Bertrand's Cottage - a postscript

No sooner had I done the last entry regarding Michel's blog than a new entry appeared, and then another. I have a number of topics I wish to develop, but they can wait. In the meantime I feel I must draw attention to these posts since they tie in so much with my own interests.

I have always found Mme Bertrand perhaps the most interesting of Napoleon's entourage, and was concerned on my visit at the neglect of the cottage. It is very pleasing to find that its importance in the story of the Captivity and therefore in St. Helena's history, is now being recognised.

Anyway Michel's posting of 28th August reproduces an important document by Bertrand's faithful servant Etienne Bouges, which provides a unique perspective on life in this cottage during the captivity: Napoleon rarely visited; Bertrand went to Longwood House every day; Madame Bertrand cried a lot. Don't rely on my summary, read it for yourself, there is an English translation with it!

The very latest gives an account of Michel's speech (in English) at the ceremony marking the lease of the cottage to the National Trust.

I have reproduced the last paragraph, which I think exemplifies the philosophy which Michel brings to his work.

This house is a resume in its own right. In this house, the present, the future are not opposed to the past, they are made from the same faith and vision. We are here because we all share this faith in St. Helena, in its past without shame. St. Helena with its prisoners, its slaves, its misery and also its glory … is St. Helena we respect. … we love and to which we are faithful. This house is no judge. This House is - a patient – a silent – witness. May she look upon us kindly tomorrow for what we do today. Together .

Bertrand's Cottage Back to Life

This blog would never have started but for Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, whose suggestion it was. One of my aims was to provide an occasional commentary about his blog, which began around the same time as mine and is of course largely in French.

As indicated in my previous posting, his blog has what I think is probably now the best collection of photographs of St Helena online - as well as a tremendous amount of material about the Napoleonic sites on the island. Anyway I digress.

Today Michel has announced news about Bertrand's Cottage, the background of which was first covered in my blog in March 2008.

Bertrand's Cottage is the property of the St. Helena Government, and in recent years has been empty and sadly neglected. Following a blog by Michel raising concern about this, the Government has agreed to lease the property to the St. Helena National Trust. The new director of the National Trust, Jamie Robs, will live there with his family. This is excellent news, and offers hope that one piece of St. Helena's heritage will be preserved through these straitened times.

Michel's entries on Bertrand's Cottage can be accessed by clicking here. The latest one has an English translation.

Maldivia - a Final Comment?

We were pleased to entertain most of Manchester's small Maldivian community to an "English tea" (Norwegian style) just before the start of Ramadan.


Then we showed our visitors our slides of St Helena, and tried to imagine how the Maldivians who arrived on St. Helena in 1735 must have felt when they first saw the dark rock that was to be their home for the rest of their lives.




So different from the islands they had been used to.



In preparation for the visit I had looked again at the books purchased on St. Helena. From these I gleaned two things I had forgotten. Firstly, I was not the originator of the term "slaves" to describe the Maldivians who were taken to St. Helena in 1735. I am very glad about that. The book (reproduced below) indicates that slaves were brought to St Helena from West Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Madagascar, and "elsewhere as opportunity offered, as in 1735 when a group of natives of the Maldives Islands were found drifting in a boat in the Indian Ocean .. (1)



Whether this book is right or wrong about the actual status of the Maldivians is another matter. Either way it is hardly an episode of which an Englishman can be proud.

Secondly, and I should have remembered this, Maldivia Gardens was near to the current hospital. The area we stayed in, although known as Maldivia, is further up the Jamestown valley. It is shown on the map below as the residence of Major Hodson. His house still exists and, as mentioned in my original Maldivia blog, was visited once by Napoleon when he was staying at the Briars. (2)


Despite walking and driving past many times, we never took a single photo of the area, and so we were unable to show our Maldivian guests what Maldivia Gardens looks like today. The source shown above indicates that the gardens still exist, and are tended in a series of patches which include places like Molly's Flat. (3)

Perhaps a kind Frenchman would post some pictures on his blog - which incidentally is the best place I know to find photographs of the stunning scenery of St. Helena as well as the historical sites!

Postscript

See latest post on Maldivia, 12 April 2013 which provides important new information on the Madivians taken to St Helena.

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1. St Helena - 500 Years of History 1502-2002 Quincentenary , Designed and published by Anchor Marine and associates, 2002, p.7 The book also has an apt comment about the approach to the island: one's first impression is of a grim and inhospitable volcanic island, belying the lush interior and friendly warmth of the people .

2. The map is one produced by Lieutenant R.P. Read, and published in London in 1815. It may be found in St. Helena Then and Now directed by Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, published by the Education Department St Helena, 2007. (ISBN 978-0620-39149-8)

3. St Helena 500 years of History

The Maldives Comes to Manchester

A great night in the Punjab Restaurant in Manchester's Curry Mile. Our first visit to this particular restaurant, and we liked it very much.




A lot of talk. A lot of laughter. A lot of photographs.



Virtually the whole of the local Maldivian community was there.




It was a privilege for us to meet such an interesting and friendly group of people, and I think we learned far more about the Maldives than we did on our three visits there as tourists. I also learned a little about the movement of the currents in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic!

Whether they learned anything about St. Helena from me is I think a moot point!

Our particular thanks to the amazing Aisha for having organised the event.

Maldivia - an Update

I have now gone over my original sources for the comment I made about the origins of the term Maldivia. I am afraid I have to admit an error. I think that the mention of the word "slaves" in the context of Maldivians was almost certainly my mistake. I suspect that the Maldivians were classified as "free blacks". My apologies for this, and for any upset it may have caused. I have added a comment to the original blog.

The source of my comments was Janisch's book on the St Helena records

now available online. I wish I had given the reference in my original blog. These records are well worth perusing for anyone who wishes to learn more about St Helena's history. The introduction is very apt:

Probably there are no Records of other British settlements more interesting or saddening than those which are to be found in these pages. Amongst the many incidents of the early days of the Island's history, herein recapitulated, several will be found to be highly ludicrous and entertaining, while some are revolting in the extreme.

The bits on Maldivia I found there are as follows:

[1735]
March 17.—Capt. Polly of the Drake at the distance of 150 leagues from land took up a Boat with ten Blacks of the Maldive Islands who were drove out to Sea and near perishing—three died on board, 5 Men, 1 woman and 1 boy landed here.
[Note.—The Maldivia Gardens, then a Government Plantation, derived their name from the employment of these men therein.]

22nd March 1742 —Major Thomas Lambert arrived and proclaimed Governor.
6th April—The property called " The Maldives" turned into a Hospital.

Rev Boys and Napoleon's Chair - an Unlikely Story?

BOYS, Richard, The Reverend (1785-1867). Chaplain to the Honourable East India Company on St. Helena, 1811 to 1830.





The Rev. Richard Boys was previously mentioned in my entry of December 9th 2008



Napoleon's Chair Discovered in Maidstone, 2009

A chair that belonged to Rev. Boys has now been discovered - or rather rediscovered - in Maidstone Museum. In a video embedded in a recent BBC article it is claimed that Napoleon used to sit, or rather fidget, in this chair when he visited Rev. Boys.


I have very serious doubts about the veracity of this claim - but would welcome any evidence to the contrary.







Napoleon visited very few houses on St. Helena, and as far as I am aware the house of Rev. Boys, appropriately known at the time as Kent Cottage, was not among them. (1) Had he done so, the Governor would have been informed, and there would surely be documentary evidence about the visits.




Rev Boys was a thorn in the flesh of the authorities on St Helena both before Napoleon arrived and after he had died. Any report that he was meeting Napoleon would I am fairly certain have met with some reaction. The Governor would I suspect have been glad of any excuse to get Rev. Boys off the island!

Arnold Chapin made this comment about Boys and Napoleon:

So far as the captivity was concerned, Mr Boys was brought into contact with Napoleon on one occasion only .He buried Cipriani, and for this service was given by Napoleon on April 18th, 1818, a snuff-box for himself and £25 for the poor. The snuff-box was returned, however, on account of having been given in a manner contrary to the regulations. (2)

I do think that the chair was probably Napoleon's, or to be more precise, that the chair came from Longwood. Whether Napoleon used to sit in it and was responsible for the markings on it is another matter!

Napoleon's Chair Discovered in Maidstone, 1911

After Napoleon's death the contents of Longwood were sold off to all and sundry, and it is conceivable that the Rev Boys obtained this item at that time. This at least was the view of an article which appeared in the New York Times in 1911 when the chair was last discovered!

At that time the chair on display in Maidstone museum bore the foillowing inscription:

This chair was used by Napoleon Bonaparte during his captivity in St. Helena. After his decease it was purchased by the Rev. R. Boys, then Chaplain to Sir Hudson Lowe, Governor of St. Helena, and subsequently Vicar of Loose, near Maidstone. At his decease it was purchased and presented to this museum by Alexander Randall, Esq. (3)

That sounds to me a more plausible explanation! I would be happy to be corrected.
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1. This house has also at times been known as Smith’s Gate House and Stone Top Cottage. – It is more famous as the prison of the Boer General, Pieter Arnoldus Cronjé.

2. Arnold Chapin, A St. Helena Who's Who (London 1919). An earlier edition used the word "Longwood" instead of "Napoleon", which casts a little doubt as to whether Boys ever met Napoleon in person.

3. The article is entitled Marryat's Sketch of Napoleon on His Bier, but it refers to the chair in Maidstone Museum as well as the sketch.