote to Grey in December 1816,"I presume you have no commissions to execute in that part of the world as yet, but I hope and believe before three months that you will." (2)

Little wonder perhaps that Napoleon, isolated on St Helena and fed scraps like this, lived in hope and expectation that the Government would change and the Whigs, or even Queen Caroline, would come to his rescue.

The book is of course full of shadowy schemes to help Napoleon escape by submarine, balloon, steam-powered ship, oak barrels or more conventional means. There is not the slightest bit of evidence that Napoleon entertained serious interest in any of them.

The author is to be commended for having brought together so much fascinating material, although at times the evidence could have been treated more critically. As an example anyone reading it not too carefully might perhaps come away with the idea that Napoleon, Queen Caroline and Napoleon II were all poisoned. Doubtless there were, and maybe are, people who believed that all three were victims of a conspiracy, and certainly there were good reasons why those in power wanted all three of them dead, but the nature of the evidence, or maybe the lack of it, needs careful treatment.

Likewise there are a few "maybe" comments which at times undermine the overall quality of the work e.g. "Maybe she knew something we don't know" , re Napoleon's mother's belief that Napoleon had already left St Helena and therefore couldn't have died, or "Maybe he had heard the bad news about Brayer", an attempt to link Napolon's reported change of mood to events in the Americas.

One ought perhaps also point out that the title of the book is misleading: there is no evidence that Napoleon played any part in planning the various campaigns that his supporters waged alongside other adventurers in the Americas, and there was certainly no centralised campaign coordinated by him, by his brother Joseph in Philadelphia, or indeed anyone else.

These though are minor criticisms. The author is to be commended for having laboured so hard, for having brought together so much material and for getting us to look at this period in a rather different way.

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Notes

1. Emilio Ocampo, The Emperor's Last Campaign, A Napoleonic Empire in America(University of Alabama Press, 2009 p. 359)
2.Ocampo p. 103 Admiral Plampin and his lady were also on board the Conqueror.

Exminster Devon, May 1822: Betsy Balcombe's Wedding

2012-01-14T12:58:00.013Z

Exminster Parish Church Register, May 28th 1822. (For a better image click on the above).

Transcript:

Edward Abell Esquire, Bachelor of the Parish of St Gregory London and Lucia Elizabeth Balcombe spinster of this Parish, married by Licence, with consent of parents, by H J Burlton, witnessed by Jane Balcombe, Thos Tyrwhitt, Francis Stanfler, RN, Jane Sophia Turner, Henry Brown.

The marriage was also reported in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post or Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser on May 30th 1821.

Interestingly the marriage was not witnessed by Betsy's parents, who presumably were absent, although Betsy was recorded as a resident of Exminster and presumably they lived there too.

The most interesting name on the list of witnesses is that of Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt (1762-1833), son of an Essex clergyman, educated at Eton and Oxford, with a distinguished career as private secretary to the Prince Regent, Member of Parliament and then Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod from 1812 until 1832. A local Devon landowner, Sir Thomas was the creator of Prince's Town, named in honour of the Prince Regent, where Sir Thomas founded the now famous Dartmoor prison originally used to house French and American prisoners of war.

Sir Thomas was also the inspiration behind the proposal to create a railway between Plymouth and Dartmoor in 1819. When the prospectus was published in 1819 William Balcombe was listed among the 61 subscribers.

The presence of Sir Thomas at Betsy's wedding and his connection with the Prince Regent inevitably raises again the old rumour that William Balcombe was the Regent's natural son. The most likely story however, is that he and his brother were sons of a naval officer lost at sea and, as was the practice in those days, were assisted in their education by the King's Bounty. (1) That at least is what his descendant Dame Mabel Brookes believed.

The bridegroom although recorded as being from London had in fact been educated in Exeter, and his family lived in Alphington in Devon. He served for a time in the Madras Army, and resigned around 1816. His elder brother Francis Tillet Abell became mayor of Colchester in Essex, the county from which Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt originated.

Edward and Lucia Abell had a daughter, soon separated but apparently never divorced, for at her death in 1871 Betsy was styled as the widow of Edward Abell.
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(1) It appears that William Balcombe was born at Rottingdean in Kent in 1777 to Stephen Balcombe and his wife Mary (nee Vandyke). A younger brother also called Stephen was born in 1880.

New Longwood House

2012-01-10T13:49:00.005Z

The new house built for Napoleon at Longwood - a mid nineteenth century view.

Longwood House was always intended to be a temporary residence, and on 17th May 1816 Sir Hudson Lowe told Napoleon that the materials necessary for building a new house had arrived. Napoleon, uwilling to accept his permanent imprisonment on the island, would not discuss it with him.

Sir Hudson Lowe prevaricated as to where it would be built, but eventually, in 1818, began construction on a site next door to Bertrand's cottage. It was pretty well completed by the end of 1820.

The house was pre-fabricated by John Bullock in London. Construction was under the command of Major Emmet. Among those working on the project were Mr Paine, a painter and paper hanger sent out from London, and Mr Darling, who served as undertaker at Napoleon's funeral and also assisted at the exhumation.

Napoleon watched the house being built, and once secretly visited it, but he always maintained that he would never live there. Shortly before his death he strongly objected to the iron railings that were placed around it, which to him had the appearance of a prison. These were removed and later used to fence off his grave.

In the last hours of Napoleon's illness Lowe and his assistant Major Gideon Gorrequer waited there for news.

No trace of the house now remains. It was demolished in 1947 and agricultural buildings now stand on the site.

Longwood House itself came very near to a similar fate around the same time.

For another image see previous blog on sites associated with the captivity of Napoleon.

British Radicals and the Captivity of Napoleon: Smithfield 1819

2011-12-26T13:03:00.039Z

Meeting at Smithfield, London, 22nd July 1819

"Napoleon I esteem the most illustrious and eminent man of the present age, both as a profound statesman and a brave and matchless general. Although he never appeared to evince so sincere a desire as could be wished to promote the universal liberty of man to the extent that I contend, and have always contended for, yet, when I reflect upon the period in which his energetic mind was allowed to have its full scope of action, and when I recollect the powerful armies and fleets that he had to contend with, and the phalanx of tyrants who were at various times leagued together against him, I am disposed not to examine too nicely and with too critical an eye the means that he used to defend himself against their unceasing endeavours to destroy him, and to restore the old tyranny of the Bourbons.' - Henry Hunt, radical leader(1)

The social struggles in England after the Napoleonic wars provide an important background to the captivity of Napoleon. Whilst the fear of revolution was never far from the minds of the loyalist classes, for those who were campaigning for reform, Napoleon was like them the victim of a corrupt, unrepresentative and repressive government, and Waterloo not a great national victory but a setback for the forces of liberty at home as well as on the continent.

On July 22nd 1819 a meeting in favour of parliamentary reform presided over by Henry Hunt, and attended by 40,000-50,000 people took place at Smithfield in London. This followed a meeting in Birmingham on 12th July, at which Sir Charles Wolseley had been elected as "legislatorial attorney and representative" and had been instructed to take his seat in the House of Commons - a promise he made to the gathering but wisely did not keep!

As well as what was probably interpreted as rather a threatening resolution on parliamentary reform,

"That from and after the 1st day of January 1820, we cannot conscientiously consider ourselves as bound in equity by any future enactment which may be made by any persons styling themselves our representatives other than those who shall be fully, freely, and fairly chosen by the voices of the largest proportion of the members of the state."

the Smithfield meeting also criticised the imprisonment of Napoleon:

"That this meeting unequivocally disclaims any share or participation in the disgraceful and cowardly acts of the boroughmongers, in placing the brave Napoleon a prisoner, to perish upon a desert island, shut out from human society, and torn from his only son, whilst he is exposed to the brutal insolence of a hired keeper".

The Smithfield meeting passed over peacefully, but it undoubtedly alarmed the authorities, and a similar meeting held a few weeks later in St Peters Fields Manchester, was brutally suppressed by the Manchester Yeomanry, and was henceforth to be known as the Peterloo Massacre, in ironic reference to Waterloo.

Henry Hunt who had presided over the Smithfield meeting, was along with other leaders arrested at Manchester and found guilty of intending disaffection and hatred of the king and constitution, and subsequently spent two years in gaol.

Henry "Orator" Hunt (1773 – 1835)

In his memoirs, written whilst in gaol, Hunt compared his plight to that of Napoleon,

I am not ashamed of being accused of endeavouring to imitate the brave and persecuted Napoleon, who is writing his memoirs during his imprisonment on the barren rock of St. Helena.

He is, like myself, a prisoner, and imprisoned by the same power; only in his case they have not even the forms of law to justify them in his detention. He is a prisoner upon a barren rock, but I have not the least hesitation in pronouncing him to have been, both in the cabinet and the field, as to talent and courage, unrivalled in the pages of modern or ancient history. Neither the reformers nor the people of England had any share in sending him to St. Helena, nor ought they in fairness to participate in the disgrace of his detention.

In my humble judgement, the greatest fault he ever committed was, in having too good an opinion of the justice of the boroughmongers, and relying upon the liberality of their agents, so far as to be betrayed into that net which now surrounds him.

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1. Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, Written by himself, in his majesty's jail at Ilchester, In the county of Somerset (London 1820) Volume 1 pp xvii-xviii

Friends of St Helena: New Facebook Page

2011-12-01T11:45:00.012Z

The Friends of St Helena has just launched a new facebook page, the work I imagine of Ian Bruce who is making great changes to the internet profile of the Friends.

I really liked the set of photos taken in St Helena in the period 1890-1930, and brought back to the UK in 1931 by Thomas R Bruce who was Postmaster on the island from 1898 to 1930. Among the pictures of Boer War prisoners and local dignitaries it was fascinating to see a bullock cart on Main Street, something which I had never before associated with the island, although I knew that Miss Maison was famously reputed to ride a bullock in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Among my favourite photos were those of the "Long Tom" field gun being hauled manually up Main Steet and then up Ladder Hill. I wonder if anyone can shed any light on that?

I was also fascinated by the series of photos on the wreck of the SS Pappanui in 1911. An amazing incident about which I confess I also knew nothing.

Then there was the picture of a rather forlorn Longwood, a photo which reminds us that the building we now see on the site, constructed out of termite resistant materials, is for the most part a replica of the original.

Fondation Napoléon: Award for Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique sud

2011-12-01T11:01:00.014Z

It is good to hear that Michel Dancoisne Martineau has received the Prix de'Histoire de la Fondation Napoléon for his excellent Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique sud.

It is interesting that the Foundation has given an award to a book in which Emperor, Empire and the French on St Helena play no part, a book which sheds light on the lives of ordinary people, many of whom would not normally figure even as footnotes in the history of Napoleon's captivity.

As I said in my review in May it really does merit translation into English.

Congratulations again to Michel. This is quite an achievement for a talented artist!

Faithful Servants of Napoleon: The Archambault Brothers Part 2

2011-11-21T17:14:00.021Z

Card Steuben, Mort de Napoléon Ier à Sainte-Hélène, le 5 mai 1821
Achille Archambault highlighted
Achille Thomas L'Union Archambault was born at Fontainebleau in 1792. His parents never married and he took his mother's family name. His father was Genevieve Agathe Songeux, a native of Fontainebleau, who appears to have taken little part in the life of Achille or of his younger brother Olivier.

When their mother died in 1799, the Archambault brothers were put in the charge of l'hospice du Mont Pierreux at Fontainebleau where their widowed grandmother was living. Their grandfather had been a postillon, and not surprisingly perhaps they followed in his footsteps. Both brothers were fortunate to find positions in the Imperial stables around 1807, and it was at St Cloud that they learned the trade that was to take them as footmen into the service of the Emperor, and finally into exile on St Helena. Achille was present on Elba and at Waterloo. It is not clear whether his younger brother was also there.

Whilst the younger Archambault was forced to leave St Helena in 1816, Achille stayed until the end. Following this separation the two brothers followed totally different paths, and did not meet again for 40 years.

On St Helena Achille was under employed for much of the time because of the determination of the Emperor not to go outside the small area in which he was allowed without being accompanied by an English officer. Achille, like many of the servants and the English attached to Longwood drank and engaged in rowdy behaviour. In September, 1818, when the Emperor's horses, Dolly and Regent, were racing at Deadwood, a certain half-mad and drunken piqueur of Napoleon, who turned out to be Achille, rode down the course. He was horsewhipped by the steward who did not know that he was one of Napoleon's servants. (1) Napoleon saw the whole incident from his vantage point at Bertrand's cottage, and later reprimanded Achille.

Whilst on St Helena Achille formed a relationship with a black girl, Mary Ann Foss. Napoleon refused permission for him to marry her, and finally, to the surprise of Montholon and others who knew his determination and his fiery temparament, Achille relented, perhaps fearing expulsion from the island, but he continued to cohabit with her.

In 1820 as a result of the decision of the Governor to extend the area in which Napoleon could travel, Achille found his services were frequently required by the Emperor. He also acquired a new horse for Napoleon, "King George", from Lord Somerset. The horse was renamed "Sheikh", after one of Napoleon's old horses used during his military campaigns.

In October 1820, Napoleon made his last outing outside the environs of Longwood, to visit Sir William Doveton at Sandy Bay, and when he was unable to complete the return journey on horseback it was Achille Archambault who was summoned to bring the caleche which transported him from Hutts Gate back to Longwood.

When Napoleon died Achille assisted at the autopsy, and according to Sir Thomas Reade was the only one of Napoleon's followers present who was visibly upset by the occasion. At Napoleon's funeral he walked behind the cortege holding "Sheikh" by the bridle .

Returning to France, he settled in Sannois in the Val d'Oise. In 1822 he married Julienne Clarisse Boursier and they had two daughters, Euphraise Clarisse and Josephine Esther.

After the 1830 Revolution he was helped by General Gourgaud to get a job as an usher at the Tuileries.

In 1840 he accompanied some of his former companions on the expedition back to St Helena to return Napoleon's body to France. On this occasion his old lover Mary Ann Foss, accompanied by her husband, met some of his associates. It is uncertain whether Achille himself met her.

Along with other Longwood servants he received the Legion of Honour in 1851.

He was paid the remainder of Napoleon's legacy by Louis Napoleon in 1855.

He died and was buried at Sannois in 1858, almost two years after meeting his younger brother whom he had not seen since 1816.

I must acknowledge again my debt to Albert Benhamou. Much of the material here has with his permission derived from Les Frères Archambault on his web site.

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1. Events of a military life: being recollections after service in the Peninsular war, invasion of France, the East Indies, St. Helena, Canada, and elsewhere, Henry Walter,(1846) pp 26-27.

Chevalier Ordre national du Mérite

2011-11-19T17:52:00.012Z

Chevalier Ordre national du Mérite (National Order of Merit)

Sincere congratulations to Michel Dancoisne Martineau who by a decree dated 14th November 2011 has become a Chevalier (Knight) of the National Order of Merit. This is a very well deserved award for a quarter century of service to the historic French properties on St Helena.

At the risk of embarrassing him I should add that I had hoped that by now he would have received recognition from the British Government for his dedication and contributions to the wider community on St Helena, as did Gilbert Martineau and I believe his predecessor also.

Faithful Servants of Napoleon: The Archambault Brothers Part 1

2011-11-17T17:32:00.037Z

Joseph Olivier Victor Senez Archambault (1796-1874) (1)

Among the party who set out with Napoleon to St Helena were two brothers, Achille Thomas L'Union Archambault and his younger brother (Joseph) Olivier Archambault, both working in the stables under the command of General Gourgaud.

This article tells the story of Olivier Archambault, who spent only a short time in the service of the Emperor Napoleon on St Helena, but under the instructions of the Emperor followed Joseph Bonaparte to America, settled there, prospered, and raised a family.

Gravestone in Pennsylvania

Born Aug 22nd 1796 Died July 3rd 1874

In September 1816 Napoleon was forced to reduce the size of his household at Longwood, and the younger Archambault, the Polish officer, Captain Piontowski, and two servants at Longwood, Jean Giovan-Natale Santini and Theodore Rousseau, were sent off the island, initially as was the custom, to the Cape. Apparently Napoleon wished to avoid splitting up the two brothers, the younger of whom was barely 20, and he suggested that Bertrand's servant Bernard, or his own servant Gentilini should go instead. The Governor refused: Bernard was Flemish and Gentilini Italian, and his orders had been to remove three "French domestics"!

The four of them were meant to spend several months of "quarantine" on the Cape, but Admiral Malcolm, apparently ignorant of Lord Bathurst's instructions, after a few weeks sent them back to Europe via St Helena, where they duly arrived to the consternation of the Governor on 18th December 1816. Every conceivable step was taken to prevent communication with anyone on the island, although the Governor did grudgingly allow Achille to talk to his brother on board the ship, accompanied by the commissioner of police.

Arriving in England in early 1817, Olivier and Rousseau proceeded to New York with letters for Joseph, a plan of attack and a detailed map of St Helena sewn inside Rousseau's jacket. Joseph Bonaparte was preparing an expedition to free Napoleon and to take him to New Orleans where a house, Napoleon House, was readied for him. This plan was of course scrapped, but Napoleon House remains to this day.

On the ship travelling to America he met the English radical William Cobbett, who was leaving the country to avoid imprisonment in the repressive period after Waterloo. Joseph spent a year on Cobbett's Long Island model farm, teaching French to his son and receiving instruction in scientific agriculture.

In 1819 Joseph Archambault married a woman of good family, Susan Sprague (1793-1880), and the couple settled first in Philadelphia and then at Newtown, some 40 kilometres outside Philadelphia where Joseph bought a house and some land. (2)

In 1829 he bought the Brick Hotel in Newtown. He also established a post office and a dentist's practice, in which he worked for some time. Presumably his knowledge of the anatomy of horses provided some kind of foundation for this profession!

In 1837 he settled again in Philadelphia, and in 1840 was named Cavalry Captain for Bucks County.

On 3rd May 1856 he set sail for France to meet his elder brother for the first time since they had said goodbye on board a British naval ship in Jamestown harbour in December 1816. Achille had been given a grant by Napoleon III of the remainder of the money bequeathed to him by Napoleon, and it is possible that he was given a share of this money.

In the American Civil War Joseph became a Major in the US Cavalry, and his sword and a picture of him is in the Mercer Museum.

He died on 3rd July 1874, one of the last survivors of the party who had accompanied Napoleon to St Helena, and living long enough to witness the fall of Napoleon III.

He was outlived by his five children, four of whose names evoke his youth in France: Victor Ebenezer Archambault (1819-1893); Achille Lucien Archambault (1822-1906); Lafayette Archambault( 1824-1888); Napoleon Bonaparte Archambault (1826-1901); Roselma Josephine Archambault (1832-1914).

The most famous and most long lived of his descendants was his grandaughter Anna Margaretta Archambault (1856-1956), a distinguished portrait artist, miniaturist and author. As Albert Benhamou comments, she lived through the American Civil War, the Franco Prussian War, the First and Second World Wars, and could claim to have known someone who had accompanied Napoleon to St Helena!

My thanks to Albert Benhamou for all his research and his generosity in encouraging me to draw on Les Frères Archambault on his web site, and to Joseph OVS Archambault for contacting us and providing information on Joseph Archambault's descendants which inspired the piece.

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(1) Born at Fontainebleau he was given the forenames Olivier Agricola. It is possible that the name Joseph was adopted much later on his arrival in America to meet Joseph Bonaparte. Senez was his natural father's name and appears only to have been used when he arrived in America. When he substituted Victor for Agricola is unknown.
(2) Joseph Bonaparte had already established himself in the Philadelphia area, where he built a substantial house at Point Breeze, which was burned down in 1820, allegedly by a Russian lady. He built another house on the same site, and lived there until his return to Europe in 1839.

St Helena Connection: Interview with Michel Martineau

2011-11-17T15:44:00.013Z

The latest edition of The St Helena Connection, the news magazine of the Society of Friends of St Helena has just been sent to members. It is always interesting, as is The Wirebird , the Society's Magazine, back copies of which are available online to members of the society.

The current edition of The Connection features an interview by Irene Delage with Michel Dancoisne Martineau, since 1987 Honorary French Consul and curator of the French properties on St Helena. The article is reproduced from the website of the Fondation Napoleon.

The interview focuses on the background to Michel's book, Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique Sud In the interview he discusses one of the important themes of the book, the often overlooked tension between Crown and East India Company, which formerly "had the power of life and death over everyone on the island", and "was severely undermined the moment Napoleon arrived on St Helena."

The most surprising examples of this rivalry can be found in discussions relating to farming and religious matters. Hudson Lowe, the governor of the island, was the first victim of this conflict, caught between the interests of the British crown (whice he served) and those of the East India Company (whose representatives held a monopoly over civil administration and religious posts). The issues surrounding supplying the island, the imposed curfew, restricions on the population's movements, and the added drain on resources did little to simplify matters.

So overlaying the conflicts between Plantation House and Longwood House, and between Army and Navy, not to mention the strange position of the representatives of the Governments of France, Austria and Russia, there was an uneasy relationship between the governor and the small number of leading families and the company appointees, notably Rev. Boys, who had governed the island in the East India Company era. Their world had been overturned, and things for them were never to be quite the same again.

Napoleon's Last Days: Building Castles in Spain

2011-11-08T19:33:00.019Z

Photo by Esther Gibbons

By the beginning of 1821 Napoleon was convinced that he would not last out the year, and he quoted Voltaire's Lusignan, Mais à revoir Paris je ne puis plus prétendre (1)

For a time Montholon in particular kept up his spirits by passing on, and perhaps embellishing, rumours that Napoleon would soon be removed from St Helena. The backdrop to this was the crisis in England between George IV and his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, a symbol of popular opposition to the Government of Lord Liverpool towards the end of 1820. Clearly the prospect of the return of at least some Whigs into Government was a hot topic at Longwood and Plantation House and probably elsewhere on the island, although such discussions were informed by news that was at best a couple of months out of date.

In January 1821 the comments of the French Commissioner, Montchenu, were reported by Count Montholon, and together with Napoleon's reaction were noted by Bertrand.

He says there is talk of making Belle Isle into a residence for the Emperor. That would mean taking a great risk. The English could no longer have the custody of the Emperor.

On the subject of Belle Isle, the Emperor believes that the intention of the powers that be would be to keep him there under the same conditions as at St Helena, with a governor, a garrison and a cruiser, just as we have here. But the Emperor will never consent to that. He would be at the mercy of the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle which would be able to have him assassinated there. He would never agree to it.

Or perhaps they want to give him Belle Isle as a place of refuge, with a batallion of his own as at Elba. That would be a different matter, but it would be unwise from the point of view of the Bourbons, on account of the present state of unrest in France.

This account concluded with the somewhat risible claim by Montchenu that the King of France had never approved of the Emperor being taken to St. Helena, that personally he liked the Emperor very much indeed .. (2)

On February 19th further discussion was reported by Bertrand.

It is rumoured that the Emperor may be sent to England. He thinks that this seems to indicate that the English do not wish to be rid of him.

Napoleon seemed encouraged:

They could keep me on a very large estate. .. True I could then escape more easily than from here. Yet it is a much more feasible idea than Belle Isle. A safe place could not be found for me so close to France, not one where I could be interned and yet enjoy a certain amount of freedom, as I do here .. (3)

On Feb 28 the Governor sent over some newspapers which reported that the unpopular Royal divorce bill had been withdrawn by the Liverpool Government, a loss of face which seemed to presage some change in the composition of the Government.

Our hopes and conjectures on the possibility of a new government wore us out. Our hopes that Lord Grenville will be in the new Cabinet and that we shall be moved from here. (4)

By March 6th though Napoleon was sad and has lost all hope of any change in the English Government. (5) But three days later the comments of the rather foxy Major Gorrequer as conveyed by Count Montholon seemingly had raised his spirits.

Lord Holland has been spoken of as a possible Prime Minister. The Governor will then pay him a great tribute - wise man. The Governor is a schemer. The English do not want to keep the Emperor any longer, and yet they do not want to hand him over to the other powers. The Emperor may therefore entertain hopes of going to America. (6)

So the next day, March 10th He felt much better and toyed with the idea of doing some riding. He hopes soon to leave St Helena.

He was prepared to go to England, Austria, America, anywhere but the hated St Helena:

The Emperor believes that the English will not want to be rid of him. But that they would keep him in England on some large private estate, and that they would accept his parole not to leave the county in which he was living without the Government's permission. Otherwise he would be quite free. .. He cannot see what the English have to fear.

If the Austrian Emperor were to write and offer him asylum in his States, and if the Empress would also write to him, then he would go to Trieste with no mistrust, so as to be with his wife and son.

If I had the choice I would go to America. .. First I would restore my health - then I would spend six months travelling about the country. .. Among other places I would pay a visit to Louisiana; after all it was I who gave it to the Americans.
(7)

Bertrand noted that Napoleon worked the entire day. He was pleased and had hopes of finally being able to leave this miserable island. He was also reading books about America and speculating about visiting his brother's estate at Trenton.

Three days later, on March 13th their bubble was burst. Another ship arrived from England, and the Governor sent over some newspapers for the period November- December 1820:

No change of Government. The French elections were not liberal. This news was a great disappointment to everyone, above all to the Emperor, who has flattered himself on better news.

"We have been building castles in Spain," he commented. (8)

Over a month later John Ives Edwards, sea captain and husband of Mary Anne Robinson (the "Nymph"), and "much attached to the Emperor", called on Mme Bertrand. His conversation, a rehash seemingly of old news, was reported to Napoleon

He said that the English people had no wish to keep Napoleon at St. Helena, and they felt that the ignoble way in which the Emperor was being treated was a slur on them.

It cannot be long before he will leave here, perhaps in less than three months. Probably Admiral Lambert will accompany him back. .. It is public opinion that is forcing Lord Holland into the Government, not any political party but unanimous public opinion.

Napoleon was not impressed by this, "it is too late now" he said. (9)

In less than three weeks he was dead.

It was to be another nine years before the Whigs returned to Government.

-------------------------------------------------------
1. Napoleon at St Helena. Memoirs of General Bertrand Grand Marshall of the Palace January to May 1821 (Cassell & Company 1953) p.65
2. Bertrand p. 21
3. Bertrand p. 71
4. Bertrand pp 96-7 The withdrawal of the unpopular bill had of course taken place some two months earlier, and it had in fact helped to dissipate the extra parliamentary opposition. Nobody on St Helena could have known this.
5 Bertrand p. 116
6. Bertrand p. 120
7. Bertrand pp 120-121
8. Bertrand pp 121
9. Bertrand p. 172

St Helena Will have Its Airport

2011-11-03T15:01:00.007Z

So the airport will be built. The full story is on Michel's blog.

We are pleased to announce that the Secretary of State’s conditions have now been met, and that we have today entered into a contract with Basil Read (Pty) Ltd in the amount of £201.5 million for the design and construction of the airport, an additional up to £10 million in shared risk contingency, and £35.1 million for ten years of operation. This represents a saving of more than 20% in real terms from the 2008 price, taking into account inflation and the value of the pound.- Mark Capes, Governor of St Helena

I must say I have very mixed feelings about this. What we can be sure of is that once the airport is built St Helena will never be the same again. I hope my worst fears are not realised. But as Michel's post makes clear, this is good news for the French properties, which will now be far more accessible to those who wish to visit them.

In the footsteps of Napoleon: Vilnius 1812

2011-11-01T21:46:00.028Z

Cemetery of Antakalnis, Vilnius. Here in 2003 were reburied the remains of some 3500 soldiers of the Grand Army who died on the ill fated Russian campaign.

Roel Vos seems to have traced the footsteps of Napoleon across much of Europe, as well as to St Helena. His latest trip, covered on his excellent web site, was to Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania.

Here at Kaunas, on 24th June 1812 the Grand Army crossed the Niemen using three pontoon bridges.

The whole operation took about three days. Napoleon had a camp constructed on the hill overlooking the river, from where he surveyed the operation.

Arriving in Vilnius on 28th June 1812, Napoleon stayed until 16 July. He briefly returned on 6th December the same year, after his retreat from Moscow.

In that summer of 1812 Napoleon made his headquarters in the old episcopal palace, now the official residence of the President of Lithuania.

Many thanks to Roel for sharing his experiences and allowing me to reproduce images from his website.

Maldivia House and the Rather Confusing Bennetts of St Helena

2011-10-12T12:53:00.021+01:00

Maldivia 1 st. 3 bay x 2 house with verandahs, Early timber gable infill under deeply C.19 projecting eaves, North, back additions and 2 st. cottage. Tall windows sashed. Front doorcase and verandahs later. All in extensive garden. - St Helena Govt. Report
This beautiful house is situated in what was once Maldivia Gardens, from which it takes its name. Blundens and Villa le Breton also lie within the boundaries of the original gardens.

An earlier house stood on this site, originally named Concord, but changed in 1735, presumably when the Maldivians arrived.

The present house was built in the early nineteenth century, and during the occupation of Napoleon was the home of Major Hodson, nicknamed "Hercules" by Napoleon, and son in law of Sir William Doveton.

On the arrival of Napoleon members of the Council of St Helena adjourned from Jamestown to Maldivia House to consider the implications of the takeover of the island from the East India Company by the British Crown.

Napoleon himself visited the house in November 1815. Major Hodson was present at the funeral and the exhumation of Napoleon. He died in Bath in 1858.

Later in the nineteenth century Maldivia was the home of Lady Ross (nee Eliza Bennett), widow of the former Governor of St Helena, Sir Patrick Ross. Lady Ross died at Maldivia in 1890.

Some time thereafter it was bought by Eliza LLoyd (nee Eliza Mary Bennett), no relation to the aforesaid Eliza Bennett.

Eliza Mary Bennett was born in St Helena in 1857, the daughter of a clergyman on the island, the Rev George Bennett. This Bennett family returned to the UK in 1881 and at the age of 28 Eliza married 65 year old Thomas Edward LLoyd. She was widowed in 1909, and sometime thereafter purchased Maldivia House, and used to spend the English winters there until the second world war.

She died in 1947 and left the house to the Government of St Helena, in whose hands it has remained. In accordance with her wishes it is now used to house the chief medical officer on the island.

My thanks to James Phillips Evans for supplying information about the Bennett connection.

Napoleon's Religious Beliefs: The Final Days

2011-10-08T23:22:00.014+01:00

" I die in the Apostolic and Roman Religion, in the bosom of which I was born more than fifty years ago."
Despite reaching maturity in the anti-clerical, deistic, even atheistic world of the French Revolution, Napoleon always exhibited an interest in religion. In power his biggest break with the Revolution had been the Concordat with the Papacy which restored the Catholic Church to its central place in French life, as well as conveniently neutralising a major source of opposition.

On St Helena where he had almost endless time for speculation about the mysteries of life and the universe, he spoke often about such matters, although he never expressed any deep religious beliefs. As Lord Rosebery comments, it is possible to find quotations from him taking all manner of religious positions: materialist, Mohammedan, Christian and even sun worship. In some cases he was simply saying things to provoke a reaction, and without anyone in whom he confided his innermost thoughts, it is impossible to know what he really believed. (1)

To his Corsican doctor, Antommarchi, several months before he himself died, Napoleon recalled his own father's return to the Catholic church in words which hardly suggested any personal religious faith:

"my father, who was far from being religiously inclined, and who had even composed some anti-religious poetry, no sooner saw the grave half-opened, than he became passionately fond of priests; there were not priests enough in Montpellier to satisfy him. A change so sudden, and which, however, occurs in the case of every individual labouring under a serious illness, can only be accounted for by the disorder into which the disease throws the human frame. - The organs become blunted, their re-action ceases, the moral faculties are shaken; the head is gone, and thence the desire for confession, oremuses, and all the fine things, without which, it seems, we cannot die." (2)

As the end drew near Napoleon gave to his doctor Antommarchi clear instructions about the post-mortem he wished to take place, and to Vignali, one of the priests sent to St Helena by his uncle Cardinal Fesch, he spoke about the arrangements after his death and the religious ceremonies to be performed for the duration of his life.

He told the priest that he was a Catholic "and will fulfill the duties prescribed by the Catholic religion ", and he instructed him to say mass every day, to perform the holy forty hours devotion, and after his death to continue to say mass and perform the customary ceremonies until I am under ground. (3)

Perhaps sensing Antommarchi's incredulity, Napoleon became rather defensive,

You are above those weaknesses, but what is to be done? I am neither a philosopher nor a physician. I believe in God, and am of the religion of my father. It is not every body who can be an Atheist. (4)

"Can you not believe in God, whose existence every thing proclaims, and in whom the greatest minds have believed?" (5)

Napoleon had apparently been attending mass at Longwood since the arrival of the priests, but his companions in exile did not quite know what to make of his meetings with Vignali. Count Montholon said that he would not be surprised if he were to become religious. (6) Grand Marshall Bertrand, loyal as always, commented

"whether the Emperor has had a religious or a political aim, he should be upheld. If you are agreeable Montholon, tomorrow at noon and at six o'clock in the evening, my wife and I and our children will go and pray." (7)

On May 1st 1821, the same day that Vignali administered the extreme unction to Napoleon, Bertrand recorded in his diary that Napoleon had "raised the supreme question. He would seem to say that there was no afterwards . (8)

Two days later Bertrand, concerned about Napoleon's reputation, asked Vignali not to spend too much time with the Emperor

and even to make a point of showing himself to the English so that ill wishers, slanderers, and enemies of the Emperor should not be able to say - as he knew it had already been said on the island - that the strong man, the Emperor, was dying like a monk with a priest always in attendance - all of which Vignali quite understood. (9)

The young evangelical christians who met at Mason's Stock House, a short distance from Longwoood, and used to pray for the Emperor's soul, were encouraged by what they were told after his death:

his suite informed us, that towards the close of his days, he had not only been in the constant habit of praying with the priest, but that also, when he was in his apartment, he was often heard to pray earnestly to God, through Jesus Christ, for the salvation of his soul.

A day or two before his death, and knowing that he was dying, he received with great apparent earnestness and devotion, the sacrament of the Lord's supper, as we heard from Madame Bertrand and others of his household. (10)

For Chateaubriand, an enemy of Napoleon, but flattered by the small recognition Napoleon had given him from far off St Helena, Antommarchi's account was proof of Napoleon's Christian convictions:

You Rationalists abandon your admiration for Napoleon; you have nothing in common with that poor man .. this foremost man of modern times, this man for all the centuries, was a Christian of the nineteenth century! (11)

More recently the editor of Bertrand's diary concludes: "He makes a sacrifice to ritual; but he has no profound faith" , and in the diaries themselves is a note by Bertrand, "The Emperor died a Theist." (12) That still seems the most likely description of his beliefs at the end, but the evidence is not conclusive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Lord Rosebery pp 168-173
2. The Last Days of the Emperor Napoleon by Doctor F. Antommarchi his Physician (London 1925) vol 1 pp 240-241
3. On 21st April 1821. Antommarchi Vol 2 p. 120
4. Antommarchi Vol 2 p. 120
5. Antommarchi Vol 2 p. 121
6. Napoleon at St Helena, Memoirs of General Bertrand, Grand Marshall of the Palace, January to May 1821 (Cassell 1953) p.162
7. Bertrand p. 162
8. Bertrand p 247 Antommarchi dates the giving of the extreme unction as May 3rd. On March 27th Bertrand had recorded a similar opinion by Napoleon: "I am very glad that I have no religion, .. I find it a great consolation, as I have no imaginary terrors and no fear of the future." Betrand p. 133.
9. Bertrand p. 247
10. The Last Days of Bonaparte
Religious magazine: or, Spirit of the foreign theological journals ..., Volume 2
11. François de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d’outre-tombe Book XXIV Chapter 11
12 Bertrand xxiii ; p. 182

Marlborough and Napoleon - another Gift from the Emperor?

2011-09-03T11:52:00.046+01:00

Histoire de Jean Churchill, Duc de Marlborough
These three volumes, a French biography of the great Duke of Marlborough,

published under the Imperial insignia in Paris in the year XIII (1805), beautifully bound and in near perfect condition, are to be found in the John Rylands Library in Manchester.

This would not merit a mention but for a handwritten inscription inside the cover of volume I :

This Book was sent as a present to my Father about the year 1809 or 1810 by the Emperor Napoleon another copy was sent at the same time to the Prince Regent & a third to the then Duke of Marlborough

This inscription was apparently dated 13th August 1852, and signed by Earl Spencer. If my inference is correct then the signature is that of the 4th Earl, Frederick Spencer (1798-1857), the great great grandfather of Diana Princess of Wales. His father to whom the gift was purportedly sent was the 2nd Earl, George John Spencer (1758-1834), brother of Lady Georgiana, famous Duchess of Devonshire and mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire, whose links with the Bonapartes have been covered elsewhere. What complicated family ties these Whig families had!

The 2nd Earl Spencer was a great collector of books, and accumulated the "greatest private library in the world" according to the Althorp Hall website. Towards the end of the nineteenth century one of his descendants sold this 40,000 volume library to Mrs Rylands, the creator of the library named after her husband in industrial Manchester, and there it remains.

Apart from the Prince Regent, the other recipient of the biography would have been the 4th Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer (1739-1817). Curiously it was the 4th Duke's youngest brother, Lord Robert Spencer (1747 –1831), who later sent Coxe's Life of Marlborough to Napoleon on St Helena.(1) My impression from a visit to Blenheim some time ago is that members of the Marlborough family had a reciprocal interest in Napoleon; this was certainly the case of its most famous son, Sir Winston Curchill.

My efforts to find out whether copies of the 1805 French biography of Marlborough now reside at Blenheim and in the Royal Library, have so far met with no success. Without some corroboration one cannot be certain that the inscription in the Manchester book is accurate. One can see why Napoleon might have sought to cultivate leading Whig families who were out of office and were generally critical of Britain's wars on the continent, not least because they resented being taxed to pay for them. The same applies to the Prince Regent who was close to the Whigs at this time. It is possible of course that the inscription is simply repeating a family legend which had been embroidered a little in the retelling.

It seems probable though that Napoleon, who had great respect for Marlborough, took a close interest in the production of this biography, which was published not long after his coronation as Emperor. In the John Rylands Library there is also a much inferior 1808 edition (the revolutionary calendar abandoned), now losing its binding and held together with tape. Inside its front cover is a barely legible handwritten French inscription indicating that the book was printed "by order of Napoleon".

The first page of the preface to the biography is in this regard worth consideration:

A great man belongs to all peoples and to all centuries; he is, if I dare express myself thus, a masterpiece of human nature, similar to a masterpiece of art, offering a model to imitate in all times and in all places. His life is a public patrimony, a treasure where each has the right to come and draw light, wisdom, magnanimous sentiments, and the love of everything which can ennoble humanity. It becomes precious for all generations, through memories useful to the instructor who teaches, to the army general who commands, and to the man of affairs who governs.

Is the author talking about Napoleon or Marlborough one wonders? I don't think there is much doubt that this is how Napoleon hoped he too would be remembered.

My thanks to the University of Manchester for permission to publish the images taken from the collection in the John Rylands Library .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1. On his death bed Napoleon gave the three volume Coxe's Life of Marlborough to the 20th Foot Regiment. An account of this, and the problems the gift caused have already been covered in my blog on the Fusilier Museum. It is curious that two biographies of Marlborough, both associated with Napoleon, are now to be found in Greater Manchester.

Napoleon and the British Sailor

2011-08-27T21:42:00.018+01:00

With folded arms Napoleon stood,
Serene alike in peace and danger
--
The poem "Napoleon and the British Sailor" was apparently based on an actual event, or at least a story believed to be true by people on both sides of the English channel.

Such anecdotes about Napoleon were not uncommon in Britain throughout the nineteenth cenury.

Written by Thomas Campbell, a Scottish Poet (1777-1844), it was included in his The pilgrim of Glencoe: and other poems, which was published in 1842.

Campbell had Whig political connections. It is difficult to believe that any Tory would have written thus about the "Corsican Ogre".

The full poem follows:

I love contemplating, apart
From all his homicidal glory,
The traits that soften to our heart
Napoleon's story!

'Twas when his banners at Boulogne
Armed in our island every freeman,
His navy chanced to capture one
Poor British seaman.

They suffered him— I know not how—
Unprisoned on the shore to roam;
And aye was bent his longing brow
On England's home.

His eye, methinks, pursued the flight
Of birds to Britain half-way over
With envy, they could reach the white
Dear cliffs of Dover.

A stormy midnight watch, he thought,
Than this sojourn would have been dearer,
If but the storm his vessel brought
To England nearer.

At last, when care had banished sleep.
He saw one morning, dreaming, doating,
An empty hogshead from the deep
Come shoreward floating.

He hid it in a cave, and wrought
The livelong day laborious; lurking
Until he launch'd a tiny boat
By mighty working.

Heaven help us! 't was a thing beyond
Description wretched; such a wherry
Perhaps ne'er ventured on a pond
Or crossed a ferry.

For ploughing in the salt sea-field,
It would have made the boldest shudder;
Untarred, uncompassed, and unkeeled.
No sail, no rudder.

From neighboring woods he interlaced
His sorry skiff with wattled willows;
And thus equipped he would have passed
The foaming billows;

But Frenchmen caught him on the beach.
His little Argo sorely jeering;
Till tidings of him chanced to reach
Napoleon's hearing.

With folded arms Napoleon stood,
Serene alike in peace and danger;
And in his wonted attitude.
Addressed the stranger:—

"Rash man that wouldst you channel pass
On twigs and staves so rudely fashioned,
Thy heart with some sweet British lass
Must be impassioned."

"I have no sweetheart," said the lad;
"But, absent long from one another,
Great was the longing that I had
To see my mother."

"And so thou shalt," Napoleon said;
" Ye've both my favor fairly won;
A noble mother must have bred
So brave a son."

He gave the tar a piece of gold.
And with a flag of truce commanded
He should be shipped to England Old,
And safely landed.

Our sailor oft could scantly shift
To find a dinner plain and hearty;
But never changed the coin and gift
Of Bonaparte.

Longwood House: Open Day

2011-07-26T21:38:00.006+01:00

On 23rd July Michel held an open day at Longwood House, attended mainly by local Saints, most of whom had not visited the House for a long time, and some of whom had never visited before.

As I have said on previous occasions, I am full of praise for the way that Michel is continuing to involve local people in the French properties on St Helena.

Congleton: Salix Babylonica, St Helena and Sir Thomas Reade

2011-07-22T12:34:00.026+01:00

Homefield, Sir Thomas's House in Congleton (left, foreground), behind it is St Peter's church

"all around them the once-trodden ways have vanished, while those who thronged their ways, and even the memory of those who thronged those trodden ways, are dead" - Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

And so, in dreadful weather, at the end of our tour of the Napoleonic associations in the North West of England, we arrived in Congleton, birth place of Sir Thomas Reade, whose splendid memorial in Congleton Church (click to enlarge image) indicates how his widow wished him to be remembered.

Modern scholars might question whether Sir Thomas was quite as instrumental in ridding Tunisia of slavery as the memorial claims.

Sir Thomas's widow, Agnes Clogg (1804-1867) of Manchester.

The eighteenth century Anglican church of St Peter's, its internal layout and furnishing reminiscent of Congregational and Lutheran churches I have visited, contains a number of memorials to the Reade family, obviously of some importance in Congleton, and Sir Thomas's mother, who died in his childhood, is buried in a family vault beneath the church floor.

Sir Thomas Reade (1782- 1849).

The portrait, previously shown in black and white, is in the keeping of a descendant.

My thanks to Sue Dale for allowing me to copy her image of it.

Since our visit Albert has published a comprehensive and very fair account of the life of Sir Thomas which perhaps, taken in isolation, might suggest an importance in the annals of the British Empire that is I think not strictly merited!

Salix Babylonica

Willow tree, formerly within the boundary of Sir Thomas's garden, now in the grounds of Burns Garages in Congleton.

Sir Thomas's garden, now somehat reduced in size

Local legend has it that the willow was grown from a cutting brought back by Sir Thomas Reade from the site of Napoleon's grave on St Helena.

Since our visit a local expert has now confirmed that the tree is indeed a salix babylonica, very rare in the United Kingdom, taken presumably from Asia by the Honourable East India Company to St Helena, where it now no longer exists.

Albert has informed me that as well as in France other trees claiming to have been rooted from St Helena cuttings exist in New Zealand, and formerly even in the Duke of Wellington's garden at Grafton in Kent.

Plaque in New Zealand attesting to trees taken from St Helena cuttings brought by François Le Lievre who arrived in New Zealand in 1838 aboard a whaling ship

There was also such a tree in Kirkconnel Hall, Dumfries (close to Lockerbie), the house of Dr Arnott, with whom we began our tour of the northwest. This tree had to be destroyed to make way for a new road, but the owner of the house, now a hotel, took a cutting and has planted it in his garden.

KirkConnel Hall Hotel, formerly the home of Dr Arnott, somewhat extended since he lived there.
With all the cuttings taken from it, it is no wonder perhaps that the original tree on St Helena no longer exists.

All that remains to satisy the most sceptical is for a comparison of the DNA of all the trees claimed to have descended from cuttings of the one at Sane Valley on St Helena! For my part I am as satisfied as I need to be that local legend is correct, and that for whatever reason, the intrepid Sir Thomas, a Loyalist to the last, brought a cutting from Sane Valley, the site of the grave of Napoleon, that "miserable outlaw" whom he affected to despise.

My thanks again to Sue Dale and Albert Benhamou for providing so much information and for leading me to a place I might never have visited. Despite the weather it was a fascinating end to our tour.

William Hesketh Lever: The Napoleon of Soap

2011-07-05T14:52:00.057+01:00

William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925)
a veritable Napoleon in his grasp of all factors dominating any problem to be tackled (1)

North West England Tour Part 3: The Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight on the Wirral.

A special place, visited many times since I was introduced to it by friends some 25 years ago; but this time, attempting to guide Albert Benhamou and in unequal competition with his satnav, we temporarily lost our way among the pleasant streets of Port Sunlight.

The Napoleon Collection

Lord Leverhulme had a life long passion for Napoleon which the Lady Lever Art Gallery would not wish to make too much of.

So in the sculpture gallery the busts of Napoleon, numerically in the ascendant, are intermingled with, among others, those of Wellington, Sir Walter Scott, Marie Antoinette and another hero of Lever's and of fellow Liberals of his generation, the Grand Old Man, William Ewart Gladstone.

Napoleon and Gladstone.

So to the Napoleon Room, now about half its original size, and rather crammed with furniture and other objects which are observed through an open doorway.

The Napoleonic association with most of these objects is unfortunately rather questionable. Some certainly came from Malmaison, and some were once owned by Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's rather unlikeable uncle, but there is in all honesty little here to excite that kind of Napoleon enthusiast who would like to see, touch, smell and of course photograph things seen, touched, maybe smelt, although not photographed by the great man himself.

What to me at least is more interesting in this case is the subject rather than the object of the passion, if such it was.

Miniature portraits of Napoleon's family.

On the left of the doorway to the Napoleon Room,

overlooked on previous visits,

evidence I think of the depth of Lord Leverhulme's interest in Napoleon,

which is to some extent obscured by the artistic eclecticism on display in the gallery as a whole.

In the centre of the wall opposite is William Quiller Orchardson's St. Helena 1816 - Napoleon dictating to Count Las Cases the Account of his Campaigns. My earlier blog, Soap, Art and Napoleon: The Lady Lever Art Gallery contains a better image.

This painting is now flanked by portraits of Wellington and Nelson, the decision I suspect of some Museum director trying to achieve political balance.

The Napoleon Room also contains a little known painting by George Richmond, the nineteenth century portrait artist, of Napoleon reading his letter of abdication. This painting, overlooked unfortunately by Albert and I, used to be hung close to a bust of Lord Leverhulme himself, in Thornton Manor, his house on The Wirral.(2)

Outside the Napoleon Room, and apart from the busts there are other Napoleon objects, including two death masks.

Not enough here perhaps to excite the most devoted Napoleon enthusiasts, and I have to admit that my attachment to this gallery has more to do with its other collections: the nineteenth century art, the Wedgwood, and the Chinese collection in particular.

The model village which Lever created, with the Art Gallery at its centre, is itself worth a visit, as too is the Port Sunlight Museum opposite.

Thoughts on Lord Leverhulme and Napoleon

The appeal of this Napoleonic collection for me lies more in what it suggests to us about Lord Leverhulme, and about the enduring fascination of Napoleon for a section of English society throughout the nineteenth century and up to the First World war.

Significant I think is the presence of this fellow, whom I do not recall having noticed on previous visits:

Oliver Cromwell no less,

would not have been welcomed in the homes of many people, wealthy or otherwise,

and certainly not in staunch Tory or Anglican households. (3)

Nor I think in Catholic households, but that is another issue!

The missing piece in the jigsaw is almost certainly Lever's nonconformist roots: he came from a Congregationalist background.

In our secular age it is difficult, perhaps even for art historians, to appreciate that deep divide in English life, culture and politics between established church and nonconformity which endured well into the twentieth century.

The words attributed to Isaac Foot, staunch Methodist, famous West Country Liberal, and father of Michael Foot, perhaps best summed it up:

"I judge a man by one thing, which side would he have liked his ancestors to fight on at Marston Moor?".

I think I can guess how Lord Leverhulme, despite his ecumenical approach to religion, would have answered that question.

Those brought up in a culture in which Cromwell was a hero not a villain, who saw history in terms of a struggle for freedom against despotic monarchs, and contemporary politics as a struggle against Tory parson and squire, were inclined to have a more favourable view of Napoleon, who had created a society open to talents and protected the rights of property, than those on the other side, and a far more favourable view too than the emerging socialist left, to whom Napoleon was a counter revolutionary and a militarist and, like the Liberals themselves, on the wrong side of the class divide.

There was never any doubt where Lord Leverhulme stood politically: a loyal Liberal, elected reluctantly in 1906 to Parliament, a supporter of the creation of a state pension and of votes for women, although a suffragette burned down one of his houses, and concerned like Gadstone to find some solution to the Irish problem. His paternalism and imperialism, evident in his company's much criticised dealings with native labour in the Congo and his well meaning but disastrous attempts at social engineering after his purchase of the Isle of Lewis, were part of the same territory as his philanthropy and his concern to improve the lot of his workers, of which the village at Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Art Gallery were shining examples. By any standards he was one of the most remarkable people to emerge in that short period when British industry and innovation still dominated the world.

Lord Leverhulme died of pneumonia in 1925, the same illness which in 1913 had struck down his wife, to whom the Art Gallery was a memorial. Sleeping and bathing in a room open to the elements could not have helped.

30,000 people are said to have attended his funeral.

The Company he founded lives on, bearing his and his wife's names, and the Leverhulme Trust still offers support for education and research. (4)
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1. Attributed to Thomas Mawson, Landscape Architect who had worked for Lever, cited in Adam Macqueen, The King of Sunlight, How William Lever Cleaned Up the World (Corgi, 2004) pp 155-5.

2. "Lord Lever’s bust stood next to Napoleon reading his letter of abdication(1860, oil on canvas) by George Richmond, where the words ‘Napoleon/care sat on his faded cheek’ are hidden from view on the reverse of the stretcher.The bust of Elizabeth {Lever's wife] was next to Millais’ painting of another Napoleonic subject, The Black Brunswicker (1860, oil on canvas), a picture of fated love that stresses the private, domestic repercussions of war, where a woman clings to her lover, trying to prevent him leaving for the battle of Waterloo. Alison Yarrington, ‘Solvitur ambulando’: Lord Leverhulme, Sculpture, Collecting and Display
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/uploads/docs/s8_7.pdf

3. Alison Yarrington again, in her study of Lord Lever's collection which perhaps raises as many questions as it answers, points out that at one point in his Music Room there was a life size bust of Cromwell next to Lever's own bust, and close by was Ford Madox Brown’s St Ives A.D. 1630– Cromwell on his Farm. Yarrington op cit

4. Lever was raised to the peerage as Viscount Leverhulme in 1918. Hulme was his wife's name.

Maiden Visit of QM2 to St Helena

2011-07-04T16:36:00.010+01:00

This video of St Helena was made when the Queen Mary 2 visited St Helena at the end of March 2010. I have seen numerous photo shows and videos of the island made by travellers, and this is one of the best that I can recall.

The video is focused on Jamestown, Longwood and Napoleon's Tomb, and is I think all the better for that. Most visitors to St Helena try to include everything in their photographic narratives, perhaps because they have come a long way and expect it to be a once in a lifetime experience. Gerard, probably because of the constraints of a short visit from a cruise ship, has not fallen into that trap.

He is clearly an ocean liner enthusiast, and has an interesting blog on the subject. Many thanks to him for sharing his video of St Helena, and to Michel for featuring the visit on his latest blog.

Chatsworth: The 6th Duke, Canova, Madame Mère & Paolina Borghese

2011-06-26T06:59:00.037+01:00

Letizia Bonaparte and me

The main object of my visit to Chatsworth was to look again at Canova's imposing sculpture of Napoleon's mother, Letizia Bonaparte. Sculpted at the height of her son's power, it was purchased in Paris by the 6th Duke of Devonshire in 1818, when Letizia had been exiled to Rome and her son was languishing on St Helena.

In 1823 on one of his frequent visits to Rome where his step mother lived, the 6th Duke met Madame Mère, and wrote in a letter : "I am growing particular with Madame Mère. She scolds long and loud about the statue which she says they had no right to sell nor I to buy." He said that the statue was very like the old lady, who had a "very stately walk and her whole appearance is miraculous for a woman of 80."

Here also is Canova's large, much admired bust of Napoleon,

inherited by the Duke from his step mother, and flanked in the sculpture gallery by the seated figures of his mother

unhappy mother of the greatest son - Lord Holland

and his favourite sister, the exquisitely beautiful and loyal Paolina, shown looking at a portrait of her brother.

This sculpture was commisioned by the Duke and executed by the Rome based Scottish sculptor, Thomas Campbell (1790 -1858). Pauline collaborated willingly with Campbell, and allowed him to take casts from her hands and feet which were apparently of perfect form, and which he cast into bronze! Their whereabouts is unknown to me.

Opposite is a bust of another emperor and a ruler much admired by Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and close by is a Canova bust of Letizia which the Duke thought better than the head on the larger seated figure.

The sculpture gallery comes at the end of the tour, and for that reason perhaps not all visitors give it the attention it deserves. Even Albert and I missed some Napoleonic relics: medals made for Napoleon from the famous Elba iron that were given to the Duke by Paolina, apparently set into the rear panel of the pedestal of one of the statues; the bracelet Paolina wore when mourning her brother’s death, used to disguise a fracture in the wrist of Thorvaldsen’s Venus.

Finally a comment by Alison Yarrington, who advised Chatsworth in the project to restore the sculpture gallery to its original conception

These Napoleonic associations were also carried on the air at Chatsworth that was seasonally perfumed by the four orange trees from the Empress Josephine’s collection at Malmaison planted in the Orangery. The scent of these and other rare specimens scented the whole of Chatsworth with their blossoms. (1)

The 6th Duke and Paolina Borghese

Just before the entrance to the Sculpture Gallery there is currently an exhibition about the 6th Duke. In it is a copy of Lefèvre's portrait of Paolo Borghese, Napoleon's favourite sister, friend and perhaps lover of the 6th Duke.

Pauline Borghese (1780 – 1825)

Pauline was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world. Twice married and once widowed, she was the sole member of Napoleon's family to accompany him to Elba, where she used her own fortune to support him and his followers when Louis XVIII failed to pay the money promised in the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

During Napoleon's exile to St Helena she received visits in Rome from a number of Whigs who were receptive to her complaints about his treatment. When she heard of Napoleon's last illness on St Helena she wrote a letter to the English Prime Minister Lord Newcastle, to which she never received a reply, and she was making plans to go to St Helena when news reached her of her brother's death.

By the time she met the 6th Duke, Paolina was separated from her husband, Prince Camillo Borghese (1775-1832), although she was to be reconciled with him shortly before her death. The 6th Duke never married but had a number of romantic liaisons, and it seems highly probable that he was the last of Paolina's long line of lovers.

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1. Under Italian skies, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, Canova and the formation of the Sculpture Gallery at Chatsworth House. This is an excellent study of the Duke's passion for marble and his admiration of Canova, the most talented, the most simple, and most noble-minded of mankind, as he later described him.

The 20th Foot and a Gift from Napoleon - The Fusilier Museum Bury

2011-06-20T11:31:00.055+01:00

The Fusilier Museum in Bury has a small but priceless collection related to the last days of Napoleon. The centre piece is the three volumes of Coxe's Life of Marlborough, the gift of Napoleon to the 20th Regiment, which caused so much consternation to the Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, and so much trouble to Captain Lutyens, the orderly officer at Longwood.

There are also a number of other items on view, including the medals of Dr Arnott, the last British doctor to attend Napoleon on St Helena, and the tunic he wore when attending him.

This tunic, and the picture of Arnott (below) were apparently rescued from the ruins of the home of a descendant of the Arnott family after the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, and but for that atrocity these items might never have been recovered.

Arnott, Archibald, M.D. (1771-1855). Surgeon to the 20th Foot Regiment, he was called to attend Napoleon on April 1st, 1821 and continued to attend him until his death on May 5th.

Whatever his limitations as a doctor, Arnott got on well with Napoleon.

During one of their conversations Napoleon praised the men of the 20th Foot and said that he would make them a gift of Coxe's Life of Marlborough.

The three volumes of this book were subsequently put in Captain Lutyens' room without explanation, presumably by St Denis.

On our visit we were privileged to be able to examine the famous books, and to photograph the three words, "L' Empereur Napoleon", which were like a red rag to a bull to Hudson Lowe.

Volume Two of Coxe's Life of Marlborough with three fatal words inscribed at the top. (Click to enlarge)

The inscription, almost certainly made by St Denis, who acted as Librarian at Longwood.

The books were returned to Longwood, although later the 20th Regiment was allowed to receive them, and for some time thereafter they were proudly kept in the officers' mess.

Happily Napoleon, in the last stages of his final illness, was not informed of what he would surely have regarded as one of the most hurtful of many insults. Even William Forsyth, Hudson Lowe's most faithful defender, conceded that "Napoleon's kindly meant present might, under the circumstances have been accepted. .. nor was there much likelihood of a British regiment being seduced from its allegiance by adding to its library a few books, the gift of Napoleon."

Blamed for his failue to return Napoleon's gift, Captain Lutyens was removed from his post. A decent man whose loyalty was unimpeachable, the incident was for him a disaster which must have overshadowed the rest of his short life.

Lutyens, Captain Engelbert (1784-1830). Orderly Officer at Longwood (1820-1821).

Member of a family which had come to England from Hamburg in 1745, and which was to produce one of Britain's best known architects.

Suspected by Hudson Lowe and Thomas Reade of being too friendly with the French at Longwood, honestly reporting the deterioration of Napoleon's health from November 1820, and very uncomfortable about being required to spy on Napoleon during his last illness, Lutyens had previously asked to be removed from Longwood at the end of December 1820.

For Captain Crokat, who replaced Lutyens at Longwood and subsequently had a very successful career and lived to the age of 90, it proved a very lucky break.

Crokat, William (1789-1879).

Having replaced Lutyens as orderly officer at Longwood he was given the honour of taking the news of Napoleon's death to London, for which he received the sum of £500, a large amount in those days.

He was also promoted to Major, ahead of Lutyens.

Lutyens, after a lengthy process was successful in getting his own promotion to Major backdated to 1821, as clear a sign as possible that the Army recognised that he had been wrongly treated.

Crokat whose bust is in the Fusilier Museum, ultimately rose to the rank of General,

and was one of the very few people who served on St Helena during Napoleon's captivity who can be said to have had great success afterwards.

Finally a note about the disputed books. Contrary to what has been written in a number of published accounts, these were the gift not of Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer, who happened to be on St Helena at the end of 1820, but of Lord Robert Spencer, the youngest son of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. The books apparently had been sent via Lady Holland, at the centre of that group of Whigs who were opposed to the Government's treatment of Napoleon, and who sent many books to St Helena for Napoleon.

Allegedly Count Bertrand and/or his wife provided a French translation of Marlborough's biography for Napoleon. This translation, if it existed, has as far as I am aware never been found.

My thanks to Paul Dalton of the Fusilier Museum, and to Albert Benhamou, without whose help this blog would not have been possible.

Napoleon: The North West Tour

2011-06-15T17:15:00.051+01:00

It hardly needs to be said that Napoleon never visited Manchester or the North West, although two of his nephews did, accompanied by a famous actress! (1) That aside, last weekend Albert Benhamou travelled north for his first visit, and accompanied me on a two day tour to explore what the region has to offer.

First stop was the Fusilier Museum at Bury, not far from the famous market.

Albert Benhamou at the Fusilier Museum.

Here we were met by Paul Dalton, a knowledgeable, friendly member of the museum staff who kindly showed us the very important items in the collection that are associated with the 20th Regiment and Napoleon's captivity on St Helena.

This proved to be a very exciting start to our trip, particularly because of the opportunity to examine the famous three volumes of Coxe's Life of Marlborough , which Napoleon wished to give to the 20th Regiment in the last few weeks of his life, a gesture that was to cause so much trouble for its recipients.

More on this and other items held in this excellent museum will hopefully follow in the next few days.

From Bury, and after a pleasant and rather too leisurely lunch in the Palace Hotel at Buxton, next on our list was Chatsworth, strictly perhaps not in the North West, but an easy drive from Manchester. The main reason for our visit was to look at the amazing collection of Canova sculptures assembled by the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

There is of course so much else to see at Chatsworth, even if you have been before, and for most people it would repay a full day to explore all that it has to offer.

William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858).

The Bachelor Duke, son of the now very famous Lady Georgiana Spencer, and a man whom one feels it would have been a pleasure to get to know.

A friend of the Czar of Russia and of members of the Bonaparte family; he entertained Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington at Chatsworth.

As it happens Chatsworth is currently holding an exhibition to commemorate the life of the 6th Duke, so this was an added bonus.

On day two we got up early and were first visitors at the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight, a place which I have blogged about some time ago. Here Lord Lever, a life long admirer of Napoleon, displayed his large collection of Napoleon memorabilia, not all of which turned out to be genuine!

Finally we made it to Congleton, a town rather off the tourist map and an unlikely place for Napoleonic associations, which happens to be the birthplace of Sir Thomas Reade.

Here we were kindly entertained to lunch by Sue Dale, a member of the Friends of St Helena whose husband once served on the island and knew Gilbert Martineau.

Among other things we were fascinated to be shown an impressive willow tree now in the grounds of a local garage, which local legend claims to have an association with Sir Thomas, St Helena and the captivity of Napoleon.

It really was a fascinating two days, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. I will try to provide a more detailed account of each location in the next week or so.

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Notes

1. Louis Napoleon in fact made more than one visit to the area, including a stay at Arley Hall in 1847-1848, where the Emperor Room commemorates his stay. The story that he lived in Southport and was so impressed by Lord Street that he modelled Paris on it when he became Emperor seems to be fanciful at best. He arrived in London having escaped from the prison at Ham, and there he lived, albeit with a number of trips around the country, until he went to France after the 1848 Revolutions.

St Helena: "Trouble in Paradise"

2011-06-12T17:32:00.016+01:00

One is inclined to take any article, such as that in today's Observer, which portrays St Helena as a paradise, albeit a troubled one, with a largeish pinch of salt. The Observer tries to link concerns about the proposed airport with the recent demonstrations on the island, a connection that I for one have not detected, which is not to say that it does not exist.

The article raises concerns of the outgoing chairman of the St Helena National Trust, Jamie Roberts, who says that the site for the airport "happens to be one of the best sites for wirebirds .. It is a big area for St Helena, and especially important as it is productive agricultural land." Also Martin Drury, former head of the UK National Trust, voices his concern that the proposed airport, tourist hotel and golf course would destroy much of St Helena's "time-capsule character." He prefers a solution modelled on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel - "tourism without new development" , which is more in keeping with St Helena's character. Whether that would generate the jobs required is open to doubt, although to be fair there must be similar doubts about the current Government proposals.

Certainly one cannot help wondering why at a time of unprecedented belt tightening in the UK this £300 million project appears to be given priority. The Observer seems to be in little doubt as to where the responsibility lies:

Much of the momentum behind the airport plan derives from the long-standing interest in the island shown by billionaire businessman Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative donor and the party's former deputy chairman and treasurer."

Apparently the Observer contacted Lord Ashcroft's office last week, but received no reply.

Coincidentally this week's Independent carries evidence that all is indeed not well in paradise. Grafffiti abusing Governor Gurr, Napoleon, expatriates and the French have appeared on the newly built and not yet opened toilets on Tomb Road.

Happily, as the Independent reports, the overwhelming majority of Saints appear to be shocked by this apparently premeditated vandalism, but even if it is an isolated incident, it is a worrying one which could destroy St Helena's reputation for what the Observer today calls its "friendly people."

Napoleon: General or Emperor?

2011-06-09T13:27:00.009+01:00

Send this card to General Bonaparte; the last I heard of him was at the Pyramids and Mount Tabor.
- Napoleon to Bertrand, on receiving an invitation from Hudson Lowe inviting General Bonaparte to a ball.

.. I have no cognisance of any Emperor being actually upon this island, or of any person possessing such dignity having .. come hither with me in the Northumberland .
- Admiral Cockburn to Bertrand, in reply to a letter in which Napoleon had been styled Emperor.

Aside from the legality of Napoleon's detention without trial after the war with France had ended, the most contentious issue of his captivity on St Helena was the decision that he be styled and treated as a general officer, which was compounded by the puerile way in which Hudson Lowe was wont to enforce it.

Lord Rosebery in his Napoleon: The Last Phase singles out some of the absurdities: Hobhouse's gift of his book on the Hundred Days to Napoleon was confiscated because of the inscription Imperatori Napoleoni ; some chess pieces bearing the inscription N and a crown, sent by Mr Elphinstone who was grateful for Napoleon's kindness to his wounded brother on the field of Waterloo were passed on only with extreme reluctance; Napoleon's gift to the 20th Regiment of Coxe's Life of Marlborough was declined because the imperial insignia was on the title page. Also Gorrequer noted in his diary that he was required to cut a leaf out of a book sent for Napoleon by Lord John Russell because of something, presumably the disputed title Emperor, that Lord John had written on it.

One of the charges made against Dr Stokoe in his court martial was that he had referred to Napoleon as "Napoleon" rather than as "General Bonaparte". Finally of course, Hudson Lowe refused permission for the simple inscription Napoleon to be placed on the tomb. Lowe insisted that "Bonaparte" must be added, his followers refused, so it remained unmarked. "It seems incredible, but it is true" was Lord Rosebery's comment on this bizarre affair. (1)

Gorrequer noted though that after Napoleon's death Admiral Lambert had no compunction about using the terms Emperor, Empress and Princess (referring to Napoleon's sisters) in conversation with Bertrand. (2) Of course the Navy were always suspect in Lowe's eyes: " the fact is that there is a feeling for Bonaparte throughout, that ought not to be".(3)

Lowe also came to have doubts about the 20th Regiment, particularly after the affair of the books, and he must have been horrified to be informed by Sir Thomas Reade on 5th July 1821 that the officers had toasted Napoleon in their mess! (4) Whether or not they used the title General Bonaparte is not recorded! On an earlier occasion Gorrequer had noted Lady Lowe's comments on the 20th: "The affection and admiration of that corps for our Neighbour [Napoleon] was very unaccountable and, after his death, if he had lived longer and if 20th had remained where they were, God knows what would have been the consequences in time." (5)

At one stage Napoleon suggested that he should resolve the dispute by assuming the name of "Colonel Muiron" or "Baron Duroc". Lord Bathurst's response tells us much about the man and almost makes you feel sorry for Hudson Lowe in having to answer to him: "On the subject of General Bonaparte's proposition I shall probably not give you any instruction. It appears harsh to refuse it, and there may arise much embrrassment in formally accepting it." Apparently the right to assume an incognito belongs only to a monarch! (6) So General Bonaparte he remained.

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1. Lord Rosebery, Napoleon: The Last Phase (London 1900) p 80.
2. James Kemble, Gorrequer's Diary (London 1969) p242.
3. Gorrequer's Diary p. 61
4. Gorrequer's Diary p 255
5. Gorrequer's Diary pp. 226-7
6. Rosebery pp 90-91

Missing Images of St Helena

2011-05-30T13:37:00.007+01:00

I have recently come across Cédric Villain's short film about Napoleon's exile, death and exhumation.

I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that at times it challenges my comprehension of spoken French, but that doesn't seem to matter too much! I loved its graphics, its unemotional commentary and its abstract, matter of fact treatment of a subject which has generated millions of words and so much passion.

If I have missed any factual errors hopefully my French reader(s) will inform me!

Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique Sud

2011-05-26T19:21:00.018+01:00

I am very pleased to have received a copy of Michel Dancoisne-Martineau's recently published book, Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique Sud (Perrin 2011).

Based on extensive research accumulated during Michel's twenty five years on St Helena, this collection of vignettes provides a rich human backdrop to the captivity of Napoleon. It reminds us that whilst a drama at times bordering on farce was being played out at Longwood and Plantation House, ordinary people were, in extraordinary circumstances, trying to live their lives as best they could.

In here are accounts of relatively well known personages: Saul Solomon, the founder of the company that still bears his name on the island who profited greatly from the captivity of Napoleon; Robert Grant who prayed for the Emperor's soul with others at Mason's Stock House; Rev Boys, "the man whom even Hudson Lowe feared", in permanent conflict with the island authorities; Betsy Balcombe, whose familiarity with Napoleon was the envy of the other young girls.

There are also some lesser known characters: Mary Anne Robinson, Napoleon's Nymphe de la vallée ; Catherine Younghusband whose rumour mongering ultimately forced her and her husband off the island; Madame La Admiral, the mysterious companion of Admiral Plampin, whose identity may remain forever unknown, but who apparently openly plied her trade among the sailors in Portsmouth before accompanying the Admiral to St Helena, and continued to do the same on the ship going out!

Here also are accounts of the experiences of female slaves such as Flora, the mistress of a soldier, George Rushford, who in his absence came under the influence of James Williams the gaoler cum pimp, and was killed by the enraged, drunken Rushford, for which he was fined 10 pounds. Also the strange story of Fanny, a slave employed in the prison by James Williams to perform sexual favours for the inmates. Williams was convicted of procurement, fined 5 pounds and returned to his old job, as apparently did Fanny. It appears that Sir Thomas Reade, the year before having added chief of police to his multifarious and highly profitable duties, and having we are told, "a peculiar and not solely professional interest" in such matters, had some rather shadowy connection to this affair. Then there is the case of Lucy, a slave beaten and mistreated by her master, Robert Wright, a captain in the St Helena Regiment, who, thanks to the intervention of General Bingham, was eventually brought to some kind of justice.

Poignant too is the case of Mary Ellis, the wife of a captain in the 66th regiment. Pregnant in 1821, and not allowed to accompany her husband when he sailed for England with his regiment after Napoleon's death, so with about a dozen other women and their husbands she remained on the deserted camp at Deadwood. Just over two months later she died in child birth, and was buried with her dead child on 22nd August.

For anyone interested in the history of St Helena, this is a fascinating study which complements and enhances the general picture that emerged from Gilbert Martineau's Napoleon's St Helena. From reading it one can understand why a cleric as strait laced as Rev Boys was so outraged by the behaviour of large sections of the community on the island.

Inevitably there are omissions. I had hoped to learn more about Miss Mason, the rich landowner who always bowed effusively whenever she encountered Napoleon, and was there in 1840 to greet those of Napoleon's companions in exile who returned to reclaim his earthly remains. That though is a very minor complaint.

Curiously to English eyes at least, the book has its list of contents where one would have hoped to find an index! I should add in case there is any confusion that it is of course written in French! It would repay translating into English to give it the wider audience that it deserves.

Sir Thomas Reade - "the noisiest filibuster of them all" (Walter Runciman)

2011-05-11T21:01:00.030+01:00

Reade, Sir Thomas, (1782-1849). Deputy Adjutant-General in St. Helena.

The only son of William Reade, a surgeon of Congleton Cheshire, and Hannah, his second wife.

His mother died when he was two and his father when he was eleven. He was articled to a Congleton Attorney, but ran away and enlisted at the age of 16 (1799). Within a few days he received a commission, probably purchased by a member of his family.

He served in Holland, Egypt, Malta, Naples, Sicily, Spain, in the almost forgotten campaign in America (1814), and finally under the command of Hudson Lowe in Genoa. He was knighted in 1815 at the age of 33.

St Helena and The Captivity of Napoleon

Reade was a faithful supporter of the policies of Sir Hudson Lowe towards Napoleon, and indeed, as Arnold Chaplin commented, "he often thought Lowe too lenient in his administration." Apparently Lady Lowe, not the most supportive of wives perhaps, frequently referred to him as "the real Governor."

Among his many tasks was that of monitoring the letters between Dr Verling and Mme. Betrand. Chaplin was critical of his and the British Government's conduct in this matter:

But although the British officials in St. Helena rightly blamed O'Meara for making Madame de Montholon's illness the occasion of jokes in letters to Sir Thomas Reade, they did not, apparently, see any indelicacy in Sir Thomas reading and commenting on gynaecological details concerning Madame Bertrand's illness.(1)

Sir Thomas appears to have met Napoleon only three times: April 17th, May 27th, and October 4th, 1816. He is most probably better remembered for a most famous failed meeting when in September 1819 he turned up at Longwood demanding proof that the reclusive ex-Emperor was indeed still in residence. In one of the most absurd episodes among many contenders, Sir Thomas banged on the door bellowing at the top of his voice, "Come out, Napoleon Bonaparte. We want Napoleon Bonaparte." Suffice it to say that Sir Thomas failed to carry out the implied threat to break the door down, and retreated without having seen the Emperor.

On an earlier occasion Napoleon refused to see Sir Thomas Strange with the riposte, "Tell the Governor that those who have gone down to the tomb receive no visits, and take care that the judge be made acquaintance with my answer."
The redoubtable Sir Thomas Reade responded,

If I were Governor, I would bring that dog of a Frenchman to his senses; I would isolate him from all his friends, who are no better than himself; then I would deprive him of his books. He is in fact nothing but a miserable outlaw, and I would treat him as such. By G--! it would be a great mercy to the King of France to rid him of such a fellow altogether. It was a piece of great cowardice not to have sent him at once to a court martial instead of sending him here." (2)

The generally negative picture of Sir Thomas which emerges from reading Chaplin, Runciman and Watson is confirmed by Gorrequer's diaries, to which they did not have access. Gorrequer clearly disliked him greatly, and gave him the nickname Nincumpoop, which requires no elaboration. The following extracts, absent from the best known narratives of the captivity and, allowing for Gorrequer's prejudices, do not show Sir Thomas in a very favourable light.

"His encouraging Mach to persevere in sending felucca [the ship] to Ethiopia in the present state of its crew, and the consequences notwithstanding his advice of the contrary. But even the lives of men were of no consequence to him, Nincumpoop, as long as he could only carry his point and show his influence over Mach. That fellow did not care a damn about men's lives to attain his object. His telling such downright lies the preceding evening about Major B------" (3)

"Ninny [Reade] wrote to Mach: 'My opinion is still that he [Napoleon] will get better.' Though Medico 20th [Dr. Arnott], the great oracle, had the preceding day reported him dangerously ill. His opinion, indeed!" (4)

"Sultana and Ninny endeavoured to make the public believe the followers were delighted at Bony's death, affecting to say they were delighted." (5)

"Tresorier of ship coming home told Ego that he never heard a man so abused as he heard Ninny; he seemed to have made an immense number of enemies; he had been at a party of 8 or 9 persons, every one of whom had some heavy complaint against him, and who seemed to be exasperated against him; so bad indeed that he at last took Ninny's part." (6)

Albert Benhamou probably summed it up nicely in a comment made on one of my recent blogs: "Hudson Lowe was feared at St Helena, while Thomas Reade was hated."

Postscript

A bachelor during his time on St Helena, it appears that he fathered a child by a slave. This was not unusual among the leading families on St Helena, as we know from the efforts of the Rev Boys to shame them by entering the names of the fathers of such children in the church baptismal records,

The child, a boy named John, lived only a few months.

On September 8th 1824 Sir Thomas married Agnes Clogg of Longsight Lodge, Manchester in the Collegiate Church (now Manchester Cathedral). He was in the same year appointed His Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in the Regency of Tunis, a post he held until his death in Tunisia in 1849. A memorial was erected to him in Congleton Church.

During his time in Tunisia he became involved in the excavation and study of Carthage and other Roman antiquities, and he assembled a valuable collection of objects.
Presumably Sir Thomas would have become acquainted with the Bey's Palace:

"On the walls were portraits of Napoleon and paintings of his battles. On his book shelves figured a book on Napoleon’s reign the Bey had ordered to be translated into Arabic." (7)

One wonders what he made of that.
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1. Chaplin, A St Helena Whos Who London 1919, pp 97, 117-118. To another scholar of the Captivity, George Leo de St. M. Watson, he was simply "..an undistinguished Captain in a foot regiment (via the Lancashire Militia), pitchforked for the time being into a local Lieutenant-Colonelcy .." Polish Exile with Napoleon p 32. Watson also commented that "everybody at St. Helena was 'on the make' .. Lowe was the exception : he entertained too freely. But his D.A.G. made up for it. Reade had a talent for stepping into snug little berths - like that of 'Vendue Master" (whatever it may be) at £300 a year in October 1818 - when their occupants were invalided home; and he was never averse from huckstering in horseflesh and the like. " pp 67-8, and finally he commented ironically on Reade's unpopularity: "Alarm House, where Reade cultivated rurally that prime Doric way which made him such a favourite with English and French alike" p. 32
2. Hazlitt, commenting on a similar speech by Sir Thomas was scathing: "Oaths, malignity, meanness, abuse, right, and duty are blended in as fine a confusion as one would wish. Such were the persons sent out to represent the boasted heroism and generosity of the English nation and government!" Hazlitt, Life of Napoleon Vol IV, 2nd Edition, p. 261
3 28th August 1818, Gorrequer p. 87
4. 27th April 1821,Gorrequer p. 226
5. Gorrequer p. 260
6. Gorrequer p. 262
7. Abolition of Slavery in Tunisia

Kubrick, Burgess and Napoleon

2011-05-11T14:34:00.012+01:00

In December 2009 I posted a note on Stanley Kubrick's film about Napoleon, which of course was never made.

I was surprised to hear today that among the large collection of unpublished materials left by prolific Manchester born author Anthony Burgess, most famous for A Clockwork Orange, is a script for Kubrick's Napoleon film no less. Burgess did of course write a novel about Napoleon, a largely forgotten one, Napoleon Symphony: A Novel in Four Movements, so titled because it was designed to follow the structure of Beethoven's Eroica symphony. Burgess's novel was published in 1974, some years after the Napoleon film that never was. Interestingly it was dedicated to Kubrick.

Whether Kubrick intended to use this script or not is another matter. My understanding is that he didn't use Burgess's script for A Clockwork Orange. Anyway, Burgess's Napoleon script now resides among the voluminous collection in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester.

190 Years Later, the Death of Napoleon is Commemorated on St Helena

2011-05-05T18:13:00.013+01:00

Napoleon's Tomb, with two wreaths laid today by the Honorary French Consul, Michel Dancoisne Martineau, and the Governor of St Helena, Andrew Gurr

This is the first time that the death of Napoleon has been publicly commemorated on the island. In the past there have been occasional private ceremonies for French visitors, but never before has there been a formal ceremony in which the island authorities and ordinary Saints have been invited to participate. I would guess that the last formal ceremony commemorating Napoleon took place in 1840 when his body was exhumed, solemnly transported to Jamestown, and with much fanfare taken on board the Belle Poule for his final journey back to France.

Organised in conjunction with the St Helena Tourist Office, this is a long overdue recognition of the importance of the captivity of Napoleon to St Helena's past and to its future, as well as a mark of respect to a great man whom the British Government treated rather shabbily in his last days.

Congratulations again to Michel who has worked tirelessly for 25 years to bridge the divide between the French properties and the lives of the island's inhabitants. Hopefully this will become a regular event.

How wonderful too that modern technology allows us to see photographs of the ceremony on the same day. How different from the world of 1821 when the only images were those of amateur artists, and when news of Napoleon's death took several weeks to arrive in Europe.

Protest March on St Helena: Not a Happy Place

2011-04-17T19:39:00.014+01:00

Michel's blog has photos of the protest march on St Helena yesterday (16th April). It has been triggered by the imposition of a new 20% tariff on all imports. This is on top of already very high freight charges, increases in electricity and water charges, and a new regressive tax system.

The St Helena Independent is always a useful source of information on such matters, and the editorial by Mike Olson, published the day before the protest march, did not disappoint:

The demonstration tomorrow will be interesting. During my 15 years on the Island, I have never before seen so many angry people. People from all walks of life are strongly reacting against the imposed ‘tax reforms’ electricity and water increases and increases in anything else the Government can come up with to take your money.

St Helena has got three full-time farmers, about eight full time fishing boats and 10 Directors in Government. Who will pay for all the new Directors? It is absolutely ridiculous that we have 100’s of people counting and writing reports about what a handful people are doing.

.. is it really fair that people on lower incomes should pay for a few high paid bureaucrats through huge increases in duty on your children’s baby milk and nappies. The unfortunate fact is that we have dozens of people from overseas making tax benefits of between £50,000 and £100,000 per year together and they never actually use their own money. They pay their living from the generous tax-free allowances. Their handsome tax-cuts YOU have to pay for. The system is despicable and is not fit for any place in the world with any social ambitions. taking the people into account.

The full editorial is well worth reading by anyone who cares about the island and its people.

A couple of letters published in the same edition of The Independent cannot help but make you wonder just what is going on.

Who Is Getting All The Subsidies?

Last week a letter was published from Cllr Buckley setting out grant expenditure for 2010/11. In order to prevent further speculation, we the undersigned wish to make it clear that none of the £6,000 apparently granted for coffee production was granted to us.

Yours faithfully
Mr Bill Bolton
Mr Stephen Biggs
Mr Brian Beard
Rosemary

With regards to the letter from Councillor Rodney Buckley on the amount of money that was ploughed into the farming industry in the past financial year- £204,682 to be exact! Well as one of the farmers on the Island I got nothing from this money!
But I am wondering who did?

Sincerely
Farmer – Western side!

Reading information like this it is difficult to feel much optimism about the future of the island, and it certainly does not inspire much confidence in the ability of the St Helena Government to manage the massive airport project.

General Robert Meade: Another Failed Meeting with Napoleon

2011-04-12T12:51:00.015+01:00

General Hon. Robert Meade (1772 - 1852).

He was the second son of a wealthy Northern Irish family: his father John Meade became the 1st Earl of Clanwilliam and his mother Theodosia Magill was an heiress from County Down.

He was badly wounded and lost an eye in the battle of Rosetta ( 1807) in which the British were defeated by the Turks.

He later served as Lieutenant-Governor of the Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, 1912-1916.

On his return from the Cape in September 1816 he and his wife, as was common in those days, stopped off on St Helena. (1)

Whilst on the island the General visited Longwood with Hudson Lowe, presumably in the hope of catching a glimpse of the famous captive, and was spotted by Napoleon, always alert to the appearance of an unfamiliar senior officer. Dr O'Meara, who apparently had served under Meade in Egypt, spoke very highly of him to Napoleon. O'Meara gave a detailed account of the incident and its aftermath:

"That governor," said he [Napoleon], "was seen stopping him frequently and pointing in different directions. I suppose that he has been filling bis head with bugie about me, and has told him that I hate the sight of every Englishman, as some of his canaille have said to the officers of the 53d. I shall order a letter to be written to tell him that I will see him."

8th. -- A letter written by Count Montholon to General Meade, containing an invitation to come to Longwood, and stating that the emperor would be glad to see him. This was given to Captain Poppleton, who was also requested to inform Mrs.Meade, that Napoleon could scarcely request a lady to visit him; but that, if she came, he should be happy to see her likewise. Captain Poppleton delivered this letter open to Sir Hudson Lowe. His excellency handed the note to General Meade. On the road down to James Town, General Meade reigned back his horse, and spoke to Captain Poppleton nearly as follows, that he should have been very happy to have availed himself of the invitation, but that he understood restrictions existed, and that he must apply to the governor for permission, and in the next place, the vessel was under weigh, and he could not well detain her. This he begged of him to convey to Longwood. A written apology was afterwards sent by him to the count, expressing his thanks for the honour done to him, and excusing him self on the ground of the vessel's being under weigh. (2)

On September 10th Dr. O'Meara had an interview with Sir Hudson Lowe who asked if General Bonaparte had made any comment about General Meade turning down the invitation. On being told that Napoleon was convinced that Sir Hudson had prevented the General from accepting and that O'Meara had been asked to convey this opinion to Lowe, the latter flew into one of those rages familiar to readers of Gorrequer's diaries:

"he is a d— — d lying rascal, a d— — d black-hearted villain. I wished General Meade to accept it, and told him to do so." He then walked about for a few minutes in an agitated manner, repeating "that none but a black- hearted villain would have entertained such an idea;" then mounted his horse, and rode away. He had not proceeded more than about a hundred paces, when he wheeled round, rode back to where I was standing, and said in a very angry manner, "Tell General Bonaparte that the assertion that I prevented General Meade from going to see him, è una bugia infame, e che è un bugiardone che l' ha dette. Tell him my exact words." (3)

O'Meara commented, "It is almost unnecessary for me to say, that I did not deliver tbe message in the manner I was directed to convey it." (4)

I found this an interesting episode, indicative of the state of relations between Napoleon and Lowe only a few months after the latter had arrived on the island.

My thanks to a descendant of General Meade whose email inspired this post and kindly supplied the photo of the painting, and also yet again to Albert Benhamou for his assistance in verifying and expanding on the information I was sent.
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1. Robert's wife Anne Louise was the daughter of Sir John Dalling, Governor of Jamaica and later Commander in Chief at Madras. They had eight children: two sons, Robert and John, and six daughters, Adelaide, Catherine, Anne, Theodosia, Edine and Caroline. Robert died young in a riding accident. John's son and the General's grandson John Percy Meade, later inherited the Earsham Hall Estate in Norfolk from the Dalling family. The General himself had apparently rented the Norfolk estate, although he had also inherited property in Ireland from his mother.

2. O'Meara, Napoleon In Exile or A Voice from St Helena Vol 1 (London 1822) pp 72-74

3. O'Meara translated the Italian as "is an infamous lie, and the person who said it is a great liar." A pedant might have pointed out that expressing an opinion that might have been wrong does not make a man a liar!

4. O'Meara p. 75

Maldivia Gardens

2011-04-08T19:59:00.019+01:00

My original blog about Maldivia, St Helena, has over the years attracted a lot of interest in the Maldive Islands, but I have never before been able to provide a photograph of the location of the gardens. John Grimshaw has kindly sent this photo of the place in the upper Jamestown Valley where he thinks the Maldivian Gardens were situated: he thinks it is the area around the tree enclosed detached house. If anyone can confirm or counter this please let us know. [ Regrettably this is a photo of Palm Lodge not Maldivia Gardens! See comment below. Palm Lodge was in the nineteenth century the home of the St Helena born Governor Hudson Ralph Janisch who was not allowed to reside in Plantation House ]

In January my wife and I managed to get back to the Maldives and on our last evening were very pleased to meet up with our friend Naz. She had arranged a memorable evening for us: a private launch to Bandos island to be greeted by the proprietor;

a fine meal on Bandos with Naz and a number of her family; an exciting after dark return in the launch to Hulhule island; an interview for a local television station.

The television interview made me realise once more how little we know about those Maldivians picked up by Captain Polly in 1735. There must be some information about them hidden in the archives at Jamestown, but archives will not show us how they thought or felt about their fate. Their initial relief at being saved from death (three of their party had died before they were picked up) must surely have given way to a great sadness when they realised that they would never see home nor loved ones again. What one knows about the treatment of slaves and free blacks on St Helena does not provide much confidence in their lot, but then again perhaps the lives of ordinary people in the Maldives would have been equally hard at that time. These seem to me to be issues for the novelist rather than the historian: an authentic treatment of the experiences of the St Helena Maldivians demands the talents of a creative writer steeped in the culture of the eighteenth century Maldives, ready and able to visit St Helena and to research its very different social life and culture. Naz could do the job, but she is very busy!

Amidst these ruminations I have also come across a further couple of references to Maldivia Gardens from Janisch's records which I will now reproduce:

Feb. 25, 1745.—Gov. complains that some Melons sown in the Maldivee Garden and Mr. Dixon had appropriated them. I could enumerate many instances of his little insults and slights shewn to me which are not worth notice, but one I cannot omit because it is an act of injustice as well as an affront. A superannuated Negro Gardener belonging to the Company had sown some Melon seeds in the Maldivee Gardens where they produced in much greater perfection than any I have seen upon this Island. The Melons Mr. Dixon has taken on him to dispose of at his pleasure as his own without even ever mentioning them to me except that he was pleased in his generosity twice to send me one. At the first I could not help laughing and at the second to countenance the farce gave his servant one of Comps. blacks a piece of money. Those Melons of right belonged to the Table.

One of the issues that has been raised in the past is whether the Maldivians were slaves or free blacks. If the gardener mentioned in this passage was a Maldivian then the fact that he belonged to the Company indicates he was not free.

Sept. 22, 1794.—The Maldivia Gardens to be let—the best watered and fenced in of any on the Island,—to be subject to quit rent 5/ per an. and ground rent equivalent to the value of the Yam, Fruit and vegetables supplied from time immemorial therefrom for the Lt.-Governor.

By this date even the child who had arrived on St Helena in 1735 would if alive have been past working age. Whether he or any of the other Maldivians had any descendants is a question I have often been asked but am unable to answer.

"Veritas" and "Sultana" or How Lady Lowe Almost Met Napoleon : A Case Study in Flattery?

2011-03-31T13:53:00.017+01:00

MONTHOLON, Charles Tristan, Comte de (1783-1853), despite the departure of his wife Albine, he remained with Napoleon until his death and was, the servants apart, the only resident of Longwood House to do so.

Nowadays he is the prime suspect for poisoning Napoleon among those who subscribe to that theory.

For Gorrequer he was simply "Veritas", suggesting that he was plausible but also that what he said should not perhaps always be taken at face value.

LOWE, Susan DeLancey, Lady (1781-1832). The widow of Colonel William Johnson who died in battle in 1811, she had two teenage daughters, Susanna and Charlotte, of whose beauty she was very proud. Her father was Colonel Stephen DeLancey, a New York Loyalist who had moved to England after the American Revolution. With that background it is hardly suprising that she disliked Napoleon and all he was deemed to stand for.

Susan Johnson had married Sir Hudson shortly before they came to St Helena. For Lowe, who was over 10 years older (he was the same age as Napoleon) it was the first experience of matrimony, although he had had a mistress in Genoa who bore him two children.

Unfortunately there do not seem to be any images available of Lady Lowe, so we shall have to make do with a verbal picture given by Sir Henry Russell:

"a large, showy-looking woman of about forty, who has been handsome, with an air of fashion about her, but who is too highly rouged and too décolletée."
(1)

To Gorrequer she was "Sultana": a lady who considered herself at the apex of St Helena society, was never shy of voicing her opinions, and made life difficult for most of those who shared Plantation House with her, including Sir Hudson Lowe and most certainly Gideon Gorrequer. According to Russell again: " [she] had a great deal to say and very little reserve in saying it". (2)

Apparently whilst on St Helena she took to the bottle, which in the circumstances is perhaps understandable, and there were rumours also of a lover, Captain Den Taaf, although one gets the impression that not to be suspected of having a lover might almost have been considered an insult on the island at that time.

Lady Lowe of course never met Napoleon, although towards the end of Napoleon's life she had some limited social contacts with Mme Bertrand.

Anyway, on re-reading Gorrequer's diary I was struck by the following revealing entry, made after the death of Napoleon when there was a degree of amity between the residents of Longwood and those of Plantation House.

"Sultana boasted that Veritas [Montholon] had told her that our Neighbour [Napoleon] was once prepared and dressed on purpose to go out and meet her, when she went up in consequence of Veritas having promised her at the races to show her the grounds."

Lady Lowe blamed the orderly officer and then the Bertrands (particularly Madame Shrug as Gorrequer referred to her) for not telling Montholon that she had arrived and thus depriving her of the opportunity to meet their neighbour:

".. Veritas said that had he known she was there, he would have gone immediately to receive her and procure her a sight of Neighbour. That he added had she seen and conversed with him, she would easily have brought about everything and restored a good understanding between Mach and him. In fact her meeting Neighbour was all that was wanted .

The idea of Lady Lowe as a peacemaker is shall we say an interesting one. Perhaps Montholon really believed it, but he was not finished.

Veritas told her also that Neighbour had been looking at Cadetta [Lady Lowe's daughter] through the window, and admired her much, saying she was very pretty (all this was said before Cadetta). She believed she said that Madam Shrug prevented her meeting Neighbour for fear she might supplant her. She was jealous of her being introduced to him, and feared he would be making a present to herself and figli, which would be depriving Madame Shrug and her figli of them. It was in fact her apprehension that Sultana would put her (Mme Shrug) nose out of joint. Veritas had begged her permission to send her presents from Paris, bonnets etc., and pressed her to pay them a visit at Paris, and to consider him entirely at her commands for any commission she might desire to have executed there.

Then came Montholon's coup de grace:

That he said that he understood Mach was to go out as Governor General to India, and that he thought it very likely etc. This made Mach cock up his ears, and a suffusion of self complacency and consciousness of meriting it spread over his countenance, and he appeared quite delighted at the prospect. "

Quite how Montholon would have been privy to British Government thinking on colonial appointments is far from clear, but the gullible Sir Hudson, never to get another post of similar standing to that held on St Helena, was all too ready to believe him.

Gorrequer concluded with a comment about the inconsistencies of Lady Lowe:

Sultana was quite in rapture at Veritas' politeness, he was so pleasant, so amiable, so clever and gentlemanly, after all the abuse she had so frequently lavished on him!!(3)

Gorrequer's diary is full of such gems. Had he been prepared to tidy it up and publish it in his lifetime he would have made a fortune, at a cost probably of time and money spent in the Law Courts and of being outcast from polite society.

I often think what a pity it was that that distinguished scholar of the captivity, Arnold Chaplin was never able to get his hands on the diary. He knew about its existence and in A St Helena Who's Who quoted extracts from the judgement in the Court of Chancery which at that time prevented anyone from reading it. He concluded that it was doubtful that its contents would ever be revealed. (4) Little over a decade after his death the judgement of the Court was overturned by Act of Parliament.
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1. Arnold Chaplin, A St Helena Whos Who (London 1919) pp 95-7.
2. Ibid .
3. 26 May 1821, St Helena During Napoleon's Exile, Gorrequer's Diary, pp 240-241
4. Chaplin p. 78-9

Other St Helena Blogs

2011-03-29T09:48:00.006+01:00

On Michel's blog there is an update about progress with the construction of a rest area and toilets on the approach to Napoleon's tomb. The island is slowly but surely gearing itself up for the expected increase in tourists when the airport is built.

Michel's blog also has a picture taken at his much loved Briars, showing the garden in front of the Balcombes' pavilion with the heart shaped waterfall in full flow in the background.

Also there is a new blog on St Helena history, written by John Grimshaw, whose photographs of the island have previously featured on here. John's latest post is about the murder at Prosperous Bay Signal Station in 1904, including the report of the execution of the two convicted murderers behind the customs shed and their burial in quick lime coffins. I wonder if John can tell me when the last execution took place on St Helena?

How strange to have two St Helena bloggers both Johns and both living in Greater Manchester!

The Wirebird: Photos of St Helena

2011-03-17T10:37:00.006Z

This is I think the first time that St Helena's emblematic wirebird has made an appearance on this blog. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a decent photograph of one on my visit, but I found this among the excellent photographs of St Helena taken by John and Pauline Grimshaw on their visits to the island in 2006 and 2010.

John and Pauline live close by, and although we have never met, John and I exchange fairly frequent emails on matters relating to this blog. Both are obviously keen photographers, and I am sure their collection will be of interest to anyone who has visited or wishes to visit St Helena.

St Helena Photos: 2006

St Helena Photos: 2010

Gorrequer's Diary

2011-02-25T22:06:00.017Z

Major Gideon Gorrequer (1781-1841), aide-de-camp and acting military secretary to Hudson Lowe on St Helena.

Gorrequer met Lowe whilst serving in Sicily and the Ionian Isles, and was asked to accompany him to St Helena, for which his fluency in French and Italian was an ideal qualification. He arrived with Lowe in 1816, and remained until after Napoleon's death. A lifelong bachelor, we know little of Gorrequer's private life. Along with Denzil Ibbetson he ran the amateur dramatics on the island during the captivity.

Of Huguenot stock, Gorrequer joined the army at 16 as an Ensign, and was promoted to Lieutenant (1897), Captain (1804), and Brevet Major (1814).

One of the gripes that comes over in his diary was the lack of appreciation of his hard work, his feeling that Ibbetson and others were more highly regarded for doing much less, and his suspicion that Lowe, encouraged by Sir Thomas Reade, was not throwing his weight behind Gorrequer's further preferment.

Gorrequer was however, finally promoted to Lt Col in 1826, possibly because of his agreement to support Lowe in the case against O'Meara that never actually came to court.

For many years his papers, including his diary were locked away in the Court of Chancery, where they remained until 1958.

It is doubtful if Gorrequer ever intended his diary to be read by others. He was always very cautious abut expressing his opinions, and would never talk about his experiences on St Helena afterwards, but a number of people on the island, including Lowe and Sir Thomas Reade, probably suspected that he was, as Mrs Thatcher might have put it, "not one of us".

One conversation with Lowe and Lady Lowe about Napoleon on 10th June 1818 might well have raised Lowe's suspicions:

"Donna [Lady Lowe] pitying the situation of B. [Bonaparte] and saying he really was to be pitied, contrasting his former situation with his present, and Sir H. [Lowe] saying he deserved more contempt than pity which gave rise to a lengthened reasoning between them. Both looked at me alternatively, as they spoke, and as if engaging me in conversation. I observed that something must be allowed for the personal feelings of a man who (as he said, trusting to the generosity of the British nation and expecting a refuge in England) had delivered himself into the hands of the English and instead of an abode in England, had found himself fixed at St. Helena. " (1)

A rash comment for the normally guarded Gorrequer, who was well aware of the suspicion that fell on those who were thought to have any sympathy for the inhabitants of Longwood:

"When Madame Shrug [Madame Bertrand] sent the list, his observation that C-ns and Pear_n [Cairns and Pearson] were objectionable characters to visit there. No man in the Island had any business to have any opinion but himself about the people of Longwood, and much less on his own actions or duties here."

Gorrequer was himself instructed to tear a leaf out of a book sent for Napoleon by a future Prime Minister because of something that he, Lord John Russell, had written on it. (2)

One of the interesting features of the diary is the use of nicknames, which are today a feature of St Helena, but were presumably used by Gorrequer to disguise identities in case anyone accidentally read his scribblings. Amongst the often humorous names he used were

Mach. - (Machiavelli) - Hudson Lowe
Constipation - Colonel Charles Nicol
Denzil Periwinkle - Denzil Ibbetson
Nincumpoop, Ninny - Sir Thomas Reade (also other names)
Old Brick and Mortar - Major Anthony Emmet (3)
Saul Sapiens - Saul Solomon
Shrug - Count Bertrand
Sultana or Donna - Lady Howe
German /Teutonic - William Janisch, clerk to Lowe
Neighbour or Vicino - Napoleon
Weeping Willie - Sir William Doveton
Veritas - Count Montholon
Yam Maggiore Long Shanks - Major Hodson (nicknamed Hercules by Napoleon).

Since the publication of Gorrequer's diary it has been virtually impossible to mount a serious defense of Sir Hudson Lowe. Gorrequer's own remarkably modern sounding conclusion on Mach (Machiavelli) as Gorrequer usually referred to him, has been recently quoted by Dr Howard, and is worth repeating:

" Mach is but a machine - he is just what his nature and circumstances have made him. He slogs the machine which he cannot control. If he is corrupt, it is because he has been corrupted. If he is unamiable it is because he has been marked and spitefully treated. Give him a different education, place him in other circumstances, and treat him with as much gratefulness and generosity as he has experienced of harshness, and he would be altogether a diferent nature. A man who would be anxious to be loved rather than feared; and instead of having the accusation of being a man who was satisfied to spread around him anguish and despair, one who has an instinct for kindness." (4)

Less well noted was Gorrequer's comment about Lowe's "contempt of men generally held clever". (5) This was consistent with his refusal to admit that Napoleon had any qualities above the ordinary,

"He frequently said he did not consider our Neighbour [Napoleon] as a man of superior mind or talent, or a man of judgement. He pretended to hold him quite cheap." (6)

and with his refusal to acknowledge to an incredulous Lord Byron at Holland House in 1815, that Napoleon had any special talent as a military leader. Some have claimed that Sir Hudson Lowe certainly regarded himself at least as Napoleon's equal, and Gorrequer noted how he looked for any confirmatory evidence of his beliefs however fragile such evidence was: "Mach's readiness and eagerness to hear any little nonsense to the prejudice of our Neighbour and Shrug and his wife without desiring, or trying to analyse it for fear it might be found false - and communicating such stuff to Big Wigs." (7)

If Sir Hudson Lowe comes out badly in Gorrequer's diary, so also does Lady Lowe, whom Gorrequer detested, and so does Sir Thomas Reade, perhaps the real eminence grise of St Helena. Those are issues for another day.
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1. St Helena During Napoleon's Exile, Gorrequer's Diary , James Kemble (London 1969), p. 67
2. [End of 1819?] Gorrequer p. 153
3. Emmet was in charge of the construction of New Longwood House.
4. Gorrequer p. 267
5. 20 July 1818, Gorrequer p. 70
6 6th May 1821, Gorrequer p. 233
7. 14 Feb 1819 Gorrequer p. 116

Napoleon's Poisoned Chalice

2011-02-14T15:32:00.014Z

Among the half dozen books I recenty read on holiday was Napoleon's Poisoned Chalice: The Emperor and His Doctors on St Helena by Dr Martin Howard. It was the only one on Napoleon that I took with me. It seems to me to be by far the best of the recent books on the captivity produced by British authors. Dr Martin is largely free of nationalistic prejudice, provides a careful and considered evaluation of the evidence, and thankfully does not engage in wild speculation as to what was going on in the head of Napoleon or anyone else. Although highly readable, this is a scholarly study which deserves the attention of anyone interested in the captivity of Napoleon.

The book's judgement on Lowe, derived partly from Gorrequer's diary, seems apt:

.. he may be judged to be a fundamentally decent man who was promoted beyond his capacity and was then destroyed from within by his deficiencies.

Napoleon himself astutely described Lowe as a hyena caught in a trap - a trap presumably set by Lord Bathurst and the British Government.

Dr Martin also provides a succinct analysis of Barry O'Meara's conflicting loyalties as Napoleon's medical attendant, a British officer, and an admiralty informer. He suggests with some justification that Lord Rosebery might have been less dismissive of O'Meara's Voice of St. Helena and its allegations about Lowe had he been able to read Gorrequer's diary.

Dr Martin also brings out clearly the enmity between Lowe and the Admiralty, and the Navy's sympathy for the Emperor and his doctor which is the key to understanding the O'Meara affair and much that followed. He describes Napoleon's relationship with the British Navy as close to being one of mutual admiration.

The book also provides a thorough account of the harsh treatment of Dr Stokoe by Sir Hudson Lowe and the egregious Sir Thomas Reade, always sniffing around for a conspiracy. It notes the very selective treatment of the case by Lowe's apologist W. Forsyth. The comment on Stokoe's plight as a doctor is worth repeating, coming as it does from a medical practitioner:

He decided to see Napoleon; whatever the risks, this was the action one would have expected of a conscientious doctor.

and

The regulations extant on St Helena had been manipulated to render normal medical practice illegal.

Dr Arnott's diagnosis of Napoleon's illness as hypchondriasis as late as 22nd April 1821 was he concludes the result of the climate of fear created by the Governor rather than of incompetence. Dr Martin dismisses the poisoning theory in an uncharacteristic unscholarly phrase as, all mouth and no trousers.

I found the introductory pages a little less sure footed. The famous letter to the Prince Regent is claimed to have been written in Plymouth when in fact it was written before Napoleon went on board the Bellerophon. Pieter Geyl's Napoleon For and Against is inaccurately described as a double edged account of Napoleon's life , when in fact it is a study of French historiography on Napoleon, a very different animal. I also have some problems with his description of Napoleon at his peak as egotistical and brutal. I don't think anyone would cavil at the egotistical epithet, but by no stretch of the imagination was Napoleon a brutal ruler. Martin also suggests that Napoleon still believed himself to be the Messiah, a somewhat bizarre assertion, which perhaps refers to Napoleon's sense of destiny. These though are minor points which should not detract from the quality of the work.

The book inevitably invites comparison with Albert Benhamou's L'Autre St Hélène. Albert's book engages more directly with the primary sources, and contains many long extracts from them, which I personally found very useful. Dr Martin's book is largely a synthesis of secondary sources, and focuses more on the doctors and on Hudson Lowe and less on the inhabitants of Longwood. I feel that these are complementary studies, and still hope to see an English translation of L'Autre St Hélène. I am pleased to have both books on my shelves, each signed by its author.

How far is St. Helena ..

2011-01-21T17:05:00.017Z

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

- English poet, short-story writer, novelist and British imperialist,

- he was born in Bombay, and was brought to England at the age of 5.

- named after Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire, a popular holiday location in Victorian times, which Kipling's parents visited in 1863.

- awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909, turned down a Knighthood, but accepted an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Sorbonne.

- married Carrie Balestier, an American of French Huguenot descent.

The Kiplings experienced much personal sadness, losing their eldest daughter in 1899, and their only son who was killed in France in 1915.

They never really stopped mourning their lost children, a situation which their only surviving child, Elsie Kipling Bambidge (1896-1976), found very difficult.

Like his near contemporary and fellow imperialist, Winston Churchill, Kipling was a life long francophile. He visited France many times, and was well known and respected there. In 1905 following the entente cordiale he gave his thoughts to M. Huet on relations between the two nations.

our two nations have had so much friction all these centuries that their angles have been rounded off. The two countries have grown side by side like two trees. Their mutual inclination is towards the light, and what gives me faith in the efficacy of the entente is that it in no way depends upon Governments. It has sprung among the people themselves. At least that is how it is in England. (1)

St Helena Lullaby
In 1910 Kipling published his poem about Napoleon and St Helena: St. Helena Lullaby. I have reproduced a number of rather poor poems about the island in the course of writing this blog. This poem is of a rather higher standard!

'How far is St. Helena from a little child at play?'
 What makes you want to wander there with all the world between? 
Oh, Mother, call your son again or else he'll run away. 
(_No one thinks of winter when the grass is green!_)

'How far is St. Helena from a fight in Paris street?
' I haven't time to answer now--the men are falling fast. 
The guns begin to thunder, and the drums begin to beat.
 (_If you take the first step you will take the last!_)

'How far is St. Helena from the field of Austerlitz?
' You couldn't hear me if I told--so loud the cannons roar.
 But not so far for people who are living by their wits. 
(_'Gay go up' means 'Gay go down' the wide world o'er!_)

'How far is St. Helena from an Emperor of France?
' I cannot see--I cannot tell--the crowns they dazzle so. 
The Kings sit down to dinner, and the Queens stand up to dance. 
(_After open weather you may look for snow!_)

'How far is St. Helena from the Capes of Trafalgar?
' A longish way--a longish way--with ten year more to run. 
It's South across the water underneath a setting star. 
(_What you cannot finish you must leave undone!_)

'How far is St. Helena from the Beresina ice?
' An ill way--a chill way--the ice begins to crack.
 But not so far for gentlemen who never took advice.
 (_When you can't go forward you must e'en come back!_)

'How far is St. Helena from the field of Waterloo?
' A near way--a clear way--the ship will take you soon. 
A pleasant place for gentlemen with little left to do,
 (_Morning never tries you till the afternoon!_)

'How far from St. Helena to the Gate of Heaven's Grace?
' That no one knows--that no one knows--and no one ever will. 
But fold your hands across your heart and cover up your face,
 And after all your trapesings, child, lie still!  
(2)

France
In 1910, 1911 and 1914 Kipling stayed in Vernet les Bains, and in 1913 wrote a poem "France" as a public celebration of the French President's visit to London.

Broke to every known mischance, lifted over all
By the light sane joy of life, the buckler of the Gaul,
Furious in luxury, merciless in toil,
Terrible with strength that draws from her tireless soil;
Strictest judge of her own worth, gentlest of man's mind,
First to follow Truth and last to leave old Truths behind-
France beloved of every soul that loves its fellow-kind!

These lines may be heard in the only existing recording made by Kipling himself.

For a time Kipling went out of vogue. Now the balance seems to be swinging back, and people seem better able to appreciate the complex talent that was partially obscured by his too public association with imperialism.
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1. Interview with M Huret, quoted in New York Times, Sept 29th 1905
2. Like Churchill, Kipling never visited St. Helena. His first trip from India was after the opening of the Suez Canal, otherwise he almost certainly would have stopped there.

Napoleon Kake

2011-01-16T16:03:00.011Z

As an Englishman I was surprised to find that a number of nations, including Russia, eat what are described as Napoleon cakes. Normally the term is given to what I learned to call a mille feuille, but which others might call a vanilla slice. Clearly the Norwegian version pictured above is not a mille feuille, but it is delicious and undoubtedly very fattening.

I was intrigued as to why on earth Norwegians would ever name a cake after Napoleon. He never went there, and had no direct impact on its history. (1)

A little research indicated that the cake and its variants has nothing to do with Napoleon. The name almost certainly derives from Napolitain, the French adjective for Naples.

I am still a little intrigued though as to when the transition from Napolitain to Napoleon took place. Nobody seems to know. I would hazard a guess that had there been no Emperor Napoleon there would be no Napoleon Cakes. It is probably significant also that Canada, which has a large French population, is apparently the only country in the former British Empire that eats "Napoleon cake".

That still leaves me wondering about Norway's delicious Napoleon kaker.

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(1) Napoleon's defeat however meant that Sweden was able to conquer Norway from Denmark. Whilst Napoleon was on the road to Moscow the Tsar Alexander met Napoleon's former General, Bernadotte, who had recently become King of Sweden. They agreed that in return for Russia keeping Finland, Sweden could have Norway. Alexander also hinted that Bernadotte might get the throne of France! Assured of Bernadotte's support, Alexander was able to withdraw three divisions from Finland and deploy them against Napoleon.

Myth of The Two St Helena's

2011-01-14T23:18:00.005Z

My previous blog raised the issue of the myth of the two St Helena's. There seems to be two schools of thought - 1) that the depiction of two islands on the early charts was the inevitable result of inaccurate measurement of longitude. 2) that the island(s) charted were in fact large rock formations a few metres below sea level which at times would have been visible to early sailors.
I have no claims to expertise on this, but have been forwarded this reference which is I think worth perusing by anyone who is interested.

The origin of the myth of New St. Helena is unclear. Supposedly located east of St. Helena at approximately 16½°S 4°E, New St. Helena was coveted and sought for by the Dutch after they relinquished St. Helena for the Cape. New St. Helena is marked on the Universal Hydrographic Chart of Jean Guérard, 1634 and on Jansson's 1646 chart of the South Atlantic Mar di Æthiopia Vulgo Oceanus Æthiopicus (part of this chart is illustrated above) from Volume V of the Novus Atlas. Although New St. Helena continued to be marked on maps and charts to as late as 1803 (the map of Africa by Rochette), it appeared with decreasing frequency through the 1700s. The disappearance of New St. Helena could be very rapid; a 1713 map of Africa by Aa shows the island but it was removed from a subsequent map of Africa by Aa published just one year later.

St Helena History

2011-01-08T23:12:00.011Z

The Heart Shaped Waterfall, St Helena, from a sepia postcard purchased on St Helena in 1949.

Between the Cable and Wireless buildings and the waterfall is the pavilion in which Napoleon spent his first few weeks on St Helena.

Close to the Pavilion is the small house that in 1815 had been occupied by the Balcombe family. This house may already have been demolished by the time this postcard was purchased.

This picture is posted by courtesy of Pauline and John Grimshaw, who happen to live quite close to me, and contacted me after discovering my blog.

They have now visited St Helena twice, and I understand that Pauline's parents called there while working on the Union Castle Line in 1949 .

Their collection of photographs on St Helena History is well worth a visit. Each photograph is carefully documented, there are links to related photos in the collection, and some have fuller descriptions.

Their collection includes a number of old maps (some showing two St Helena's!), views of Jamestown, and images of famous visitors, including Halley and Darwin. (1)

One visitor whom I do not think I had previously heard of was William Dampier, who apparently visited twice, the first time in 1691. He wrote an account of his trip, which I referenced from the excellent description that accompanied the photograph. His description of St Helena, and particularly the young ladies, is worth a perusal.

For the islands afford abundance of delicate herbs, wherewith the sick are first bathed to supple their joints, and then the fruits and herbs and fresh food soon after cure them of their scorbutic humours. So that in a week's time men that have been carried ashore in hammocks and they who were wholly unable to go have soon been able to leap and dance. Doubtless the serenity and wholesomeness of the air contributes much to the carrying off of these distempers; for here is constantly a fresh breeze. While we stayed here many of the seamen got sweethearts. One young man belonging to the James and Mary was married and brought his wife to England with him. Another brought his sweetheart to England, they being each engaged by bonds to marry at their arrival in England; and several other of our men were over head and ears in love with the St. Helena maids who, though they were born there, yet very earnestly desired to be released from that prison, which they have no other way to compass but by marrying seamen or passengers that touch here. The young women born here are but one remove from English, being the daughters of such. They are well-shaped, proper and comely, were they in a dress to set them off.

Among the pictures I noted was one of Kent Cottage published in 1903. This was of course the home of the somewhat notorious Rev Boys, who has appeared on this blog before.

I wonder who the men in the photo were?

Anyway I thoroughly recommend this collection and am very grateful to them both for sharing it. I shall be posting a permanent link to their site in the near future.
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1. I am informed that the two St Helena's had the same latitude. As soon as longitude could be measured accurately it was apparent that there was only one St Helena. Sounds like a football chant!

Meeting in Paris 12th January

2011-01-04T09:12:00.001Z

On Michel Martineau's blog there is a notice of a debate/conference to be held in the Austerlitz Auditorium at les Invalides in Paris on the evening of 12th January. Michel himself will speak about the exile of Napoleon and the reasons behind the choice of St Helena.

An excellent opportunity to meet Michel without having to travel all the way to St Helena!

I wish I were able to attend, but other pressing matters prevent it at present.

St Helena 1815: A Poetic Description

2011-01-02T15:10:00.005Z

WRITTEN BY AN OFFICER IN THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY'S SERVICE.

Rugged rocks and lofty mountains,
 Interspers'd with crystal fountains,
 Here and there a grove of trees, 
Are all the wandering stranger sees; 
The tradesmen, imitating fops, 
With heads as empty as their shops;
 The girls, drest out from top to toe, 
Like painted dolls in puppet-show;
 Unsocial wretches here reside, 
Alike their poverty and pride,
 Throughout this Isle, there's scarce a creature 
With either breeding, or good nature: 
For rugged rocks, and barren fields,
 Are all that St. Helena yields*.

*Except an abundance of water-cresses and plenty of fish.

I think that neither Mme Bertrand nor Napoleon would have found much to disagree with here!
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From The News , August 13th 1815.
The Image, of Friars Rock, is from G.H. Bellasis, Views of St Helena 1815.

1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow

2010-12-31T13:51:00.005Z

Spending an extremely cold Christmas in Norway where temperatures never rose much above -10C, what could be more appropriate than to read an account of the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812?

What an excellent if harrowing read it is.

Based on numerous accounts of those who experienced it, Zamoyski paints a detailed picture of human misery on a scale which has thankfully rarely been witnessed in history.

A number of images and impressions stay with me:

• the way in which Napoleon almost blundered into the campaign - his aim was to bring the Czar to the negotiating table and to break Russia's alliance with Britain: he assumed that the presence of such a large army assembled on Russia's borders would make the Czar sue for peace.

• Napoleon's pleasure at receiving a portrait of the infant King of Rome which he showed to his entourage and then placed outside his tent, where the soldiers formed a queue to see it;

• the disappointment of Moscow: the French entering Moscow and finding nobody to formally surrender the city - totally contrary to the custom of warfare - and then the Russians setting fire to it, and Napoleon having to leave the city until the fire was under control.

• Napoleon working late into the night in the Kremlin corresponding with his Government in Paris and insisting that lamps were put in the windows to show his soldiers that he was working;

• the French army leaving Moscow, its soldiers borne down with books, pictures, gold, silver and other valuable items which they imagined would make their fortunes back in France;

• and of course the extreme cold, the lack of food and the shortage of forage for the horses without which the army could not fight effectively nor move its supplies.

• and, on a lighter note, Napoleon, his Marshalls and his old guard sliding down the approach to Dubrovna on their bottoms, because it was too slippery to stand up and walk down.

Amidst the horrendous conditions the soldiers remained remarkably loyal to Napoleon, and some talked of joining the Russians in an attack on India at the end of the campaign.

As the army retreated this loyalty was not significantly eroded. Zamoyski quotes a French sergeant who watched as two grenadiers went looking for dry wood for Napoleon:

Everyone eagerly proffered the best pieces he had, and even those who were dying raised their heads to whisper:"Take it for the Emperor!" (1)

The Dutch General, Dedem de Gelder, who did not like Napoleon, was nevertheless impressed by the way he dealt with the adversity:

I have to do justice to this man hitherto so spoilt by fortune, who had never yet known serious setbacks; he was calm, without anger, but without resignation; I believed he would be great in adversity, and that idea reconciled me to him.. I saw then the man who contemplates disaster and recognises all the difficulties of his position, but whose soul is in no way crushed and who says to himself: "This is failure, I have to quit, but I shall be back. (2)

As Zamoyski concludes, the catastrophic failure of the Moscow campaign punctured the aura of invincibility that had hitherto surrounded Napoleon. Although he waged a brilliant defensive campaign in 1813-1814, the odds were hitherto stacked against him.
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1. Quoted in Adam Zamoyski, 1812 Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow (Harper 2004), p. 455
2. Zamoyski p. 378

The Ladies of Longwood: Albine de Montholon & Fanny Betrand

2010-12-11T10:21:00.017Z

Albine de Montholon (1779-1848).

A lady of somewhat easy virtue. She was first married at the age of 15, and was twice divorced.

She married Charles Tristan de Montholon, some four years her junior, in 1812. Their marriage had been opposed by Napoleon.

Mme de Montholon is very different from Mme Bertrand, a scheming woman who has known where her best interests lie, far better than we do. Mme Bertrand, on the contrary, does not. - Napoleon (1)

she is called "The Minister of Bonaparte" in Europe .. She has a very different head than that of madame Bertrand. - attributed to Monthchenu, the French Commissioner. (2)

When she accompanied her husband and young son Tristan (1812-1831) to St Helena she left behind a 12 year old son from a previous marriage and also a baby, Charles Frédéric Montholon (1814-1886), who was considered too young to travel.

Whilst on St Helena she gave birth to two daughters, Napoléone (1816-1907) and Joséphine(1818-1819).

She was reputed to have had a number of romantic liaisons whilst on the island. Possibly with Admiral Cockburn, more certainly with Napoleon and with Lt. Basil Jackson, who followed her off the island in 1819 at the wish of the Governor, and stayed with her in Brussels.

Fanny Bertrand raised doubts as to who was the father of Napoléone, who was conceived on the Northumberland. It is fairly clear though that Napoleon had no relationship with Albine at that time, but there is now almost general agreement that Joséphine, who was conceived at Longwood, was Napoleon's daughter.

Mme Montholon decided to leave the island in 1819, after she had become infatuated with the young Basil Jackson. Napoleon was concerned at the relationship, apparently less from jealousy than from suspicion that everything that was happening at Longwood was being reported back to the Governor. (3)

Napoleon was determined not to lose the Count de Montholon, and offered every inducement to get Albine to leave on her own. He told her that she would easily find a husband. Sire, a woman may easily find a lover, but not a husband she replied. (4)

Mme Montholon duly left on board the Lady Campbell in July 1819. She took with her 12 turkeys, 72 chickens, 2 goats to provide milk for the children, 2 ducks and numerous bottles of wine.

On the day of her departure her husband sent her a note: The Emperor expresses deep regret at your departure, his tears flowed for you, maybe for the first time in his life. (5)

Joséphine died shortly after they arrived back in Europe, and Mme de Montholon blamed herself. She felt that it would not have happened had she stayed on the island.

She also lost most of her personal possessions in a fire that broke out at her home in Brussels. A similar event happened to Joseph Bonaparte in January 1820. There is some suspicion that both events were the work of agents acting for one or other of the monarchs of Europe who were concerned that Napoleon's correspondence with them was about to be published.

Because of a failure of the various parties to agree on a replacement for her husband, she was apparently even contemplating returning to St Helena before news arrived of the Emperor's death.

After her husband's return to Europe the couple soon separated and remained in that state until her death - divorce had been abolished in post-revolutionary France.

She died at Montpellier in 1848 aged 69. Her embalmed body lies in the Chapelle des Penitents bleus, Montpellier. There was a curious decision in the last days of the German occupation to move it to Les Invalides, but for whatever reason this was never carried out.

Élisabeth Françoise Bertrand, (1785-1836)
See also blogs on Bertrands Cottage and the French actress Rachel.

A cousin of the Empress Josephine, Fanny had enlisted the help of her and Napoleon in finding a husband.

Among those suggested were Prince Alphonse Pignatelli (he died), Prince Aldobrandini - later King of Portugal, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the Prince of Neuchatel and Prince Bernard of Saxe-Coburg.

For one reason or another all these matches fell through. Two days after her mother's death she went to Josephine desperately seeking a husband, and was told that Napoleon had finally found one: General Bertrand. She was not pleased and, volatile as ever, when Napoleon came in she said What, sire! Bertrand! Bertrand! Why not the Pope's monkey?

Still, she married him in 1808 in the house of Josephine's daughter Hortense at Saint-Leu, and they had what appears to have been a happy marriage.

There is not another Bertrand in the world. I think the mould for making such men is broken. - Fanny Bertrand(6)

She accompanied her husband to Elba and, reluctantly to St Helena. She was accompanied by their children Napoleon, Henri and Hortense.

Whilst at St Helena she suffered a number of miscarriages, and gave birth to a son, Arthur.

Rumours were rife that Fanny had romantic liaisons with Admiral Cockburn or an English Officer, Harrison. Some wonder whether young Arthur was perhaps Harrison's son. Napoleon also in his final days certainly cast doubts on her fidelity, but that may have been simply the result of anger and bitterness at her.

Of some things we may be certain: Fanny hated Albine Montholon and was jealous of the influence of her and her husband over Napoleon. At the time when rumours of the relationship between Napoleon and Albine were rife, she made it clear that she could have been his mistress had she wanted to. It is certain however, that she never became Napoleon's mistress, as Napoleon himself was to complain bitterly in his last few weeks.

The core of Napoleon's complaint against her seems to have been her withdrawal from life at Longwood. The Bertrands had always lived separately from the main party, first at Hutts Gate, and then in the separate cottage built for them away from the main house at Longwood.

For six years she had not played the part she should have played. She should have dined with him, or at the very least she should have joined his party of an evening. (7)

To correct the balance it is worth noting the diary entry made by her husband on February 7th 1821, before the bitterness and sadness of the final days:

.. There was no one of whom he thought more highly, though at times he had said unkind things about her. (8)

The unkind words were not yet finished!

In early 1821 Fanny had a miscarriage from which she nearly died, and Antommarchi spent a long time with her, much to Napoleon's annoyance. Bertrand's diary of the last few months gives a fascinating glimpse into a desperately unhappy world in which Bertrand faithfully recorded the most monstrous allegations against the virtue of his wife and pleaded with Napoleon to see her and to allow her to nurse him. Napoleon was adamant: he was used to Marchand, but would see Mme Bertrand before he died. At this point Betrand recorded,The Grand Marshall was unable to restrain his tears.(9)

On the evening of 26th April Napoleon said 5 or 6 times to Marchand, How is Mme la Marshall? Tell me, how is she?(10)

Finally he saw her at mass in the Emperor's apartment on 29th April, and then she visited him on succeeding days. She was shocked at his appearance.
According to Marchand he said to her:

Well Madame, you too have been ill. But now you are better. Your illness is known whereas mine is not, and therefore I am dying.

Fanny and her children were with Napoleon when he died.

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1. Memoirs of General Bertrand Grand Marshall of the Palace January to May 1821 April 24th 1821, p. 198
2. Albert Benhamou L'autre Sainte-Hélène: La Captivité, La Maladie, La Mort, Et Les Médecins Autour De Napoléon p.248
3. The fact that Basil Jackson had indeed acted as a spy for the Governor was revealed to the Longwood party on May 8th 1821. Bertrand p. 265
4. Albert Benhamou p 203
5. Albert Benhamou, p. 208.
6. G. L. de St. M. Watson, A Polish Exile with Napoleon (London 1912) p. 234
7. April 14th 1821. Bertrand p.159
8. Bertrand p. 61
9. Bertrand p. 164
10. Bertrand p. 218

The Napoleonfish

2010-12-06T17:49:00.002Z

The humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) mainly found in coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region. It is also known as the Māori wrasse, Napoleon wrasse, Napoleonfish; or "So Mei" 蘇眉 (Cantonese) and "Mameng" (Filipino) - thankyou wikipedia.

I had never heard of this beauty before, and neither had the two greatest living authorities on such matters known to me: my 11 year old grandson and my 88 year old neighbour. How pleasing it was for me to tell them something they did not already know.

I wonder when it got the Napoleon name? Perhaps someone can enlighten me?

Napoleon's DNA: New Research

2010-11-29T16:50:00.009Z

A recent paper by Professor Lucotte has described research on hair samples from the Emperor Napoleon, his mother, and his sister Caroline. Tests on these samples has revealed a rare variant in the sequence of the hypervariable segment (HVS1) of mitochondrial (mtDNA) , which is passed in the maternal line. The article points out that this rare variant is a mutation that has been found in only 3 of 37,000 different sequences in a database that it referenced.

The identification of this rare sequence will enable verification of Napoleonic relics, many of which may well be fake. It can also be used to test the piece of skin that Dr Guillard collected at the exhumation of Napoleon in 1840. This might just convince some conspiracy theorists that the body lying in Les Invalides is indeed that of the Emperor Napoleon.

This discovery will also lead to a revisit of the theory that Napoleon died from arsenic poisoning.

The hair tested by Professor Lucotte bore traces of a species of thistle endemic to St Helena and of mineral particles characteristic of volcanic terrains.

It contained lead, but no significant traces of arsenic.

Apparently Professor Lucotte will soon address this issue in another paper.

Further background may be found in a recent article by Jacques Macé .

Stedson George & The Future of St Helena

2010-11-24T17:41:00.008Z

Stedson George, former headmaster, former Councillor, and expert on the night sky, is one of the characters of St Helena.

It is always worth listening to anything he says.

I well remember my few conversations with him on my visit to the island - in particular I asked him what was his favourite place amongst those he had visited in the world.

Lemon Valley he replied.

What place would he like to visit again, I asked.

The same answer!

I am still not sure whether he was just winding me up. Some day I really must go and check out Lemon Valley for myself.

Anyway I noticed that Stedson has been giving his views on the future of the island (St Helena Independent, 29th October 2010).

Like many Saints he is critical of creeping bureaucracy and would prefer more emphasis on the development of the private sector: At one time the entire SHG was housed in the Castle now it's gone further up the town!

Stedson feels that Government should be encouraging more production, especially from farmers and fishermen, and should be prepared to use short term subsidies to help people who lack capital to get businesses started.

He also has reservations about the proposed international airport. He doesn't think that St Helena can attract the anticipated 30000-50000 annual visitors. He would prefer a smaller airport linked to Ascension. Interestingly he thinks that St Helena should promote itself as a cruise ship destination, and argues that a priority should be the construction of a decent breakwater to make it safe for cruise ships to land passengers. He also argues for more emphasis on renewable energy.

Like Stedson I have some concern that it will not be alright on the night. The recent problems of Norfolk island, one of the models for St Helena development, raises concerns as to whether current plans are well founded.(1)

The previous UK Government clearly had doubts about the realism of the tourist targets when it announced a pause in the international airport project. I am still unclear as to why the current deficit reducing Government has reversed the decision of its ostensibly more profligate predecessor. I wonder if there is some hidden agenda?

Personally I would like prefer more emphasis on sustainability, as indicated in a previous post on this subject.

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1. St Helena Role Model Goes Bust St Helena Independent, 5th November 2010, Norfolk is heavily reliant on tourism. But visitor numbers have slumped in recent times, and other key sources of income such as Norfolk Air, the island's airline, are losing millions of dollars a year.

St Helena Herald: Michel Martineau's 25 Years on the Island

2010-11-15T11:36:00.010Z

As he reveals in his latest blog (15 November 2010), Michel Martineau has now spent a quarter of a century on St Helena - the same length of time that Napoleon and his mortal remains were on the island. In the blog Michel features a recent article in the St Helena Herald about the French Properties. I am among Michel's greatest fans, and very pleased that his contribution, and not only to the French properties, is becoming more widely appreciated.

The Herald article goes into some detail about the 60 acres (enormous by St Helena standards) which Michel purchased and later donated to the National Trust. Apparently the bank asked more questions about St Helena than about Michel's financial circumstances when he applied for a mortgage.

The article also sets out Michel's philosophy for Longwood and the other properties:

I want to move away from this old notion of 'those are the French properties and behind their walls they do as they want'. I want to open up the properties completely. .. Let's face it, a lot of people only know St. Helena because of the Napoleon link. The idea is to use this fact as a springboard and then tourists can discover other things about the island."

This certainly chimes with my own experience. I went out of curiosity about Napoleon, and fell in love with the island and its people.

Michel has already made amazing progress. When Jean-Paul Kauffman - author of The Dark Room at Longwood - visited the island fifteen years ago, he commented on the total separation of the French Properties from the rest of St Helena life. That that separation is no longer the case is entirely due to Michel's efforts.

Hazlitt's Political Essays: Bonaparte and Müller

2010-11-12T21:11:00.018Z

Johannes von Müller (1752 – 1809)

"The Celebrated Historian of Switzerland" - William Hazlitt.

There can have been fewer gloomier years in British history than those that followed Waterloo.

Faced with huge debts from financing the long wars with France, rising food prices, popular distress and industrial unrest, the British ruling classes felt far from secure.

Habeas Corpus was suspended in 1817, and the government took over the reading rooms to try to control the influence of Cobbet's radical journal The Political Register.

Critics of the government lived in fear of imprisonment or transportation.

In this climate of fear and repression the indefatigable supporter of the principles of 1789, William Hazlitt, prepared his political essays. These appeared in 1819, the year of the meeting of parliamentary reformers at St Peters Fields in Manchester. This "massacre" was henceforth to be remembered as Peterloo - an ironic reference to the killing fields of Waterloo.

Amongst the essays which Hazlitt reproduced was an extract from the papers of the Swiss historian Johannes von Müller, describing a meeting with Napoleon in 1806.

Hazlitt's reasons for including this are fairly clear: he was forlornly trying to counter two decades of British propaganda which had both belittled and ridiculed Napoleon as an upstart and as the "little corporal", and also somewhat paradoxically had portrayed him as a cloven hoofed monster. Müller's account of Napoleon did not fit easily into established British views of the Corsican ogre. I think it is fair to say that it still doesn't - as recent headlines about the "deluded Emperor" should indicate.

Müller's account of the meeting, and particularly his comparison of Napoleon with Frederick the Great, whom he had also met, is I think worth reading. I have not come across it in any other printed work.

On the 19th May I was informed by the Minister Secretary of State, Maret, that at seven o'clock of the evening of the following day I must wait on the Emperor Napoleon. I waited accordingly on this Minister at the appointed hour, and was presented. The Emperor sat on a sofa: a few persons whom I did not know stood at some distance in the apartment.

The Emperor / began to speak of the History of Switzerland; told me that I ought to complete it; that even the more recent times had their interest. He came to the work of mediation, discovered a very good will, if we do not meddle with any thing foreign, and remain quietly in the interior. He proceeded from the Swiss to the old Greek Constitution and History, to the Theory of Constitutions, to the complete diversity of those of Asia, (and the causes of this diversity in the climate, polygamy, &c.) the opposite characters of the Arabian (which the Emperor highly extolled), and the Tartarian Races (which led to the irruptions that all civilization had always to dread from that quarter, and the necessity of a bulwark): the peculiar value of European culture (never greater freedom, security of property, humanity, and better laws in general, than since the 15th century); then how every thing was linked together, and in the inscrutable guidance of an invisible hand; and how he himself had become great through his enemies: the great confederation of nations, the idea of which Henry the 4th never had: the foundation of all religion, and its necessity; that man could not well bear completely clear truth, and required to be kept in order; the possibility, however, of a more happy condition, if the numerous feuds ceased, which were occasioned by too complicated constitutions (such as the German), and the intolerable burden suffered by States from excessive armies.

A great deal more besides was said, and indeed we spoke of almost every country and nation. The Emperor spoke at first in his usual manner; but the more interesting our conversation became, he spoke in a lower and lower tone, so that I was obliged to bend myself quite down to his face; and no man can have understood what he said (and therefore many things I will not repeat) - I opposed him occasionally, and he entered into discussion. Quite impartially and truly, as before God, I must say, that the variety of his knowledge, the acuteness of his observations, the solidity of his understanding (not dazzling wit), his grand and comprehensive views, filled me with astonishment, and his manner of speaking to me, with love for him. A couple of Marshals, and also the Duke / of Benevento, had entered in the mean time; he did not break off. After five quarters, or an hour and a half, he allowed the concert to begin; and I know not, whether accidentally or from goodness, he desired pieces, which, one of them especially, had reference to pastoral life and the Swiss (Rans des Vaches). After this, he bowed in a friendly manner and left the room.

Since the audience with Frederick (1782), I never had a conversation on such a variety of subjects, at least with any Prince: if I can judge correctly from recollection, I must gve the Emperor the preference in point of solidity and comprehension; Frederick was somewhat Voltairian. Besides, there is in his tone much firmness and vigour, but in his mouth something as attractive and fascinating, as in Frederick. It was one of the most remarkable days of my life. By his genius and his disinterested goodness he has also conquered me. (1)

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1. pp 122-123 The Selected Writings of William Hazlitt. Volume 4 Political Essays ed Duncan Wu, London 1998.

Teutonic Hall - as it used to look

2010-10-28T21:58:00.011+01:00

Not too long ago I wrote a post about Teutonic Hall. It seems to have created a lot of interest. Since then a reader has kindly drawn my attention to some photos taken in the 1970's for the Crallan Report on the historic buildings of St Helena. (1)

A fine building and a fine setting. How sad to see it in its present state.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them).

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1. Crallan , Hugh The Crallan Report: the Complete Photographs. Museum of St Helena 2007. DVD containing all 360 of Crallan’s images - A comprehensive record of St Helena’s buildings. The DVD is available from Miles Apart.

The Artist of St Helena: Preparing for a New Exhibition

2010-10-24T17:24:00.016+01:00

Interesting post on Michel's blog - Retour à la peinture about the paintings he is preparing for an exhibition in November.

I am very pleased that he has not put down his brush, and I particularly liked this painting of 80 year old George Benjamin, holding the St Helena Ebony, which he apparently rediscovered.

A pity that an artist of Michel's talent was not on St Helena during the captivity of Napoleon.

Wonder if I could persuade him to paint me - perhaps if I reach 80!

Torbay in Napoleon's Time

2010-10-19T11:44:00.014+01:00

View of Torquay Harbour, 1821 (1)

Napoleon was impressed with the beauty of the English countryside, in which he still hoped he might live.

At the time of this painting by William Daniell, Torquay was a small town of less than 2000 people. It must have been overwhelmed by the visitors who flocked there when they heard that Bonaparte was on board a ship in the bay.

Thanks to Paul Brunyee, one of the speakers at the recent Friends of St Helena meeting, who gave me this idea. Paul produced a slide taken in 2010 from the spot at which the Bellerophon moored off Torquay in 1815. (2) An interesting idea I thought - or at least one that appeals to Napoleonic anoraks among whose number I guess I am now enlisted!

I also discovered fom Paul's talk that Dumbarton Castle was among the places in which the British Government had considered imprisoning Napoleon.

Almost as forbidding as St Helena.

Paul also confirmed that the British Government, which never recognised Napoleon as Emperor of Elba, had previously been uneasy about his closeness to Italy and France. Napoleon of course knew this. In the newspapers sent over to Elba by Lady Holland were reports that he was going to be sent to St Helena.

A successful and interesting meeting I thought. It was very pleasant to meet Peter Hicks of the Napoleonic Foundation and Ian Mathieson of the Friends of St Helena. I also enjoyed lengthier discussions with Dr Martin Howard, the author of Napoleon's Poisoned Chalice and of course, Albert Benhamou, the author of L'Autre St Hélène , who is no stranger to these pages.

Albert and I were interested to learn, again from Paul Brunyee's talk, that the restored HMS Trincomalee, on which poor Dr Stokoe sailed, is in Hartlepool. As true anoraks, both of us intend to pay it a visit.
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1. William Daniell, A Voyage Round the Coast of Great Britain (Folio Society 2008)
2. "Napoleon and His Time on St Helena 1815-1821", Victory Club, London, 16th October 2010

The Doctor, the Admiral and His Mistress: It is not at all necessary to be polite to the General.

2010-10-11T22:59:00.015+01:00

Dr John Stokoe. Born Ferryhill Durham 1775. Entered navy in 1794 as Surgeon's Mate.

A distinguished record of service in a number of naval engagements including Trafalgar.

Nearing the end of his career as a ship surgeon, he agreed in 1817 to take a three year posting to St Helena. Stokoe set out for St Helena on H.M.S. Conqueror in 1817.

I thought that I should see the great man and probably have the honour of conversing with him - little did I think at that time that the honour would be so dearly purchased! (1)

He married late in life, but was predeceased by his wife and two daughters. He died of apoplexy in 1852.

Vice-Admiral Robert Plampin (1762– 1834). A member of the Suffolk squirearchy, he was born at Chadacre Hall near Bury St Edmunds. (2)

He reminds me of one of those drunken little Dutch schippers that I have seen in Holland, sitting at a table with a pipe in his mouth, a cheese and a bottle of geneva before him. - Napoleon

Admiral Plampin is a timid man, whose one wish is to live in peace and meddle with nothing. He has seen Bonaparte once, and made no impression upon him. Count Balmain

The son of a naval officer, he had joined the navy at the age of 13, and rose steadily through the ranks. He had spent time in France and was admired in the navy for his language skills. He was survived by his wife Fanny, who died in 1864.

Plampin was also on H.M.S. Conqueror, going out to replace Sir Pulteney Malcolm as commander of the naval forces stationed on St Helena. Malcolm, who had had a cordial relationship with Napoleon, had already clashed with Hudson Lowe.

The Late Arrival on H.M.S. Conqueror

After the ship left Portsmouth it stopped off the Isle of Wight to pick up a lady. A most unorthodox procedure!

As soon as the Admiral landed on St Helena he went to Plantation House leaving his "wife" on board ship. He then installed her at the Briars. She was never received by Lady Lowe and the "court" at Plantation House.

According to rumours, which were always plentiful on St Helena, the lady did not restrict her favours to those of the rank of Admiral. The upright were scandalised, and from the pulpit the Rev Boys condemned the behaviour and its condonement. There was talk that she would be sent back to England, and that the Admiral would doubtless soon follow in disgrace.

This however, did not happen. The lady remained, the Admiral served out his three year posting, the Rev Boys shut up, and Hudson Lowe had a very compliant Admiral to deal with. As he reported to Bathurst:

Admiral Plampin seems to have decided to attempt no interference whatever. If he took any steps, it would be in order to assist me. (3)

With Plampin's acquiescence Lowe set about isolating the inhabitants of Longwood, and in particular discontinuing Sir Pulteney Malcolm's practice of taking newly appointed officers to meet Napoleon.

For Stokoe this was to prove a very sad end to his career. He met Napoleon only five times, but in doing so incurred the enmity of Hudson Lowe and the obsequious Plampin, and was finally court martialled and dismissed from the Navy.

Dr Stokoe and Napoleon: "They will only believe he is ill when they find him dead on his bed"

Stokoe's first meeting with Napoleon came when he was introduced during a visit to O'Meara in the autumn of 1817. They got on well, and Napoleon even offered to assist him in winning the hand of William Balcombe's eldest daughter - which according to another St Helena rumour was his desire!

The next day Stokoe reported the visit to the Admiral, who told him that he ought to have refused to speak to Napoleon, and that it was not necessary to be "polite to the General". (4) He then issued an order forbidding any naval officer speaking to Napoleon without the Admiral's prior consent.

Aware of the problems for any doctor attending Napoleon in the climate of suspicion and fear that existed on St Helena, Stokoe turned down a request to give a second opinion on Napoleon's health in July 1818. This also appeared to meet the Admiral's disapproval. He further incurred the wrath of Hudson Lowe by refusing to sign a letter indicating that the refusal was because of his lack of confidence in Dr O'Meara.

Then there was the awkward case of the letters destined for O'Meara but sent to Stokoe in an attempt to avoid their being intercepted by Plantation House. This was William Balcombe's suggestion, and Stokoe had no foreknowledge of it, but obviously it did him no good. To be considered a friend of O'Meara, who had by the time the letters arrived been forced off the island by Hudson Lowe, was an unfortunate position for anyone to be in on St Helena. One letter from Balcombe to Stokoe was opened in the presence of the Admiral: Be so good as to hand the enclosed to our friend O'Meara. I find that he has many partisans here, and I hope the B-g-rs will soon be turned out." (5)

O'Meara's removal left Napoleon without a doctor. He was unwilling to consult Dr Verling who he saw as the tool of Hudson Lowe. So when Napoleon was taken ill in January 1819, Bertrand called for Stokoe.

Over a period of five days Stokoe saw Napoleon four times, and in the eyes of Hudson Lowe committed a number of cardinal sins: discussing non-medical matters with the occupants of Longwood House, using the term "patient" rather than "General Bonaparte" in a bulletin on Napoleon's health, communicating in writing with the occupants of Longwood by giving them the said bulletin, suggesting that Napoleon was suffering from "chronic hepatitis" and making such comments as I do not apprehend any immediate danger, although it must be presumed that in a climate where the above disease is so prevalent it will eventually shorten his life. (7) Worse, in one report he wrote, the more alarming symptom is that which was experienced on the night of the 16th, a recurrence of which may soon prove fatal, particularly if medical assistance is not at hand.

Told that he was to be court martialled, Stokoe applied for sick leave and said he would leave his station. Arriving in England on April 14th 1819 he was given a second medical and then ordered back to St Helena. So, soon after arrival in England he set out again, under the impression that he would resume his old post or even be Napoleon's doctor. 124 days after leaving Portsmouth he arrived back at St Helena and rejoined H.M.S. Conqueror. The next day he was informed that he was to be court martialled. It is hard to imagine how he must have felt.

There were 10 charges against him. The final one gives the flavour of the proceedings:

For having in the whole of his conduct in the aforesaid transactions evinced a disposition to thwart the intentions and regulations of the Rear-Admiral, and to further the views of the said French prisoners in furnishing them with false or colourable pretences for complaint, contrary to the respect he owed to his superior officers, and to his own duty as an officer in His Majesty's Royal Navy.

The result was a foregone conclusion. Nobody would conduct his defense, and no witnesses appeared for him. Having no idea that he was going to face legal action he had left all his papers in England. He had little time to prepare his case, whilst his accusers, Lowe and Plampin, had had several months to do so.

So Stokoe left the service, but was awarded a pension of £100 a year. All his attempts to clear his name subsequently failed. He did however receive the following letter in October 1842 from Sir George Cockburn,

I have always considered the errors attributed to Dr O'Meara and you to have proceeded from your having been placed in so trying and difficult a position, rather than from any real intention on your parts to oppose and counteract the orders and intentions of the Government and of your commanding officers.

which is as near as you will get to an admission from the Admiralty that he was treated harshly and unfairly.

The Bonaparte family did however, show their appreciation of the efforts of Stokoe to attend to Napoleon and their awareness of how his livelihood had been affected. Soon after returning from St Helena he was hired on a number of occasions by Joseph Napoleon to escort his young daughters on sea voyages between Europe and America.
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1. With Napoleon at St Helena: Being the Memoirs of Dr. John Stokoe, Naval Surgeon. Translated from the French of Paul Frémaux by Edith S. Stokoe (London & New York MDCCCII) p. 10
2. Chadacre Hall was not far from Troston Hall, the home of that great supporter of Napoleon, Capel Lofft. Curiously they both died in Italy, Capel Lofft in voluntary exile from a society he considered repressive, Plampin on holiday in Florence.
3. Frémaux p. 59
4. The admiral's lady asked Stokoe what he thought of Napoleon. He said that his opinion had completely changed since meeting him. She said that he must be an extraordinary man because almost every stranger that met him came away with the same impression. Frémaux p. 60
5. Frémaux p. 78

St Helena and Napoleon's Bicentenary : Let's Just Do It

2010-10-07T21:45:00.010+01:00

I have always given a link to the Friends of St Helena's website on this blog, but until recently have never actually got round to filling in the membership forms.

I don't know why it has taken so long. I could claim that it is because all its events are held in the south of England. Apart from occasionally passing through en route to far away places, I can only recall visiting London twice in 20 years!

That is probably just an excuse though.

Anyway, prompted by a certain French man who I believe has never himself visited St Helena, I have now joined.

What is more I have buried my prejudices, or some of them at least, and I hope to be in London on 16th October for the Friends' meeting on "Napoleon and His Time on St Helena 1815-1821."

Amongst the information sent by the Friends is the booklet "Let's Just Do It", produced by Hazel Wilmot, who is I believe the new owner of the Consulate Hotel in Jamestown.

What an interesting read. Written in 2021, it looks back on St Helena's development since 2010. You may have to read that twice!

In 2021 the new Bicentennial Airport is being opened on Prosperous Bay Plain. Apparently there has in the meantime been the development of a small daytime airfield at Horse Pasture, which was opened in 2011 or maybe 2012, and gave Saints quick access to medical facilities in South Africa. This airport is now far too small, hence the building of the new one. Among the many other developments have been the lifting of previous restrictions on immigration, a rise in population to 6000, the development of two new retirement villages, the relocation of a number of banks from the politically less stable African continent and so on.

I was interested to see the pride of place given to Napoleon in the opening passage.

Liverpool has its John Lennon Airport, so why should St Helena not have one associated with the captivity and death of its most famous resident? I would not hold my breath over that one!

Certainly the work of preserving and developing the Napoleonic sites has at best been peripheral to the concerns of Government and most Saints.

Hazel Wilmot however, perhaps because she is a newcomer as well as an astute business woman, seems to have instantly grasped the significance of the Napoleonic heritage for the future of St Helena.

It will be interesting to look back in 2021 and see what has actually been achieved.

Georges Lefebvre: Napoleon was more than anything else a temperament

2010-09-30T22:32:00.011+01:00

Georges Lefebre, Napoleon (3rd edition, 1947) originally published in 1935 first translated into English in the late 1960's.

It is some time since I mentioned that I had received my Folio Society edition of George Lefebvre's masterly study of Napoleon.

I have now had time to read and reflect on it. It is almost 600 pages long, and not a book for the casual reader. As indicated previously, it is not strictly a biography but a study of France under Napoleon's leadership from 1799 until 1815.

As one would expect of a founder member of the Annales School, Lefebvre places Napoleon's career in an historical context: the clash of social classes; the fear of and reaction against the revolution by the established order; the waning of democracy in the French revolution and the ascendancy of the bourgeoisie; the development of industrial capitalism; rationalism and challenges to the authority of the Catholic church; romanticism and the awakening of nationalism; the expansion of French territory; the challenge to England's naval supremacy; the struggle for European hegemony and empire.

Lefebvre sees the emergence of autocratic rule by an army general as no accident; it was driven there by inner necessity. As for Napoleon himself, he was a man whose temperament, even more than his genius, was unable to adapt to peace and moderation. (1)

Within the wider context Napoleon was seen by the ruling order as an upstart:

in the eyes of Wellington and other noble lords Napoleon was never anything else but 'Bony', and the king of Rome was his bastard. The kings too were full of the same haughty pride. Deep down in their hearts they could not admit the legitimacy of a man who had unceremoniously unseated so many of royal line. (2)

So, somewhat paradoxically given his counter revolutionary role in France, whatever Napoleon might do: in the eyes of Europe, he was still the soldier of the Revolution.

England, although it had a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system was not much different; its rulers shared the fear of and hostility towards the ideas of 1789 with the rulers of the absolute monarchies on the continent.

England remained antiquated, encumbered by sinecures and inclined to corruption. .. England's ruling oligarchy did not abound in talent, but it regarded the nation as its patrimony and defended it with tenacity and discipline. .. England began to impress sailors and recruit soldiers for the war effort, both drawn from the poorer classes of society. These men were led by volunteers from the aristocracy, who purchased their commissions.(3)

Napoleon the Man

Overall the book is highly critical of Napoleon, but the most fascinating part perhaps is the short section in which Lefebvre reflects on Napoleon's character. Only 5 or so pages in length, this part was closely analysed by Pieter Geyl in his classic study of French historians and Napoleon. (4) Not for Lefebvre the trite amateur psychology and the facile and ahistorical analogies so beloved of many who now write about Napoleon.

For Lefebvre, Napoleon was the last and most illustrious enlightened despot a man steeped in the classics, and above all a man of great complexity: his personality evolved in so singular a manner that it defies portrayal, and Beneath the soldier's uniform, however, there dwelled in him several personalities, and it is this diversity, as much as the variety and brilliance of his gifts which makes him so fascinating.

- he longed to equal the semi-legendary heroes of Plutarch and Corneille. His greatest ambition was glory.
- His eyes were fixed on the world's great leaders: Alexander, Caesar, Augustus, Charlemagne ..
- He was an artist, a poet of action, for whom France and mankind were but instruments.
- a passionate desire to know and understand everything.
- an over-tender care for his family
- a certain pleasure in stepping on those who had once snubbed him
- a taste for ostentatious splendour
- natural propensity for dictatorship
- pride in himself and contempt for others
- he could have become a man of letters
- Having entered into a life of action, he still remained a thinker
- The warrior was never happier than in the silence of his own study, surrounded by papers and documents
- A typical man of the eighteenth century, a rationalist a philosophe
- firm and strong intellect
- romantic melancholia
- the ability to stand off from himself and take a detached look at his own life, and to reflect wistfully on his fate
- something of the uprooted person remained in him, something of the declassé as well
- neither entirely a gentleman, nor entirely common (5)

Then in the famous passage quoted extensively by Geyl:

His mind was one of the most perfect that has ever been: his unflagging attention tirelessly swept in facts and ideas which his memory registered and classified; his imagination played with them freely, and being in a permanent state of concealed tension, it never wearied of inventing political and strategic motifs which manifested themselves in unexpected flashes of intuition like those experienced by poets and mathematicians. .. He rendered a fair account of himself when he said, 'I consider myself a good man at heart,' and indeed he showed generosity, and even kindness to those who were close to him. .. He knew himself well: ' It is said that I am an ambitious man but that is not so; or at least my ambition is so closely bound to my being that they are both one and the same.' How very true! Napoleon was more than anything else a temperament. (6)

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1. Georges Lefebvre, Napoleon , London, The Folio Society 2009, p. 57.
2. Lefebvre p. 493
3. Lefebvre p.31
4. Pieter Geyl, Napoleon For and Against first published in English in 1949.
5. Lefebvre pp 59-64
6 Lefebvre p. 60

The Artist of St Helena

2010-09-16T09:52:00.002+01:00

Interesting that two of the bloggers that I follow regularly, Michel and Carmi, are talented artists. Michel apparently had not taken up a paint brush for two years until his recent painting of the St Helena Ebony. What a fine talent. I hope that it will not be another two years before he takes up the paint brush again.

Napoleon Fridge Magnet: Thankyou Carmi

2010-09-11T12:42:00.007+01:00

Not many bloggers hand out free gifts to their readers, but Carmi (My Napoleon Obsession) is an exception. I have just received this fridge magnet from her, in a suitably decorated envelope.

Wonder what our Korean postman made of that?
Anyway thanks again Carmi.

L'Autre St Hélène

2010-09-02T11:47:00.006+01:00

I posted an initial comment on this book in a post on 25th May.

I have now had the time to read it - the first French book I have read for longer than I care to remember. A detailed account, some 400 pages long, it is nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable read. Despite frequent recourse to a French dictionary, I found it difficult to put down once I had started. It has given me a number of ideas for topics I wish to pursue, and I shall doubtless refer to it frequently in the future.

As the title suggests, the focus is on Napoleon's health and the medical treatment he received whilst on St Helena. In here is the story of all the doctors associated with the captivity. Some fell foul of the authorities, some never actually got to see Napoleon, some were incompetent, and some were perhaps afraid to tell Sir Hudson Lowe anything he did not want to hear. The book also throws an interesting light on the relations between Napoleon's fellow exiles at Longwood, and helps to re-establish the reputation of Montholon. The feelings of the patient himself are not a prime concern of the book, but in one telling passage the author draws on the evidence of Santini, one of the domestic servants at Longwood, who claimed that neither the loss of his throne nor his exile hurt Napoleon as much as the betrayal of Marie-Louise, the wife and mother of the child whom he was never to see after 1814. As for the hapless Sir Hudson Lowe, this book only confirms his unsuitability for the appointment he was given.

The author, a native French speaker who is based in England, is uniquely placed to be able to use both English and French sources. I cannot recall any previous history of the captivity which is so firmly grounded in both French and British archival material. The author has also drawn on a large number of French printed sources which are sometimes not easily accessible outside France.

With an impressive bibliography, footnotes on each page, and a large number of quotations from original sources, it lacks only an index. Despite the scholarly apparatus, it is very accessible to the general reader.

In conclusion, this is a significant, scholarly, yet highly accessible book which deserves to be read by anyone interested in the captivity of Napoleon.

I eagerly await its publication in English.

( Albert Benhamou L'autre Sainte-Hélène: La Captivité, La Maladie, La Mort, Et Les Médecins Autour De Napoléon Albert Benhamou Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9564654-0-5)

Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon

2010-08-20T23:22:00.018+01:00

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (1771 – 1832)

Novelist, poet and author of the first major life of Napoleon - and the first to be allowed to consult the Hudson Lowe Papers, which have since become a staple of historians of the captivity.

Sir Walter also visited Paris and interviewed Napoleon's colleagues.

The Duke of Wellington assisted him with his account of the Russian campaign.

The artist J.M.W. Turner also produced some illustrations.

The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte finally appeared in 1827 - in no fewer than 9 volumes.

Few would now regard Scott's work as an important source for the life of Napoleon, but it represented a milestone in the development of British attitudes. Here for the first time, only six years after his death but more importantly over a decade after his final battle, we have a Napoleon who is neither romantic hero nor total villain.

This balanced approach - "on the one hand .. on the other hand .." - and the search for the Aristotelian golden mean was once a mainstay of much British historiography and public discourse. It still holds true of the BBC but definitely not the tabloid press!
Thus:

In practice, his government was brilliant abroad, and, with few exceptions, liberal and moderate at home

but the execution of the Duc d'Enghien showed the vindictive spirit of a savage, and

If, instead of asserting that he never committed a crime, he had limited his self-eulogy to asserting, that in attaining and wielding supreme power, he had resisted the temptation to commit many, he could not have been contradicted. And this is no small praise.

Thus although ultimately very critical of Napoleon, and a defense of the British Government in its long struggle against him and the French Revolution, The Life .. was nevertheless far more balanced than some Whigs had expected, and certainly far too even handed for many Tories, for whom Napoleon would always remain the "Corsican Ogre".

It also upset Sir Hudson Lowe, whose esteem was at a level befitting his name, and still vainly sought the colonial governorship which he felt he had been promised and certainly deserved. He could not however find anything in The Life .. that would give him any chance of a successful court case.

Gaspard Gourgaud was also displeased about his treatment.

His former colleagues on St Helena buried their once considerable differences and came to his defence.

Excitable as ever, Gourgaud was all for challenging Scott to a duel, but the latter's location in Edinburgh made that rather impractical.

Napoleon's brother, Louis Bonaparte was also displeased and wrote a defense of his brother.

My focus has been on volume 9, dealing with Napoleon's fall and the captivity.

Clearly whilst trying to maintain a balanced view, Scott was keen to defend the British Government against the criticisms that had been levelled against it for the treatment of Napoleon. This presumably is why he had been given access to the public records.

General Napoleon or The Emperor?

On this, one of the main controversies of the captivity which was taken to ridiculous lengths by Hudson Lowe, Scott defended the Government:

.. there could be no reason why Britain, in compassionate courtesy, should give to her prisoner a title which she had refused to him de jure, even while he wielded the empire de facto ;

This legalistic justification was rather spoiled by the suggestion that Napoleon's refusal to answer to the title General Buonaparte was indicative of his backround:

not the feelings of a man of conscious dignity of mind, but of an upstart, who conceives the honour of preferment not to consist in having enjoyed, or in still possessing, a high situation, gained by superiority of talents, so much as in wearing the robes, or listening to the sounding titles, which are attached to it.

Scott was not the first nor last Englishmen to criticise Napoleon for not being a gentleman! Indeed few of England's enemies and perhaps even its allies have been considered as such by the rulers of Perfidious Albion! (1)

Longwood or Plantation House?

Scott was however, critical of the British Government's choice of Longwood rather than Plantation House

for the residence of the late Imperial captive. We differ from their opinion in this particular, because the very best accommodation was due to fallen greatness; and, in his circumstances, Napoleon, with every respect to the authority of the governor, ought to have been the last person on the island subjected to inconvenience.

But even here and somewhat disingenuously he tempered his criticism of the British Government by claiming that it was all Napoleon's fault. The British Government would have come round to this view anyway,

but for the disposition of the late French Emperor and his followers to use every point of deference, or complaisance, exercised towards them, as an argument for pushing their pretensions farther.

Further in the Government's defense Scott noted that

Some circumstances about the locality, it is believed, had excited doubts about whether the house could be completely guarded.

Then, in an ironic swipe at Napoleon, he observed that Longwood

was approved of by Napoleon, who visited it personally, and expressed himself so much satisfied, that it was difficult to prevail on him to leave the place.

Longwood when completed, was nevertheless

far inferior in accommodation to that which every Englishman would have desired that the distinguished prisoner should have enjoyed whilst in English custody.

But again he could not prevent himself from suggesting that Napoleon might have been worse treated. Whilst the completed Longwood was

a strange contrast with the palaces which Napoleon had lately inhabited .. it was preferable, in the same proportion, to the Tower of the Temple, and the dungeons of Vincennes.

He also pointed out that in his efforts to make Longwood ready for Napoleon, Admiral Cockburn frequently arrived on site very early in the morning. This was apparently necessary to stimulate the St Helena workmen, who, in general are lazy and indolent ..

Sir Hudson Lowe and Napoleon

Scott's judgement on Hudson Lowe was carefully couched so as to prevent any legal redress:

it would require a strong defence on the part of Sir Hudson Lowe himself .. to induce us to consider him as the very rare and highly exalted species of character, to whom, as we have already stated, this important charge ought to have been intrusted.

He also noted that Lowe revealed traces of a warm and irritable temper when he ought, if possible, to have remained cool and unruffled and that his over anxiety led to frequent changes of his regulations, and to the adoption of measures which were afterwards abandoned, and perhaps again resumed. Napoleon himself was of course not spared of blame for the feud with Hudson Lowe. He

became the prey of petty spleen which racked him also to frenzy, and induced him to hazard his health, or perhaps even to throw away his life, rather than submit with dignified patience to that which his misfortunes had rendered unavoidable.

In discussing the fear that Napoleon would escape, which clearly haunted Lowe, Scott interestingly mentioned the Government's concern about the state of England and in particular the discontent and sufferings of the manufacturing districts as well as the revolutionary spirit in Italy and the doubtful state of France.

Scott's Judgement on Napoleon's Character and Achievements

Napoleon was, said Scott, decidedly amiable but his temper, when he received, or thought he received, provocation .. was warm and vindictive, no one was a more liberal rewarder of his friends. He was an excellent husband, a kind relation, and, unless when state policy intervened, a most affectionate brother.
and

There was gentleness, and even softness, in his character. He was affected when he rode over the fields of battle, which his ambition had strewed with the dead and dying, and seemed not only desirous to relieve the victims .. showed himself subject to the influence of that more acute and imaginative species of sympathy which is termed sensibility.

He gave France regular government, schools, institutions, courts of justice, and a court of laws. In Italy, his rule was equally splendid and beneficial, and he was commended for his opening a full career to talent of every kind. To balance this there were the usual negative comments: he destroyed public liberty and freedom of press, built new prisons and established a police force responsible to him.
And finally the book concluded,

In closing the life of NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, we are called upon to observe, that he was a man tried in the two extremities, of the most exalted power and the most ineffable calamity; and if he occasionally appeared presumptuous when supported by the armed forces of half a world, or unreasonably querulous when imprisoned within the narrow limits of St Helena, it is scarcely within the capacity of those whose steps have never led them beyond the middle path of life, to estimate either the strength of the temptations to which he yielded, or the force of mind which he opposed to those he was able to resist.

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1. Scott was of course not an Englishman, but a Scottish Tory. Unlike modern Scots, but like many Englishmen, he did not appear uncomfortable in using the term English as being synonymous with British.

The Future of St Helena: A Wedding destination?

2010-08-04T11:43:00.009+01:00

An interesting day for the Napoleonic blogs.

Carmi has unearthed a wonderful cartoon of Napoleon on the front page of a 1949 Men Only Magazine - a real gem. Quite how the cartoon relates to the content of that particular edition of the magazine is unclear.

Then Michel reports a recent wedding at Longwood House,well a renewal of vows actually, and in the Montholon Apartment, not the Imperial Suite.

The happy couple were expatriates currently working with the island police. After the short ceremony there were photos on the lawn in front of the famous entrance.

Longwood has over the years witnessed births and deaths and other dramatic events - but as far as I know never a wedding ceremony.

I could not help wondering what Napoleon would have made of all this.

Perhaps this will be the future of St Helena and of Longwood House - an exotic wedding destination.

Once St Helena gets its airport then the Mediterranean, Africa, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and Las Vegas will have a new more exotic and probably more expensive rival.

I can see it now: horses and carriages, men dressed in uniforms of the Grande Armée, and maybe even photos in Longwood House with a Napoleon look alike, for a supplementary fee of course.

Certainly beats a photo with a Sri Lankan elephant.

Orange Grove/Miss Mason's/Teutonic Hall

2010-07-26T12:19:00.026+01:00

I have for some time been fascinated by this once fine house.

Apparently Hudson Lowe toyed with the idea of renting what was then known as Orange Grove for Napoleon for £100 a month.

How many houses did that tortured man consider I wonder? I refer of course to Hudson Lowe not Napoleon.

In Napoleon's time it was the home of the wealthy Miss Polly Mason, about whom I have discovered little, except that she apparently used to ride an ox, and always bowed effusively whenever she saw Napoleon.

There were the inevitable rumours about a romantic liaison - but St Helena has never been short of rumours - or romantic liaisons for that matter!

My understanding was that Miss Mason was still alive and greeted the French party when they returned in 1840 for the exhumation of Napoleon's body, but I may be wrong.

Anyway at some point the house was sold to Georg Wilhem Janisch, originally of Hamburg, and it was renamed Teutonic Hall.

The Janisch Family and Teutonic Hall

Janisch came out to St Helena as a clerk to Denzil Ibbetson. He was underemployed with Ibbetson, so Lowe took him on as personal secretary. They seemed to have a high mutual regard for each other, and Janisch later gave the name Hudson to his son.

Janisch fell in love with Ann Mira Seale, the daughter of Major William Seale. He decided to stay on when Lowe left in 1821. He married Ann Mira in 1823 and a son was duly born in 1824/1825.

The son, Hudson Ralph Janisch, became Governor of St Helena in 1874, in which office he remained until his death in March 1884 at the age of 59. He remains the only person born on the island to have served as Governor.

After Hudson's death his widow Eleanor, herself a daughter of the well established Pritchard family, moved to the Cape, which seems to have attracted a number of old St Helena families as the island went into economic decline.

The Janisch family were instrumental in helping to establish the Baptist faith on the island. Apparently the first ever Baptist sermon was delivered in July 1845 in the parlour of Georg William Janisch's widow. Was that Teutonic Hall I wonder, or their house in Jamestown?

Teutonic Hall is a listed building, but is now little more than a shell.

Its current perilous state was described in Michel's blog in November 2008.

Contrary to Michel's blog, I am pretty certain that Mason's Stock house was a different building, although presumably part of the estate.

The completion of the airport will doubtless lead to a big demand for property on the most pleasant parts of the island. One can imagine that St Helena will be seen by the wealthy as an safe and attractive domicile, secure from the uncertainties of the African continent.

I am sure I am not the first to realise that the value of this site, situated in a beautiful lush valley, will greatly appreciate in the future. Let us hope that something is done for the house that currently stands there before it is too late.

CORRECTION
As the comment by Michel makes clear, there is a major error in this post. Orange Grove and Teutonic Hall were not the same building. Teutonic Hall was previously known as Mason's Stock House; so presumably Miss Mason did indeed still live in Orange Grove, which is closer to Hutts Gate. As far as I recall it was at Hutts Gate that she greeted members of the French party in 1840. It is also likely that the house Hudson Lowe considered, among others, renting from Miss Mason for Napoleon, was Orange Grove rather than the house now known as Teutonic Hall.

So St Helena will get its Airport - thanks to the "Brokeback Coalition"

2010-07-24T19:50:00.014+01:00

So at long last, despite all the cuts that the new Coalition Government has announced, St Helena will get its airport.

The Government thinks that it can reduce costs by shortening the runway - using an engineered material arresting system (EMAS).

The aim is that St Helena will develop a self sustaining economy. Among the conditions which the Government has attached is that

the St Helena Government undertake to implement the reforms needed to open the island's economy to inward investment and increased tourism

Not sure what that means, but fear that the devil will be in the detail.

Clearly it has pleased many on the island.

The Governor and the Honorary French Consul seem to be delighted!

There will of course be some who are not so pleased - there has always been a vocal minority who opposed an airport, and wanted a replacement for the R.M.S. St Helena. It will be interesting to see how the issue of freight will be resolved when the R.M.S. is decommisioned.

Personally, although I can see the advantages of an airport, particularly as regards access to medical treatment, I am a little apprehensive.

The high profile involvement of the billionaire Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft - embittered coiner of the homophobic term "brokeback" to describe the relationship between the leaders of the UK Coalition Government - leaves me with a few nagging doubts about the future of St Helena.

I couldn't help noticing the following in the Governor's statement about the decision:

There will be many attractive jobs - being an air traffic controller is very lucrative. It is an international job with a salary of over £100,000. The training has been said to take 5 years – so school leavers should be thinking about that kind of thing right now.

At the risk of pouring cold water on people's hopes for the future, I should point out that there may be some senior highly skilled and experienced air traffic controllers at Heathrow and a few other major airports in the UK earning such large salaries, but we are talking here about a small airstrip on a small island which in the future will have to pay its way without handouts from the British Government. A dose of realism is I think called for.

I hope I am wrong. St Helena is a very special place, and the Saints are lovely people who deserve a break. I would be dishonest though if I did not express my fear that the ordinary people of St Helena will not benefit from this development.

Napoleon and the Swedish Royal Family: Interesting post on "My Napoleon Obsession"

2010-07-16T16:30:00.015+01:00

Carmi on "My Napoleon Obsession" writes a delightful blog. All her posts are brief and visually attractive.

The latest Stunning Cameo Tiara, is about the tiara recently worn by the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria at her wedding.

This tiara has been in the Swedish Royal family since the early nineteenth century.

It was apparently originally given by Napoleon to the Empress Joséphine, and passed into the hands of her grandaughter, Josephine of Leuchtenberg (Joséphine Maximilienne Eugénie Napoléone,1807– 1876). (1)

In 1823 Joséphine and her jewelry came to Sweden when she married Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte (1799-1859), who also happened to be Napoleon's godson. In 1844, on the death of his father Jean Bernadotte, Joseph became Oscar I of Sweden and Norway.

Jean Bernadotte (Charles XIV of Sweden and from 1818 Carl III Johan of Norway ), had of course been one of Napoleon's marshalls.

Bernadotte's wife and Joseph's mother was none other than Desirée Clary, Napoleon's first love to whom he had at one point been engaged.

Desirée's sister married Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte.

What a complicated set of relationships!

When Joséphine arrived in Sweden in 1823 the name Napoléone was removed, but the Swedes kept the jewels! If ever they wished to sell them I think they would fetch a tidy sum.

It always amazes me how the European Royal Families all seem connected either to Queen Victoria and/or the Empress Josephine.

Anyway thanks to Carmi for another interesting post.
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1. Her father was Eugène de Beauharnais, The Empress's son by her first marriage. Her mother was Princess Augusta of Bavaria. Through her mother Joséphine was also a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden, Charles IX of Sweden and of Christian II of Denmark.

Another Organized Trip to St Helena on the R.M.S.

2010-07-02T11:10:00.010+01:00

Following news of the success of the guided tour of the Napoleonic cultural sites in October this year comes news of another organised tour.

This one, under the auspices of the Napoleonic Society, will take place from 30th May until 19th June 2011.

The guide will be Michel Martineau, known on the island as "The Frenchman". Michel has devoted twenty years or so to the restoration and safeguarding of the French properties, to improving collaboration with the British authorities and, if the truth be told, to doing what he can to improve the life of the people of St Helena. He will be an admirable guide.

Further information is available on the web site of the French Society of Napoleonic History and supplementary information is available on Michel's blog of 30th June.

Visitors will stay on board the R.M.S. St Helena each night.

Apart from the usual tours of Longwood House, the Briars, the Valley of the Tomb and Plantation House, visitors will also be taken to places such as Longwood Plateau, Fisher's Valley (Valley of the Nymph), Orange Grove, Maldivia and Sandy Bay, all of which were part of the fascinating history of the captivity of Napoleon.

The group will also dine at Longwood House, get the chance to meet all the local dignitaries at a cocktail party there, and will even be invited to dine with the Frenchman in his impressive house - situated away from the incessant rain and wind of Longwood where Michel spent more years than Napoleon!

I am sure the trip will be a great success, and will be oversubscribed.

Napoleon Memorabilia Auctioned - and a new myth created

2010-07-01T07:07:00.010+01:00

The auction of the Ibbetson collection in New Zealand has now taken place, with interest from all around the world.

The lock of hair sold for £8600, to an anonymous collector in London. The diary went for £4400.

The item which raised the most was this lithograph of Napoleon on his death bed, which sold for over £9000.

The best news though is that the sketch of Longwood House has been bought by someone from Paris, who is returning it to St Helena, presumably to Longwood House.

I have seen no reports as to what happened to the St Helena theatre play bills - they have no Napoleonic connections and are therefore not very newsworthy. I would be interested to hear what they made and where they have gone.

The Deluded Emperor: The Making of a Myth

Probably the most important result of this auction has been the creation of a new major myth about Napoleon. It is no longer possible to blame this simply on chauvinism in British tabloids, as I did in my earlier post on the subject.

The BBC in its report said that Napoleon still spoke of invading Britain despite his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo .

ABC News, Australia reported that Ibbetson's diary, which sold for $7,800, described conversations with Napoleon, who still harboured ambitions of invading Britain despite his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

CBS has ventured even further into the absurd:

Ibbetson's diary, which detailed conversations with Napoleon, who, after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, still planned to take over the world from his little island domain .

Seriously. Anybody who has read any of the millions of words of evidence about Napoleon on St Helena would not entertain this idea for a nanosecond.

This myth will probably endure for many many years - and there appears to be nothing which distinguished scholars, admirers of Napoleon, or those who simply seek the truth can do about it.

I find it very depressing. How long before it appears on Wikipedia as a fact?

Generals Quarters at Longwood and other St Helena News

2010-06-25T13:40:00.007+01:00

I have just been catching up on recent issues of the St. Helena Independent.

As usual the paper gives a downbeat view of life on the island, which I fear is an all too accurate representation of reality.

The last few issues have been dominated by the distressingl circumstances surrounding the birth of a still born child in the hospital - which according to the Bishop has resulted in a lack of confidence in the medical facilities on the island.

On a brighter note I was pleased to read that the cultural voyage to St Helena, "In the Footsteps of Napoleon" , which I wrote about last October, has attracted a lot of interest. According to Alistair McLean, Marketing Executive of R.M.S. St Helena, 34 packages have been sold, and they have had to turn away further enquiries because of the lack of suitable accommodation on the island. Alistair thinks it will be one of the biggest such parties to arrive on the island. Further trips are likely to take place in 2011 and 2012.

It was also interesting to read a presentation made by the French Honorary Consul, Michel Martineau, to Legislators and Senior Government Officials. The main points are listed below.

The French Government is responsible for the maintenance of the French properties; the St Helena Government is now responsible for Fire and Burglary security of Longwood House and for ensuring the properties are accessible to public.

Permission has been secured from the French Government to restore the Generals Quarters at Longwood House. (photo above). These quarters had previously been rebuilt in the 1930's, but because of poor quality materials and the harsh weather conditions at Longwood they have deteriorated badly. The project will cost 800,000 Euros. Happily the main construction work will be undertaken by a local builder, with specialist assistance as needed from France. A campaign to raise sponsorship for this project will begin in the autumn. The project is expected to take three years.

In 2016 some 80 pieces of furniture associated with Napoleon's captivity will temporarily be removed from St Helena to be exhibited in Paris alongside other Napoleon artefacts. The furniture will be expertly restored before the exhibition, and will be returned in perfect condition to St Helena.

Visitors to St Helena beware - Longwood is going to be rather empty in 2016!

British Admirers of Napoleon

2010-06-24T12:23:00.009+01:00

Have been reading Michel Martineau's latest blog. He has taken up one of the major themes I have pursued on these pages.

He quotes an article from the Magazie Marianne in 1999 which discussed the surprising interest in Napoleon in Britain and its former Empire.

The magazine contrasted this with the relative lack of interest in the victors of Waterloo: Wellington and Blucher.

There are many pubs in England named after Wellington, although he is I think less well known than Nelson, and was hated by a section of the country in his own lifetime.

For those who can stand back and put aside national prejudice, there really is no contest. Napoleon and Wellington were not on the same level.

Napoleon overshadowed all his contemporaries. I don't think there is anything else that needs to be said on the matter, although that does not prevent the British press and many historians from continually presenting a very biased view of him.

The article also mentions a number of non-British admirers of Napolon: Bill Gates, Newt Gingrich, Stanley Kubrick and General Pinochet. That list, particularly the last name, leaves me for once somewhat lost for words - except to say that I believe Mrs Thatcher quite liked him - Pinochet that is!

The picture of the then Queen and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret visiting Longwood in 1947 is reproduced with Michel's permission. I have referred to that visit and to the Royal family's criticism of the poor state of Longwood in previous postings.

Napoleon Plotted Invading England After Waterloo - I don't think so!

2010-06-17T16:52:00.006+01:00

The Daily Mirror has latched on to the collection of Napoleonic Memorabilia soon to be auctioned in New Zealand, and has put its own unique interpretation on a passage in Denzil Ibbetson's diary. The short article is most inappropriately labelled "History".

As he whiled away the time on the Northumberland headed for exile on St Helena, the "deluded" Emperor was apparently planning invasion of Britain - and was even stupid enough to discuss his plans with his captors. Typical of the French the Mirror might have said. Quite where he was going to get the ships, infantry and cavalry is not clear, but that just proves how deluded Napoleon was!

Anyway if one ever had any doubts that the Daily Mirror is not fit to be called a newspaper this now removes them.

As for the passage in the diary itself - obviously Napoleon was discussing the past. It is not clear whether Denzil Ibbetson heard this statement first hand, or whether it was reported to him. Napoleon had given up the idea of invading Britain long before Waterloo. It is not clear how serious he had ever been - but it had suited him to make the British think that that was his intention.

Regarding the question of what support he would have got - every patriotic John Bull would tell you that Britain would have risen against him to a man. Tom Paine, the author of Rights of Man did not share that view. He encouraged an invasion to set Britain free from the oligarchy that ruled it, but had advised Napoleon that it was important that he went as a liberator rather than a conqueror.

No doubt though that the reception he received at Plymouth convinced Napoleon that the British people would in his downfall have treated him far more kindly than their rulers. This was of course a view shared by the rulers themselves - which is one of the reasons that they would not entertain the idea that he be allowed to stay in England.

Ibbetson Napoleon/St Helena Auction

2010-06-08T11:41:00.019+01:00

The catalogue for the Ibbetson collection has now been published, and may be downloaded from Art + Object.

It is very well presented and is I think a credit to the auctioneers. It contains a short essay by David Markham.

The auction will take place in Auckland on June 29th.

In a way it is a pity that the collection has had to be split up after all this time. I understand that Michel Martineau would have liked to purchase some of the items for the museum at Longwood, but unfortunately funds are not available.

Michel has asked me what items I would like. Strange as it may seem I am not a collector, but I would gladly give a home to any of the pictures in the collection. On the whole though I would rather see them in a museum where they could be enjoyed by more people. The one item I would not particularly want is Napoleon's hair! That may suprise some readers.

Anyway among the many items that caught my eye were paintings of the races that used to take place on Deadwood, and which used to be observed secretly by Napoleon from Bertrand's cottage using his spy glass.

The races were covered in a post I wrote over two years ago suitably subtitled A Fine View of the Races.

Little did I know then that a picture of the races was in existence.

I also found this drawing of Longwood interesting.

A rather more higgledy piggledy residence than we usually imagine it. (Worth clicking to enlarge it.)

It should remind us that it was the home and work place for a number of people who were there to support Napoleon, living in close proximity to each other and in sanitary conditions which we would find intolerable. Not to mention the rats!

In this picture Napoleon's apartment is hidden behind what appears to be a tall fortification - which perhaps reminds us of another too easily forgotten feature of life at Longwood.

Perhaps the most interesting item for me though is the collection of play bills - shedding important light on the amateur dramatics which took place on St Helena during the captivity.

Denzil Ibbetson was a keen actor, as were his sons. He was apparently manager and book keeper for the St Helena Amateur Theatre from 1816-23.

Among the plays performed in these years were John Bull, Love A-La– Mode, The Wonder: A Woman keeps a Secret!!, She Stoops to Conquer, Tom Thumb, Bombastes Furioso, and King Richard III .

Napoleon never witnessed any of these performances. Doubtless he would have been welcomed, but his appearance would certainly have distracted the audience.

The collection also includes two sketches Ibbetson made after the theatre was burned down in 1821.

It is a pity some of these items could not find their way to the museum in Jamestown. They constitute a little known part of St. Helena history.

Napoleonic Memorabilia discovered in New Zealand

2010-05-27T13:53:00.015+01:00

And so to my second recent email.

This one from Hamish Coney, Managing Director of Art and Object Ltd., New Zealand.

Hamish is currently preparing a catalogue of a previously unknown collection of materials relating to Napoleon's captiviy on St Helena. David Markham has written an essay which is to appear in the catalogue.

The collection includes a lock of Napoleon's hair (above), cut off according to the inscription the day after he died, and a lithograph of a sketch of Napoleon on his death bed.

There can be no doubt about the authenticity - the collection was the property of the family of Denzil Ibbotson (see below), and was brought to New Zealand by his son after Denzil's death in 1857.

The collection also includes sketches of a house on the island, which I regrettably am unable to identify. Hamish wonders whether it could be the house that the Bertrands and later Denzil himself lived in at Hutts Gate. One of the sketches is headed Longwood Guard House - so perhaps not.

Among other items discovered is Ibbetson's diary which covers the journey to St Helena on the Northumberland with Napoleon. There are also a number of playbills recording the amateur dramatics that took place on the island during the captivity. This article from the New Zealand Herald gives further information.

All in all a very exciting collection. The auction which is to take place in June is bound to attract a lot of interest from Napoleonic enthusiasts all over the world.

Denzil Ibbetson (1788-1857)

He entered the Commissariat Department of the Army in 1808, and served in the Peninsular War.He sailed to St Helena on the Northumberland with Napoleon, and was one of only four officers to remain there for the duration of the captivity. He took over the job of purveying goods to Longwood House after William Balcombe fell out with the Governor and returned to England. He seems to have got on well with Hudson Lowe. He has previously been reasonably well known for his sketches of Napoleon. (1) He lived in the house at Hutts Gate ("Little Pasture") vacated by the Bertrand family when they moved to their newly built cottage at Longwood. (2)

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Notes

1. These paintings were in the early twentieth century owned by A.M. Broadley who apparently wrote an article about Ibbetson in the Century Magazine (A US publication) in 1912.

2. Interestingly Charles Darwin lived in this house during his short stay on St Helena. From here Napoleon discovered the beautiful valley nearby that was to provide him with his daily drinking water and was to be the site of his tomb; interestingly the house is also close to the site of Halley's observatory on the island.

New Book on Napoleon's Captivity and Death : L'Autre St Hélène

2010-05-25T17:25:00.024+01:00

As I have written before, emails from total strangers are one of the most pleasing things about blogging.

So far I have been spared any really unpleasant ones. I hope that statement is not a hostage to fortune!

Anyway I have had a couple of very interesting ones recently.

The first is from Albert Benhamou, the author of this new book on the captivity, which focuses on the illness, the death and the doctors around Napoleon.

Avid readers of this blog will have noted that the cover uses the James Sant portrait produced for Lord Rosebery's Napoleon the Last Phase, which is owned but regrettably currently not displayed by Glasgow Art Gallery.

Albert has provided a linked website which has some introductory pages in English, including a detailed synopsis and an impressive list of sources which will be a useful guide for anyone who wishes to study the Captivity. Unusually there is also Facebook site.

I was struck by the author's comment on his web page, particularly the highlighted sentence:

After nearly 200 years, the causes of his illness and of his death continue to raise questions. Considering how much contempt Napoleon had for medicine, one cannot fail to note the irony of the subsequent medical controversies. But irony has rarely been absent from the history of his captivity.

The book sounds fascinating. A slightly unusual focus, but one which seems eminently sensible. So far it is published only in French. I hope the author may be encouraged to publish it soon in English.

Hopefully soon I will be able to write about the other email, which is equally interesting to those interested in the Captivty.

Two Bonaparte Princes and the Actress: Whatever Happened on the Train to Manchester?

2010-03-12T10:42:00.020Z

It is August 1847.

The celebrated French tragédienne Rachel ( Elisabeth Rachel Félix,1821-1858) has just finished four highly acclaimed performances at the St. James Theatre in London.

Everybody who is anybody has seen her - including Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, and Prince Louis Napoleon. The latter, one of her numerous lovers, is soon to return to France and assume the title of Napoleon III.

So, after her London success, Rachel is now headed on the train to Manchester to make her debut in the English provinces.

Accompanying her are Louis Napoleon and his cousin Prince Napoléon.

Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, 1822-1891

- who according to some bears a physical resemblance to his more famous uncle

- but is to acquire during the Crimean War the rather unflattering nickname for a Bonaparte of "Plon Plon" (derived from Craint-plon - fear of bullets).

Picture the scene in the carriage.

Rachel and Louis Napoleon begin the journey sitting together. Prince Napoléon sits opposite. The three have the carriage to themselves.

Louis Napoleon apparently falls asleep, so what else is Rachel to do but go and sit beside his cousin?

Unfortunately Louis Napoleon is not asleep.

For some time, through half shut eyes, he watches Rachel and his cousin kiss and cuddle.

He then begins to simulate the process of awakening.

By the time he is fully "awake" Rachel is back sitting beside him, and Prince Napoléon is examining the English countryside through the carriage window as avidly as if he has never seen trees before.

Louis Napoleon says nothing, but he is irritated by the duplicity. He stays in Manchester one night only, and returns to London the following day. That appears to have been the end of that particular affair (1)

Rachel at the Theatre Royal

Rachel's destination was Manchester's new Theatre Royal, with its white marble sculpture of Shakespeare on the facade. (2)

The theatre still stands, although it has lost its former glory.

In recent decades it has been variously cinema, bingo hall and night club.

Hopefully better times await it again.

A refurbishment costing £150 million has been announced, and when completed it will be the new home of the Manchester Library Theatre Company.

Presumably 160 years of grime will be removed from the Shakespeare sculpture and the marble will be revealed again.

Back to August 1847.

Rachel appeared on four nights in four different plays: Les Horaces, Phèdre,Virginie and Jeanne d'Arc .

In those days two or even three plays were performed on the same night, and on occasion Rachel would be taking her final curtain call not much before midnight.

On her final benefit night her sister, Mademoiselle Dinah Felix, made an appearance, reciting "Le Chene et le Roseau" and "La Belete". One wonders what the good merchants of Manchester made of that.

Rachel's performances were a resounding artistic success.

The Observer said there was no mistaking here the presence of the highest histrionic genius.

The Examiner noted the

enthusiasm of the audience, both during the course and at the close of the performance, when Rachel was called for and received with showers of bouquets.

The Manchester Guardian contrasted French actors favourably with English actors:

English actors think it sufficient to know what to say on the stage, French actors learn what to say and what to do.

Those attending were apparently able to buy scripts of the plays being performed with French and English in parallel lines, but despite this the size of the audiences was a disappointment. The Courier noted that for one performance the dress circle (10/6) the pit stalls (5/-) and the pit (3/-) were full, but the upper circle (5/-) gallery (2/-) and upper gallery (1/-) contained no more than 50 people.

The Manchester Times , with characteristic Victorian optimism, had expected that

our Athenæum, our Mechanics' Institute, and other educational institutions, would have been preparing, through their language classes, large numbers who could have understood and enjoyed a performance of this nature.

One wonders how many today would turn out to watch a play performed in French. I don't think it would need a very large theatre!

Rachel was followed by Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale". Miss Lind commanded an enormous fee for her appearances at the Theatre Royal, and had no trouble filling it. For her the best seats were priced at £1-11s-6d - three times the cost of seats for the French plays. (3)

On one night she was indisposed and the performance was postponed twenty four hours. The news was communicated to various stations on the line of railway by means of the electric telegraph. (4)

As always Manchester was at the cutting edge of technology.

Update 25/11/2010

I understand that plans to house the Library Theatre in the old Theatre Royal building have had to be shelved because of the high cost of renovation. A pity, but I can't say that I am surprised. I wonder what will happen to the building now.
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1. Roman Golicz The English Life of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte: The Life of Napoleon III in the context of Anglo-French Relations - available online.

2. This was the third Theatre Royal - the previous two were burnt down - a common occurrence given the dependence on candle light. The insurers insisted that the new Theatre Royal had a huge tank containing thousands of gallons of water installed over the stage. My thanks to Roy Rogers for this and other insights into the surprising history of Manchester Theatre

3. Rachel should have learned lessons from her and Jenny Lind's differing receptions in Manchester. Hearing that Jenny Lind had made 2 million francs on an American visit, Rachel followed her there, with predictably poor results. "Music is enjoyed by human beings everywhere, while French classical plays, even though acted by a genius like Rachel, could be rightly understood only by a French- speaking people." Famous Affinities of History by Lyndon Orr, The Story of Rachel

4. Manchester Theatre Royal Playbills, May-Sept 1847. Arts Library, Manchester Central Library. Unfortunately this excellent collection, which contains press cuttings as well as playbills, will soon be unavailable to researchers for three or four years while the library is being renovated.

Taking Guard for my Second Century: Retrospective Mood

2010-03-11T08:58:00.017Z

War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet - J.M.W. Turner. (1)

Exhibited in 1842 - painted in the aftermath of the return of Napoleon's body from St. Helena.

A curious picture by the famous romantic landscape painter - and arguably Britain's finest artist.

An exiled Napoleon with elongated legs, guarded by a British soldier, gazing on a limpet. The land he inhabits bears no resemblance to St. Helena. It is perhaps a state of mind.

Turner incidentally was a friend of Sir John Soane, who has appeared previously in this blog.

Anyway it seemed a suitably reflective picture to begin the second century. Excuse the cricketing reference in the title - but Wellington did I think at one point say that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton! As to whether I shall complete the second century, perhaps the only wise comment is that cricketers rarely do.

Some Questions to Myself

Why do I do it? The hardest question to answer. I guess the simplest answer is that I enjoy it.

Which post do I think is the best? Perhaps the one on Capel Lofft - it certainly took me a long while to assemble. I personally like to look back on my very earliest posts, which evoke a wonderful holiday which my wife and I hope to repeat sometime.

Which post has been the most visited? Possibly the ones on Maldivia for a time - they certainly got a number of comments.

The Rev Boys and Napoleon's chair also seemed to excite a lot of interest.

The post about the Two Saints in Manchester seems to be very frequently visited via google images. I don't know why, I have a feeling it is something to do with Manchester United and Old Trafford (the football not the cricket ground of the same name). Posts on Betsy Balcombe and the Exhumation of Napoleon also seem popular.

There are also a surprising number of people who ask google what language is spoken on St. Helena and so end up on my blog, and likewise those looking for the St Helena Independent.

What have you enjoyed the most? Meeting with the Manchester Maldivian Community, emails from blog readers and chats with other bloggers.

What is your opinion of Napoleon? I haven't made up my mind, maybe I never will. He seeems to me to have been extraordinarily complex and multi-talented - and probably the most remarkable man to emerge in a thousand years of European history.

What has surprised you the most? The interest my blog aroused in the Maldive Islands. Also, over a longer period, the discovery of the unique place which Napoleon held in the British imagination. Like most people I was unaware of the respect and some times support which many in Britain had for him from his own time right up until the first world war - most memorably when Queen Victoria visited Les Invalides and bade the young Prince of Wales kneel down before "the Great Napoleon." Many of my posts have reflected this.

To go back to the question of why I do it, perhaps I should end with a few comments by A.J.P.Taylor made 40 years ago in a review of books by George Lefebvre, Gilbert Martineau and others:

There are more books about Napoleon than about any other human being (a phrase carefully chosen in order to rule out Jesus Christ). More than 100,000 titles appeared by the end of the nineteenth century, and no one has made the count of those which have appeared since. Probably the total has by now reached a quarter of a million, and more are added every year. It is odd enough that readers should want to go on reading such books. It is even odder that writers should want to go on writing them. Can there really be anything fresh to be said on the subject, any new gold to be found in this well-dug field? It seems so. Napoleon not only remains a profitable market. He actually provides pleasure for those who write about him. It is very rare to pick up a book about Napoleon which has the air of being a hack job. Nearly every author seems to be in the game for the love of the thing.(2)

Love of the game - a very English/British idea - although perhaps not how others see us!

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1. Part of Turner's bequest to the nation. It is in the Tate Gallery.
2. "The Emperor Industry", New York Review of Books, Volume 13, Number 11 · December 18, 1969