The Racehorse Blucher and St Helena

I have said on a previous blog that one of the best things about blogging is the emails that you get.


I have recently had a very interesting query from novelist and historian Mike Hutton about one of the horses that raced on St Helena in Napoleon's time.






Some Background: Horse Racing on St Helena

During the captivity horse racing took place twice a year at Deadwood from April 1817. The organiser was the young Captain (later Admiral) Henry John Rous, pictured above in later years, who was to become the 'dictator' of English horse racing. (1)

Napoleon used to watch the races from behind the shutters at Bertrand's cottage (2). I understand that his horses were lent for the racing, as were those of the Governor.

The horses which took part in the first meeting were

African, Brickdust, Blucher , Bacchus, Botherum, Comet, Creeper, Dolly, Emperor, Feather, Fidget, Grinder, Hambletonian, Hope, John Bull, Kutusoff, Manks, Marske, Mansel, Negro, Pringle, Prime of Life, Regent, Royal Oak, Regulus, Sebastian, Salamanca, Toussaint, Tom Tit, Tom Crop, Tickler, Whiskey.

Basil Jackson's Reminiscences are worth recording

... recalls to my memory our St Helena racing,
over which Captain Rous ruled with all the authority he so long exercised at Newmarket. We had our Turf Club, and an excellent mile-and-a-half course at Dead wood. It is true that our horses were not of high quality, but they afforded quite as much amusement as if they had been thoroughbred Rous infected me with his racing taste, and he found me an apt pupil, though invariably opposed to him. The Gover- nor was very liberal in his patronage, giving two handsome plates annually, and generally attended the sport in person ; he also placed his horses at the command of Captain Rous, and as they, or some of them, were English, and the best in the island, he enjoyed great advantages. The light weights of both army and navy furnished jockeys, and all turned out in proper racing equipment.
(3)

The Mystery of Blucher


To return to the query from Mike Hutton. He is doing some research on early English horse racing and is trying to find out what happened to the famous English race horse Blucher. This horse won the Derby in 1814 and was recorded as being at stud in the UK in 1817, but disappears without trace from the records by 1822. He wondered whether the horse on St Helena which was listed as racing in the first meeting in 1817 was the same horse.

There is fairly incontrovertible evidence of the sale of Blucher along with 3 slaves Under the Tree on St. Helena in 1829. I am inclined to doubt that this was the famous Blucher, although the sellers might have been happy to give that impression. Jackson indicates (see passages in bold above) that the standard of horse racing on St Helena was not very high, and I would have thought that the presence of a Derby winner would have received much notice. If anybody can help Mike to resolve the mystery of what happened to the famous Blucher, or any more information on the 1829 auction then please let me know, and I will pass the information to him.

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1. Henry John Rous (1795 –1877), second son of the 1st Earl of Stradbroke, British admiral, steward of the Jockey Club, author of the standard work on the Laws and Practice of Horse Racing, Conservative MP and First Lord of the Admiralty. Rous came out to St. Helena in the Conqueror, in August 1817 he was appointed to command of the Podargus. In January 1818 he was transferred to the Mosquito, and he left St. Helena in July 1819.

2. See my blog entry of March 4th 2008.

3. Basil Jackson Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer, Chiefly Relating to the Waterloo Campaign and to St. Helena Matters During the Captivity of Napoleon (1877 & 1903). Jackson also describes an event that I have referred to on an earlier blog: : During the first day's sport after our arrival,
an awkward circumstance occurred on the course, which everybody regretted when it could not be helped. A certain half-mad and drunken piqueur of Napoleon, named Archambault, took it into his head to gallop within the ropes when the course was cleared, and the horses coming up. For this transgression he was pursued by one of the stewards, and horse-whipped out of the forbidden limits. This gentleman knew not that the offender belonged to the Longwood establishment, or he would, no doubt, have spared his whip — particularly as Napoleon at the time was sitting on a bench outside his residence, looking at the crowd through a glass, and we were apprehensive that he might in-terpret the accidental chastisement his servant had received, into a premeditated insult to the master.

But we did Napoleon injustice by the sup- position. Mr O'Meara told me the next day, that he had distinctly witnessed everything thai passed, and had been very angry when he saw Archambault galloping alone along the course, and was pleased to see him chastised ; and that he had called him into his presence, and ex- pended on him a few f- beies and sacri cochons, afterwards.

Napoleon and the British

So beg the bones of Bonaparte! the Frenchmans pride.
Oh! bring him back again 'twill ease the Frenchmans pride.
And in a tomb of marble we will lay him with his son,
we will decorate him with his son
We will decorate his tomb with the glories he has won,
And in letters of bright gold inscribe Napoleon.

(British song circa 1840 reproduced in Semmel, Napoleon and the British)

For some time I have been intending to develop one of the sub themes of this blog - the attitude of the British/English to Napoleon. (1)



I have finally been spurred to do so after reading a letter sent by Michel Martineau to the St. Helena Independent and reproduced on his blog.

The Napoleonic sites on the island are the most explicit monument to the friendship between two great nations: the United Kingdom and the French Republic. To work towards that goal is not easy as I walk on an extremely fine cord. Of course, I upset some French who are nostalgic of an era, which has long since gone, and I irritate some British who cannot stand the idea that we preserve the memory of the one who they still call “General Bonaparte”. I respect both attitudes but do not share their opinion. I find it much more rewarding to work together rather than against one another. The European flag flying next to the French one at Longwood House is not only a reminder of our common past but of our common future.

Michel is right in his perceptions of the discomfort and even hostility which some English people instinctively feel about the celebration of the life and achievements of Napoleon. For many, particularly those on the political right, Napoleon remains "the Ogre of Corsica" as depicted in early nineteenth century Tory propaganda. As Stuart Semmel has pointed out, Second World War propaganda which compared the threat of invasion after Dunkirk with that in the Napoleonic era had the unintended and totally unhistorical effect of cementing Napoleon in the popular imagination as a proto-Hitler. (2) For those brought up in this climate it is difficult to comprehend that Queen Victoria actually told the young Prince of Wales to bow down before the "Great Napoleon" when she visited Les Invalides in Paris in 1855, or even that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth chided the French Government for the sad state of Longwood House after their visit to St. Helena in 1947!

Yet there is another side to the story. As E. Tangye Lean suggests, no enemy of the United Kingdom, ever received so much support and admiration from the British people as Napoleon did in his life time and in the years following his death. (3) This was undoubtedly a concern of the Government, which was exercised about the influence of radicals on the mass of a downtrodden population which was unrepresented in Parliament, was subject to a harsh penal code, endured appalling working and living conditions and whose young men were subject to the continuous threat of impressment into the navy. Also, as some radicals noted, soldiers in the "tyrant" Napoleon's army were not subject to the flogging which was a feature of life in the British army.

In my blog of February 11th 2008 I recalled my surprise at coming across Walter Runciman's account of the great admiration for Napoleon which he found among the sailors of the merchant navy in the mid nineteenth century. A reading of Semmel indicates that Runciman's experience was not atypical. There was a tremendous outpouring of songs and plays about Napoleon in Victorian Britain. E. Tangye Lean also confirms that there was a great deal of respect for Napoleon in the British Navy even during Napoleon's time.

On subsequent blogs I have covered some of Napoleon's British contemporaries who were most sympathetic to him - Lady Holland, Capel Lofft, Samuel Whitbread - and as anyone who dips into the literature will find, these represent the tip of a surprisingly large iceberg. I have also covered Napoleon's reception in Torbay and Plymouth, where, to the consternation of Government supporters, large crowds greeted him with the utmost respect. One recent author, a former Editor of the Times, has devoted his energies to try to prove that the sympathisers with Napoleon were in the minority. (4) Given the weight of official propaganda and the fact that France was Britain's traditional enemy and that Napoleon had threatened to invade Britain, it would have been very surprising if it were otherwise! Even Tom Paine, who earnestly wished the overthrow of the British oligarchy, and at one point hoped that Napoleon would invade, emphasised that this must be as a liberator, not as a conqueror.

An important chapter in the story, which has not been covered in my blogs, is that of Napoleon and the Romantics. Previous blogs have touched on Lord Byron - particularly in his association with Holland House, but the subject of Byron and Napoleon deserves fuller treatment than I have been able to give it.

Undoubtedly the best treatment of the complex topic of British attitudes to Napoleon is provided by Stuart Semmel's Napoleon and the British which has already been referred to; a good review is available online. The older book by E. Tangye Lean,The Napoleonists: A Study in Political Disaffection 1760/1960. is an excellent source of material, but is conceptually flawed.

The final section includes some contemporary quotations drawn from both these sources, of people who were to varying degrees sympathetic to Napoleon.


Some Contemporary Views

Tom Paine, I know Bonaparte, I have served under his Government, and he allows as much freedom as I wish or anybody ought to have.

Mrs Inchbald: Our great enemy is less wicked than most heroes and politicians have been; at the same time a vast deal wiser than them all.


Sir Robert Wilson, (Parlt 1810) - I join in none of the vulgar calumnies against the great ruler of the French nation, who I consider as the greatest statesman and ablest general of ancient or modern times; and I higly esteem the nation at whose head he has had the good fortune to be placed

The Duke of Bedford (1814) - everything I hear of this most extraordinary man, increases my desire to see him, Rely on it, he will again be numbered on the great scene of history

Lord Byron - His overthrow from the beginning was a blow on the head to me. Since that period we have been the slaves of fools.

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1. The usage of "English" and "British" is worth a blog on its own. Suffice it to say than many English people routinely regard both terms as synonymous. The Scots and Welsh have a different view. If a foreigner wishes to insult a Scot then the easiest way is to describe him as English. I myself try to avoid the the term British, although it seems appropriate for this blog entry.

2. Semmel, Stuart, Napoleon and the British. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ., 2004, page 239. Pieter Geyl, a Dutch historian and fierce critic of Napoleon who played a formative part in the post world war II re-evaluation of Napoleon nevertheless made this comment: .. even when as in my case one had hated the dictator in Napoleon long before the evil presence of Hitler began darkening our lives, one almost feels as if one should ask the pardon of his shade for mentioning his name in one breath with that of the other '' Pieter Geyl, Napoleon For and Against , preface to first Dutch edition, 1944.

3. E. Tangye Lean, The Napoleonists: A Study in Political Disaffection 1760/1960. OUP 1970.

4. Frank Giles, Napoleon Bonaparte: England's Prisoner, The Emperor in Exile 1816-21. Basic Books, 2001

Future of St Helena

Anyone who keeps in touch with St. Helena cannot fail to be concerned about the current situation.

Plan A was for the island to become self sustaining. HMG was going to build an airport, and an influx of high value tourists was going to develop the economy and ultimately eliminate dependence on the UK. There was always some scepticism on the island as to whether this strategy would work. When HMG announced a pause in plans to build the airport, and expressed doubt as to whether in the future tourism would recover/develop to the extent assumed because of the global economic crisis, it became apparent that there is no Plan B.

In the short term the island is also facing disruption of its lifeline. Both engines of the RMS St Helena are to be replaced - necessitating two periods in the dry dock in Cape Town in 2010.

Looking at it as an outsider it seems to me that some kind of air link is essential: to enable families to visit at shorter notice than is presently possible, and to enable those requiring emergency medical treatment to be moved quickly. It clearly will never be possible to have the highest standards of medical care available on an island with a population of only 4000. Whether the island needs the expensive airport previously proposed is another matter. In a rational world a low cost air link to Ascension would seem the most sensible solution, but I fear there are strong political reasons which would make that impossible.

The island also will need some way of getting freight by sea. I suspect that the most effective solution remains a dedicated ship to service the needs of this and the other islands in the South Atlantic. The replacement of the RMS engines suggests an intention that it will continue to ply between South Africa and St Helena for a number of years. At some point a replacement will be needed. Last year I read that the French were going to export wine to the UK by sailing ship. Whilst not advocating a return to sail for St Helena, I do wonder whether in the very long run a wind assisted ship might be a sensible way of reducing the costs of transport to the island. One thing the South Atlantic is not short of is wind! Probably far too visionary - but Napoleon would have loved the idea.

One final thing that visitors raise all the time is the question of growing more food. In a much earlier blog I pointed out that the allotments offered by the French Consul had few takers. It was also apparent that the land at Plantation House was not fully cultivated. I understand that there are numerous pests and diseases which frustrate vegetable growers on the island, but these problems and their solutions are surely within the realms of human knowledge - and hopefully do not need visits from expensive consultants.

On our recent trip to Cuba we found organoponicos in all the towns we visited. These are concrete raised beds which allow vegetables to be grown anywhere, regardless of the soil conditions which are usually poor. There are even such plots close to the centre of Havana. (1)





Obviously there are problems in developing similar solutions in St Helena - but they are organisational, not technical. I wonder for example how much organic waste is composted on St. Helena - or does all the compost come on the RMS?


Nobody is going to get rich growing vegetables on St Helena. Nevertheless, everything I have read indicates to me that food is not likely to get cheaper in the foreseeable future, and that a community so vulnerable to energy costs ought to replace as much of its imports as possible. Gardening is also a healthy activity, which is worth encouraging for its own sake. I imagine that a Cuban consultant would be fairly cheap, and might even bring a breath of fresh air to the island! Now I am getting really visionary -maybe entering the realms of fantasy even.

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(1) These are a relatively recent development in Cuba. Gardening was looked down on in pre 1990 Cuba, and was seen as a sign of poverty and under development; but it became necessary when Cuba could no longer obtain food imports from the eastern bloc on whom it had relied for most of its foodstuffs.

Markham: The Road to St Helena - A Review

At long last I have been able to put together a few thoughts on this book.

After a long and generally uneventful voyage, the ship dropped anchor in the harbor of Jamestown, St. Helena.


On the evening of the 17th, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, now outrageously styled General Buonaparte by the British Government set foot on his last island and walked forward to meet his ultimate destiny.

J. David Markham, The Road to St Helena (Pen and Sword, Great Britain, 2008).


It is interesting to compare this with Gilbert Martineau's Napoleon Surrenders which was completed over 40 years ago. Martineau's conclusion was somewhat more embellished :

By exiling him in the middle of the ocean, England presented him with a fresh conquest. Held prisoner on a rock for 6 years, contemplating the world, his career and his dreams with a philosopher's gaze, he succeeded in giving meaning to the hurricane he had let lose upon the old world, he transformed his thirst for adventure and conquest into a crusade for liberty, and his boundless arrogance into a European nationalism carrying all before it.

Whereas Martineau devoted a number of chapters to the period on board the Bellerophon and the Northumberland , Markham's book concentrates almost totally on the period leading up to the surrender. Perhaps there is a sequel still to come?

His focus is on French politics in the chaotic post Waterloo period, in particular on the machinations of Fouché, Napoleon's treacherous Minister of Police, who not only ensured that the allies knew all about Napoleon's plans for Waterloo, but delayed issuing passports for Napoleon's party to go to America, and left the allies in no doubt as to Napoleon's location.

There is also comprehensive coverage of the debate and indecision among Napoleon's entourage at Rochefort and the Isle of Aix, which ultimately left Napoleon with little choice but to surrender to the British. As always it is impossible to know what was going on in Napoleon's own mind - only hostile historians seem to be able to do that! As I read it I kept thinking of Johannes Willms who expressed the view that Napoleon never had any intention of going to America! (1) Among the useful appendixes is an account written by one of his party, Baron Lallemand, albeit with the benefit of hindsight: the Emperor became much too indifferent as to his personal consideration and left everything up to the men who were with him to take care of the situation. He could not have left this in more loyal hands, but guided by less clear-sightedness.

Among the things I noted was the extent to which Napoleon's plans for Waterloo had been compromised before the battle, first by Fouché, and then by General Louis Bourmont and other officers who defected. The book also reports from a little known source that Napoleon may have taken poison on 21st June, and then have taken an antidote.(2) Another interesting if rather trivial piece of information is the revelation that Napoleon's mistress, Mademoiselle George, later offered to join him on St. Helena. Presumably this would have prevented her serving in a similar role to the Duke of Wellington while he was in Paris. Fact is often stranger than fiction.

The book has a number of illustrations, including photos taken by the author of Napoleon's last home on the Isle of Aix and a commemorative plaque later erected by Baron Gourgaud on the beach from which Napoleon left the mainland for the last time.

Among the illustrations is one of Captain Maitland which has the following annotation: Captain Frederick Maitland received Napoleon aboard his ship and gave the Emperor his last decent treatment by the British. I don't think there can be a great deal of argument about that - although much depends on one's understanding of the word decent ! (3)

I enjoyed this book. It has an index, footnotes and a bibliography, and makes good use of a great deal of contemporary materials. There is not too much doubt which side Markham is on. He would have liked the Emperor to overcome his enemies in France and at Waterloo, or at least to have made his escape to America and to have avoided falling into the hands of perfidious Albion, but his sympathies do not stand in the way of a scholarly treatment of the subject.

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(1) See my blog of January 11th 2009.

(2) Markham p.83, his source is The Memoirs of Baron Thiébault (Late Lieutenant-General in the French Army) New York 1896. The druggist Cadet Gassicourt apparently feared that the poison may have hastened Napoleon's death on St Helena.

(3) "Napoleon was an emperor defeated, yet still regarded as emperor by his followers, treated by them as such, and accustomed to the servility due to one. To check his pretensions, reduce him to submission and control his conduct - all without losing his co-operation - demanded a confidence amounting to an insurmountable sense of superiority from the first .. " This extract from a British naval historian gives a useful insight into how the British establishment saw their task. Morris, "Mastering the General"

St Helena's Daisies

Getting emails from people all over the world is one of the nicest things about blogging.

Some time ago I received an interesting one from Warren Sheather in Australia. Warren is involved in a very worthwhile project on the cultivation of native Australian plants, and research on their dissemination around the world.

Having seen my entry of April 3rd 2008 on Lady Holland and the Everlastings of St. Helena, Warren emailed me to see if I could help him find out if the species on St Helena were in fact Australian. Unfortunately I was unable to help. Happily though he contacted somebody more knowledgeable, and is now able to confirm that the daisies of St. Helena, which apparently were sent by Lady Holland during the captivity of Napoleon, are indeed Australian.

Daisies of St Helena


Warren is located at Armidale on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. For those who might be interested, I am very pleased to give a link to his web site:Yallaroo