St Helena One Man's Island: "He had little time for Napoleon"

Front Cover of Ian Baker's, "St Helena: One Man's Island" (1)

I have recently been reading Ian Baker's interesting and beautifully written book on St Helena. The first few paragraphs of the Introduction hooked me

Islands are special places. They are finite, complete. They are of the sea, and because of that, their land has added value.

An island can become part of you, though perhaps not you part of it.

An island allows you to stop and stare, to look anew at things with which you're familiar , and to find the things with which you are'nt. It gives you chances to look more closely at yourself."

He has woven together a fascinating account of St Helena, rooted in his unrivalled knowledge of its geology, which began with a lengthy research visit in the early 1960's.

Created over a period of millions of years from volcanic eruptions in the mid-Atlantic rift, which ceased in St Helena's case about seven or eight million years ago, it is at its longest only ten miles across, about the size of Greater Manchester he tells us, but at its base, deep below the surface of the Atlantic, it is eighty miles across, and higher than Mont Blanc before it breaks the water's surface.

One Man's Island might perhaps be seen as an early example of what is coming to be known as "Big History", an approach which gives homo sapiens a less privileged position in the story of our planet. Such an approach presents challenges when you are telling the story of a small remote island largely unknown apart from its association with the captivity of the legendary Emperor of the French.

"One Man" and Napoleon

Please don't get me wrong. I've as much time as the next for Napoleon, probably a lot more. But there is much more to this island than even that special bird of passage. (2)

So in his attempt to focus on the bigger picture, Ian Baker enlists the support of Charles Darwin, certainly focused on far greater forces, who during his short stay on St Helena in 1836 never bothered to visit Napoleon's tomb and, as the author says, probably "didn't have a great deal of time for Napoleon".

Similarly he is able to call on the the first man to sail around the world single handedly, Joshua Slocum, who presumably had had time enough to think about more fundamental things. Slocum, with some justification, described St Helena as "an island of tragedies", but added with a sting in the tail, "tragedies that have been lost sight of in wailing over the Corsican." (3)

Ian Baker is I think on shakier ground when he tells us, "Gorrequer certainly had little time for Napoleon" , a conclusion based on the fact that in his long diary entry on May 5th 1821 Gorrequer did not mention Napoleon, and on the next day referred to him as defunct Neighbour". It is impossible to know precisely what he thought of Napoleon, and it doesn't much matter, but while Gorrequer's diary is full of venom directed at Hudson Lowe, Lady Lowe and Sir Thomas Reade, I cannot recall any negative comments about Napoleon. Ian Baker also somewhat misleadingly describes Gorrequer's nickname for Lowe as "Chief". He certainly used it at times, but far more common was the sobriquet "Mach", short for Machiavelli, which throws rather a different light on Gorrequer's sympathies! (4)

I also have my doubts about the rather sweeping conclusion as to why Longwood was allowed to deteriorate after Napoleon's death:

"When Napoleon died in exile in 1821, most of the world felt that he had got no more than his just desserts. It is all too easy to see Napoleon, the great leader, in hindsight, but at the time he was hated, feared and vilified. Many would rather the Prussians had taken him after Waterloo, and executed him, as they had wanted to." (5)

Having read this one might be surprised to hear of the large numbers who queued up to see Napoleon's body after his death, the crowd that attended his funeral, and the steady stream of visitors to his grave in succeeding years. It was indeed the fuss about Napoleon, rather than Napoleon himself, which Darwin commented on. There would of course not have been that fuss had Napoleon not had significant support in England and the New World, though not of course among the absolute monarchs who wielded power on the continent and for a time at least felt more secure that Napoleon was gone, and wished that he would be soon forgotten.

As for the neglect of Longwood, the house itself was in a state of dilapidation and presumably would have been demolished had Napoleon lived and moved into New Longwood House. Unlike the Valley of the Tomb, which was in private hands and earned a reasonable income for its owners, ownership was in the hands of the East India Company, and clearly it had neither commercial nor political interest in creating a memorial to Napoleon.

Perhaps though the most questionable section on Napoleon is the description of his removal from the Briars to Longwood. The book paints a picture of Napoleon playing for time, and of Cockburn losing patience with him. According to this version Napoleon was "furious at having to leave the Briars. Cockburn was impassive, either Napoleon moved or he would bring guards to move him. Take it or be taken. Napoleon took it." (6) This version of events had then as now a very satisfying ring for British patriots. All one can say is that there is no support for it in French sources, nor from O'Meara nor indeed from Betsy Balcombe. Those closest to Napoleon were of the view that he was pleased to move to Longwood, and to assemble all his followers in one place. One would like to know the source for this version, but One Man's Island is not that kind of book.

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1. Ian Baker St Helena One Man's Island (Wilton 65, 2004)
2. op cit p 101
3. op cit p 113
4. op cit p 164
5. op cit p 119
6. op cit p 62

Napoleon's Last Days: Building Castles in Spain

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.

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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

Napoleon: General or Emperor?

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

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

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

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

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

Gorrequer's Diary

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