Hurtful as such items of news—which reached them solely through English sources or through equally unsympathetic French sources, such as the Bishop of Moulins, whose France was not their France—were to their patriotic feelings, they were all tending to bring about the day of their release. In 1814 the Allies invaded France, and successfully advanced upon Paris. Napoleon abdicated, and was allowed to retire to Elba, and at length the news reached Norman Cross that on the 30th May the Treaty of Paris, which meant freedom for all prisoners of war, had been signed.
Plate XXI.—Key Plan of M. Foulley’s Model of the Prison of Norman Cross, England
Deeply as many an old soldier among the 4,617 of the prisoners at Norman Cross on that date resented the fall of the hero he had worshipped, his great general, the Emperor, bitterly as the majority resented the sight of the white flag of the Bourbons which had been mounted in each quadrangle, the one dominant feeling in the breasts of the prisoners was wild joy at their imminent freedom and restoration to their own loved country; they embraced, they danced, they sang, and they cried for joy. The military barracks had not been an abode of luxury or comfort, and the garrison caught the infection of exuberant joy; a party of them seized the Glasgow Mail Coach, on its arrival at Stilton, and drew it to Norman Cross, whither the coachman, horses, and guard were obliged to follow.
Among the prisoners who witnessed the scenes of rejoicing at this time was M. Foulley, who had been confined at Norman Cross for five years and three months. The scene impressed him so strongly, that after his return to France he made a model of the Depot as it appeared during the celebration of the departure of the first detachment of liberated prisoners for France. This model has already been criticised and described in Chapter II, but the place for the photograph is here, in the last chapter of this volume. The figures in the quadrangles, the garrison drawn up in line, with its back to the prison, at attention, ready to salute the departing prisoners, who only a day before it had to guard with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, tell of the buried hatchet, of the new-born peace between France and England, which has endured for ninety-eight years, and which is cemented and invigorated by the existing entente cordiale.
The prisoners began to prepare for departure. Some would set to work with a will to finish articles which had been bespoken, or which they wished to put in the market before their departure. Some could afford to take their stock of knick-knacks home, and would have money to draw from the agent and clerks—money they had realised by their work during the past eleven years. Undoubtedly, in some instances, the sum earned amounted to as much as one, two, or three hundred pounds, but without seeing the banking account, it will hardly be credited that any prisoner had actually made the rumoured thousand pounds. [252] Others would pack the articles they were taking home as memorials of their long sojourn in the land of their enemy. Every one would be in some way preparing for departure. Some permitted on parole would have to bid farewell to the friends they had made within their bounds, others would have to write to friends made in the market or in conversations surreptitiously carried on through the pales of the stockade fences.
Speedily, detachments began to move off. The Depot had been costing £300,000 a year, and every day it remained full represented a large sum. The local newspapers, where formerly they described the prisoners making their weary way under a strong escort from the coast to Norman Cross were now filled with reports of parties of released prisoners marching to the coast in comparative freedom. One paper notes how, of a detachment of 500, some got so drunk (is it much to be wondered at?) that they could not go on; while, on the contrary on 6th May, according to the Cambridge Chronicle, another detachment of 200, which was to embark from Chatham, passing through Cambridge on their way to that port, walked about the town and the University buildings, conducting themselves in an orderly manner.
So detachment followed detachment, until in the Times of 19th August 1814 appeared a paragraph, “Of all the great body of Prisoners of War, who were lately at Norman Cross Barracks, at this time only one single prisoner remains, and he, in consequence of illness preventing his removal.” What must have been this poor fellow’s feelings when he knew that all his fellow prisoners had left for their native country. Was he happily unconscious? We are sure that everything possible would be done to lighten his sad fate. Probably he was the last of his countrymen to be laid in the now desolate cemetery. [253a]
One shudders to think that his disappointment may have been as heartrending as that of the poor prisoner whose fate is narrated by Basil Thomson.
“On 20th June, when the last draft was being formed, it happened that one unfortunate man could not produce his bedding; probably it had been stolen by others to make up their complement. On being refused at the gate, he rushed frantically back into his prison to look for it, and then, fearful of being left behind, he ran back to the gate to plead his cause with the guard. On being again refused he became frantic with grief, and crying that he had been eleven years in prison, in an agony of despair he pulled out his knife, and there before the guards and his own countrymen cut his throat. There is no more sorrowful incident in the history of Dartmoor.” [253b]
When the gate closed behind that man who had been left in Norman Cross on the 19th August, it closed for the last time on a prisoner. The campaign of a hundred days which followed between the escape of Napoleon from Elba and his final defeat at Waterloo sent no prisoners to the Depot, and in 1816 the buildings were demolished and the site sold. The sale, including that of the remaining stores, furniture, and fixtures, occupied thirteen days and realised only £11,060 4s. 4d. [254]
One of the Wells on the Site of the Prison. From a photograph by the Rev. E. H. Brown, July 1910
In Peterborough, Stilton, and the neighbouring villages much of the material sold was re-erected and is still in use; but on the site itself, the houses of the barrack master, the agent, and the steward, the wells, the wide fosse which ran round inside the outer wall, and about 60 yards of the wall itself, alone remain of that Norman Cross Prison which, for twenty years in the most eventful period in the history of Europe, played so important a part; over which, and its inmates, the two Governments, French and English, argued and fought, while the prisoners suffered. That prison, where these victims of war—our foemen, it is true, but patriots, and foemen worthy of our steel—pined in prolonged confinement, surrounded by prison walls, held down by cannon, muskets, and bayonets, hoping for release which never came, enduring an agonising longing for freedom—a longing so keen that many of them purchased it by enlisting in the ranks of Britain, their country’s enemy—and suffering, alas! other miseries, of which not the least was the moral deterioration and degradation consequent on their condition and surroundings. Gone are the prisons and their miseries, gone the barracks and their busy life of active duties, and gone, also, all personal recollection of the great events of 1789 to 1816, of which the life here was a part.
But, standing on the great North Road, between the two fields, the one to the right and the other to the left, nothing to distinguish them from the thousands of similar fields in every county of England, the reader will, if this narrative has in a measure aroused in him the interest with which the writer has hoped to inspire him, be able to call up in his mind’s eye the Norman Cross of a hundred years ago. The courts, the caserns, and the various other buildings rise before him; he sees them filled with the Dutch and French sailors and soldiers who for years lived in the one field, and of whom nearly two thousand for ever sleep in the other. The vision fades, and the gazer realises that of it nothing remains but a name, the beautiful works of art made by the prisoners, some musty documents, in the Public Record Office or British Museum, and 1,770 skeletons in the undistinguished field on the North Road. Before him lies the site of Norman Cross Prison, a typical scene of sylvan calm.
We pass; the path that each man trod
Is dim, or will be dim with woods:
What fame is left for human deeds
In endless age? it rests with God.
Now bear in mind, as thou keep’st jogging,
Each one’s a hole to put a cog in;
So should the work seem awkward doing,
The Appendix wheel sets all a-going.W. Hall, of Lynn.
|
|
PAGE |
A. |
Report of the Survey of the Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, 31st May 1813, by Mr. Fearnall, Surveyor |
|
B. |
Short Biography of Captain Woodriff, R.N., Agent at the Depot, 1799–1802 |
|
C. |
Specimens of the Entries relating to the Prisoners of War in the Registers preserved in the Record Office |
|
D. |
Extracts from Parliamentary Report Supplement 1801 to Appendix No. 59, Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons 1798, being Correspondence with French Government relative to Prisoners of War |
|
E. |
Return of Number of Prisoners in Health or Sick in the Various Prisons in Great Britain |
|
F. |
Full Nominal Return of the Hospital Staff at Norman Cross Prison |
|
G. |
Correspondence referring to the Bishop of Moulins, Letters of Earl Fitzwilliam, Sir Rupert George, Lord Mulgrave, and the Bishop, the latter adding a brief Autobiography |
|
H. |
Private Register of his Fellow Prisoners at Verdun, kept, during his Confinement there, 1804–1814, by Naval Cadet John Hopkinson, who was later Rector of Alwalton, near Peterborough, with, in the Last Column, Notes added later in his Life |
A REPORT OF THE SURVEY OF THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS 31st MAY 1813
By Mr. Fearnall, Surveyor
The Prisons, or Barracks, are built of fir quartering, and weather boarded on the outside, and have no inside lining, except those appropriated for the hospital, which are plastered. The innumerable holes cut through all parts of the buildings by the prisoners for the admission of light have caused them to be extremely weak, by the braces being cut through and destroyed in many parts, so as to render it necessary they should be immediately replaced with new, and such regulations adopted towards the prisoners as to prevent a recurrence of the same practice. The weather-boarding, stair-cases, hammock rails, privies and fence are in a general bad state, as particularly stated in this report, viz.:
Prison No. 1.—The ground floor is paved with stone, which is in many parts broken and very irregular. The story posts, that support the roof and floor, are so much damaged by being cut by the prisoners, and in parts decayed, as to require to be new in many places. The upper floor in the gangway, which has hitherto been laid with elm board, is stated to require renewing every twenty months; the other parts of the floor very much decayed. The hammock rails in many parts worn out. The braces and quarterings of the building are very much cut and destroyed by the prisoners, and must be new in many places. The stair-case in very bad condition, quite worn out. As they are now constructed within the building, they impede a free circulation of air, and occupy a space which would allow twelve men to be berthed, in addition to the present number, by having an accommodation ladder against the outside of the building, with a landing place and door; this plan would stop the communication between the two prison rooms, facilitate the escape of the prisoners in case of fire, by having two doors instead of only one. Mr. Walker, the surgeon, is very desirous that the same alteration should be made at the Hospital; it would separate the two wards, which in case of infectious diseases would be attended with beneficial effects, also save the expense of opening another ward in case of contagion.
The weather-boarding, from the prisoners cutting holes through for the admission of light, to each berth, as well as from actual decay, is in such bad condition as to require at least one third to be new.
Privy.—The weather-boarding and wood steps in bad condition, and many pantiles stripped from the roof. The ground under the privies on which the soil cart stands, from the frequency of its being drawn out, has occasioned deep ruts, so that when the cart is drawn out, it comes up with a jerk, and the soil is thrown out, and becomes a dreadful nuisance, which might be prevented by a few stumps of wood driven into the ground, on which a piece of oak plank might form a railway, and the intermediate space be filled up with stone rubbish at a very trifling expense.
Court between the Buildings.—Are paved next the Barracks only, and in wet weather, the part not paved, from the nature of the soil, is in a miserable condition, and would be very much improved by paving the whole, leaving a gutter-way in the middle of the court; every shower of rain would cleanse it, and add very much to the comfort of the prisoners.
Cook Room.—Stone floor broken; requires to be relayed and raised. Weather-boarding, quartering and area gutters require repair. The dressers are of deal and worn out; recommend they should be made of elm plank.
Butchery.—The floor in bad condition, the sashes decayed, the weather-boarding and area gutters require repair. The paving of the cellar under the butchery should be relayed. The effluvia from a cesspool under the pavement are very offensive in the Stewards’ apartments immediately above it, the floor of which should be plugged to prevent the smell passing through the open joists of the floor.
Black Hole.—The roof breaking through. The fence of the covered walk is in part decayed and should be new.
Outside Fence at the End of the Barracks.—The post rails and paling are generally decayed, and require considerable repair, and in many parts must be new.
Tanks for the purpose of Washing, etc.—They are made of wood, and the greater part decayed.
Gates and Fence to the Quadrangles.—Are very much decayed and were never sufficiently strong and secure for the purpose intended, the gate; require to be all new, the fence needs considerable repair, and in that part next the gates, should be entirely new and raised much higher.
Watch Box.—Required for the Turnkey at the west gate.
Pavement within the Quadrangles.—In indifferent condition, and requires relaying in many places. A path is paved all round the quadrangles; in the middle where it is not paved, it is impassable in bad weather, except through mud. Captain Hanwell is desirous that a path should be paved across the middle.
Wells.—Are in tolerable condition, with the exception of one, the brick-lining of which within about forty feet of the bottom has fallen in, and rendered the well useless; the remainder of the brick-work is in such a dangerous state, that no person will venture down to repair it.
French Officers’ Apartments in No. 8.—The floor and staircase in very bad condition, and the circulation of air too much confined. Might be remedied by having a lattice instead of a close partition.
Offices.—Captain Harwell’s and the other offices in tolerable condition, require painting and whitewashing; the first clerk’s office has been papered long since, and it is falling from the wall.
Storeroom.—Under the same roof as above, the weather-boarding and floors require repair, the hammocks and bales of clothing are liable to injury from being in contact with the inside of the decayed weather-board. Recommend it should be lined with ¾-inch planed deal, 6 feet above the floor.
Hospital.—The buildings appropriated for the hospital are in better condition than the other, have lath and plaster lining within, and the weather-boarding, stair-cases, floor, etc., want less repairs.
Officers’ Accommodation.—Agent’s house is built of wood and plastered on the outside, containing a basement, parlour, one pair story, and attics, two rooms on each story, the largest room measures 16 feet by 13 feet, the small room 11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches. The Agent’s house is said to have been partially painted and papered in the year 1808; the attics, the back parlour, and the kitchen were not done at that time, and Mr. Todd informed me that they have not been painted since the house was built. Mr. Todd, the storekeeper, and Mr. Gardiner, the chief clerk, have their accommodation under the same roof as the Agent and contain the same number of rooms divided as follows: Mr. Todd occupies the one pair story and one garret, Mr. Gardiner the ground floor and one garret, Mr. Todd the back kitchen, Mr. Gardiner the front. The before mentioned apartments are said to have been painted in the year 1808. The surgeon has a good brick-built house, the rooms were papered before the walls were dry, the damp has destroyed the paper of four rooms; this house is said not to have been painted since built, about eight years since. The dispenser has three small rooms, and the hospital-mate two. The stewards have each two very small rooms under the same roof as, and leading out of the butchery, except the hospital steward, who is not very properly accommodated in prison No. 8, separated from the French Officers by a thin deal partition only; the space formerly allotted for the hospital steward is now the hospital store. This seems to require that it should return to its original plan for two reasons; first, the hospital steward is removed from his duty, and secondly, he is placed in communication with the French Officers, by the deal partition which separates them being cut through in holes. There is a vacant space at the end of the building next the dispenser’s and matron’s rooms, on which an hospital store might be built, which would admit of the steward having his proper apartments.
The stewards are respectable men, and with their wives and children have only a common privy, to which all the French cooks have access, and the path to which is exposed to the whole of the prisoners. Submit that a small room and privy may be added to the steward’s accommodation, as desired by Captain Hanwell.
The sempstress who is now with the matron, and the clerk of the small beer, who is accommodated in communication with the French Officers in No. 8, being late appointments, have no other accommodation; they might be provided for, by building a small place at the end of the wash-house. The matron and sempstress have no access to the drying room without passing round the whole buildings, which in bad weather would be more convenient by having an entrance through the tool-house with a door at the end.
Boundary Wall.—From the east gate to the north gate, and from the east gate towards the south, is from 7 inches to 11 inches within a perpendicular, and appears to be very indifferently built, and not of the best materials; and, from the earth outside, being 5 feet higher than that within, the lateral pressure has forced in the wall, which they have endeavoured to prevent by introducing land tyes, and there is no doubt if they had been properly executed, these would have answered the desired purpose. I sent for the master bricklayer that built the wall, by contract. He informed me that the piles to the land tyes were at least 7 feet long, but observing that the wall had given way since the tyes were put in, I had the earth cleared and drew one of the piles, when, instead of being 7, they were only 3 feet long, and totally insufficient to hold the wall, and, if not prevented, the wall, land tyes, etc., will all fall into the ditch. To secure the wall will require that thirty-two new land tyes, and additional piles of at least 10 feet long, should be driven to secure the old tyes, and to be placed as described to Captain Hanwell. The wall being built in such long lengths, being near 400 feet of straight lines, with a weight of earth against the outside, could not be expected to stand; there should have been a ditch on the outside, the same as that within, not only for the security of the wall, but to prevent the facility now afforded, of communication over the wall, it being only 9 feet high on the outside. Had it been built with an angle as marked with a pencil on the plan, it would not only have been infinitely stronger, but it would admit of the prisoners being better guarded, by the sentinels, stationed at the angle, flanking the wall each way. I submit for the Board’s consideration whether the middle of the wall, that has given way, had not better be taken down and rebuilt with an angle as described, or whether it shall be secured in its present form with land tyes.
I am of opinion it would require the sum of £5,000 to complete the whole of the works mentioned in the aforegoing report of the Survey, one half of which might be expended this year, and the remainder to complete the whole in the year 1814. Captain Hanwell informs me that he can employ 36 carpenters, 2 pair of sawyers, and 3 masons from among the prisoners; the carpenters’ work can be done by them, but the principal part of the masons’ and bricklayers’ work, I submit, should be done by contract as heretofore, under the direction of the agent; it will also be necessary to contract for a supply of timber and deals, converted into the different scantlings required.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN WOODRIFF, R.N., AGENT AT THE DEPOT, 1799–1802
Captain Woodriff belonged to a naval family, his father and brothers and son all being officers of various ranks. He must have been ninety years old at his death in 1842, as according to the return of his services in the Admiralty records, filled and signed himself, he entered the navy as gunner’s mate on the Ludlow Castle, 12th August 1762.
He served as midshipman in various parts of the world, becoming lieutenant in 1782, and commander in 1795, this commission carrying the brevet rank of captain.
He acted as Agent of Transports at Southampton, being appointed Resident there as from 2nd September 1796 at a salary of 21s. a day, in addition to his half-pay, and £50 a year for a clerk. This office necessitated his travelling much to the various ports, and in one of his voyages, the vessel carrying cash belonging to him was captured by the Dutch, but the Admiralty reimbursed him.
As we have seen, he was very actively superintending the arrival and distribution of prisoners of war at Hull, Yarmouth and Lynn in the early days of Norman Cross, to which Depot he was appointed Agent in 1799; he filled the post up to the Peace of Amiens, giving every satisfaction to the Admiralty and Transport Board, though on one occasion he was reprimanded for striking a French prisoner, even though the blow was given under great provocation.
His commission as Post Captain was dated 28th April 1802, and he was appointed to command the Calcutta, a ship of 74 guns to convoy convicts to Botany Bay. He was next ordered to St. Helena, to collect a convoy of East Indiamen; there were four full ships, a Prussian ship and a Swedish ship which claimed protection. They sailed on the 3rd August, and on 14th September picked up a leaky ship called The Brothers, which had become separated from another convoy. The bad condition of this vessel was the cause of all the subsequent trouble. Her bad sailing delayed the others, and off the Scilly Islands Woodriff was attacked by a French squadron of ten ships, one being a three-decker of 110 guns, with a crew of 1,100 men, four 74-gun ships, three 40-gun, and two brigs.
Finding it impossible to save both the convoy and himself, he ordered the convoy to make all sail to the north and escape, while he stayed and fought for some hours.
Over fifty minutes he was engaged with the three-decker, and the fight was under full sail as he steered to the south to enable the convoy to escape. The superior strength and overwhelming numbers of the French dismantled the Calcutta, so to prevent loss of life he hauled down his flag and surrendered, and The Brothers, which was leaky and could not escape, was also captured.
The crews were not at once landed in France, but remained on the French ships for four months. At the end of that time they were landed at Rochelle, and kept at an hotel for eighteen days at great expense. Then Captain Woodriff and his officers, an East India colonel and his lady, and two gentlemen from the East Indies, hired a carriage to take them to Verdun. They were escorted all the way by troops; the journey lasted thirty-six days and cost each of the prisoners £40.
In the Admiralty return of his services, there is a modest little note, “Returned from France, June 1807,” but the circumstances attending his return are so extraordinary as to demand attention. He had made repeated applications to Talleyrand for release, but without avail. In June 1807, he received an order, signed by Buonaparte, in Poland, directing him to proceed immediately to England, and to take the route of St. Malves, a town no Englishman was permitted to enter. On his arrival there, he received from an agent of the French Government the letters which had been directed to him at Verdun. He proceeded to hire a vessel to take him to England, for which he was prepared to pay forty or fifty guineas, but was told that a vessel was provided for him by the French Government, free of any expense whatever.
Our Government, not to be outdone in this unexpected generosity on the part of the enemy, immediately released a French officer of equal rank, who returned to France on terms of equal liberality. On his return to England Captain Woodriff was tried by court-martial for the loss of his ship the Calcutta, but after evidence, “The Court agreed that the conduct of Captain Woodriff was that of a brave, cool, and intrepid officer; and did adjudge him, his officers, and ship’s company to be most honourably acquitted.”
The owners and underwriters of one of the East Indiamen he had saved from capture raised a subscription for the officers and crew, which amounted to about £4,000.
On the 29th July 1808 Captain Woodriff was appointed Agent for Prisoners of War at Forton.
In December 1813 he was appointed Commissioner of the navy at Jamaica. He refused flag rank and was admitted to Greenwich Hospital, 9th November 1830, where he died 24th February 1842. [267]
Captain Woodriff was undoubtedly an able and hardworking officer, and he was fortunate in having to assist him the influence of Sir Evan Nepean, Secretary of the Admiralty, himself an able administrator and industrious official, whose correspondence at times exhibits traits of personal kindness and consideration, as rare as valuable in official letters.
SPECIMENS OF ENTRIES IN THE VARIOUS REGISTERS RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS, WHICH ARE PRESERVED IN THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
(a) GENERAL ENTRY BOOK OF DUTCH SOLDIERS AT NORMAN CROSS
Current number. |
By what ship or how taken. |
Time when. |
Prizes’ names. |
Regiment. |
Company. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Quality. |
Time when received into custody. |
Ex. D.D. D. or E. S. |
Time when. |
How disposed of, and by what order. |
1 |
Sirius |
24th Oct. 1798 |
Furie |
Bombardier |
5th Cmp. 3rd Batn. Artily. |
Pieter Van Dyck |
Passenger |
20th Nov. 1798 |
D. |
19th Feb. 1800 |
Board’s Order |
89 |
Sirius |
24th Oct. 1798 |
Furie |
Infantry |
Lieut. |
Mr. Ritmont |
Lieut. |
26th Sept. 1799 |
D. |
5th Jan. 1800 19th Feb. |
On parole to Peterboro’ To Holland Alkmaar Convention |
(b) DESCRIPTION OF PERSONS IN DUTCH REGISTER
Current number. |
No. on the G.E.B. |
Names. |
Quality. |
Ship or corps. |
Age. |
Stature. |
Hair. |
Eyes. |
Visage or complexion. |
Person. |
Harks or wounds. |
When discharged. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ft. |
in. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
Hannes Lenor |
Sailor |
Adml. De Vries |
18 |
5 |
6½ |
Brown |
Blue |
Oval and Fair |
Middle Size |
None
|
|
14 |
24 |
B. Atken |
2nd Cooper |
Adml. De Vries |
27 |
5 |
7 |
Dark Brown |
Brown |
Oval and Dark |
Middle Size |
Pitted with Smallpox |
D. 20th July 1801 British Fishery |
(c) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF DUTCH SAILORS AND SOLDIERS
Current number. |
No. on the G.E.B. |
Names. |
Rank. |
Ship or corps. |
Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. |
Place of nativity. |
Age. |
Time of death. |
Disorder or casualty. |
109 |
703 |
Jan Vanderzwet. |
Sailor |
De Tonge Leendert |
Fishing vessel |
Holland |
47 |
28th June 1798 |
Fever and bad wound in knee |
129 |
674 |
Corns. De Baar. |
Sailor |
De Vries |
M. War |
Holland |
22 |
12th Decem. 1798 |
Fever, &c. |
(d) REGISTER OF DUTCH PRISONERS OF PAROLE AT PETERBOROUGH
Current number. |
Prizes’ names. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Quality. |
Of what country. |
Time when received. |
From whom or whence |
D.D.D. or R. |
Time when. |
How disposed of if discharged. |
|
Frigate |
A. Reins |
3rd Lieut. |
|
19th Nov. 1798 |
|
D. |
7th February 1801 |
Exchanged |
|
Waakzaamheyo |
M. Van Meirop |
Captain |
|
1798 |
|
D. |
16th Oct. 1801 |
Permitted to return to Holland |
(e) GENERAL ENTRY-BOOK OF PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS—FRENCH
Current number. |
By what ship or how taken. |
Time when. |
Prizes’ names. |
Whether man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. |
Of what country. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Quality. |
Time when received into custody. |
Ex. D.D.D. or E.S. |
Time when. |
How disposed of, and by what order. |
13 |
Arethusa |
21st October 1794 |
Révolutionnaire |
Man-of-war |
|
Louis Robert |
Sailor |
10th April 1797 |
Ex. |
10th October 1797 |
Board’s Order |
(f) GENERAL ENTRY-BOOK OF SOLDIERS, PRISONERS OF WAR, AT NORMAN CROSS—FRENCH
Current number. |
By what ship or how taken. |
Time when. |
Prizes’ names. |
Regiment. |
Company. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Quality. |
Time when received into custody. |
Ex. D.D.D. or E.S. |
Time when. |
How disposed of, and by what order. |
401 |
Melampus |
14th October 1798 |
La Résolue |
Frigate |
1 Battn. 81st demi-brigade |
Edw. André |
Soldier |
11th October 1799 from Edinburgh |
D. |
9th January 1800 |
To France Martha Cartel |
(g) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF FRENCH PRISONERS WHO DIED AT NORMAN CROSS DURING THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE WAR, 1793–1802
Current number. |
Number on the G.E.B. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Rank. |
Ship or corps. |
Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. |
Place of nativity. |
Age. |
Where taken. |
Time of death. |
Disorder or casualty. |
41 |
1411 |
Vincent Lydyer |
Seaman |
La Suffisante |
|
France |
23 |
|
3rd August 1797 |
Killed by a blow in prison by the following black man. |
42 |
2842 |
Jean Beautemps |
Seaman |
L’Emilie |
|
Dominique |
40 |
|
5th August 1797 |
Hung himself in the Black Hole |
(h) DEATH CERTIFICATES OF FRENCH SOLDIERS WHO DIED AT NORMAN CROSS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD OF THE WAR, 1803–1815
Current number. |
Number on the G.E.B. |
Prisoners’ names. |
Rank. |
Ship or corps. |
Man-of-war, privateer, or merchant vessel. |
Place of nativity. |
Age. |
Where taken. |
Time of death. |
Disorder or casualty. |
263 |
2384 |
Vincent Fontaine |
Soldier |
La Sophie |
Transp. |
Veli (départ, de L’Aime) |
31 |
Off Port au Prince |
23rd March 1808 |
Phthisis |
1 |
809 |
Jean Benoist |
Sailor |
Le Hardi |
Merchant vessel |
Ganzeville, near Fécamp (départ. dela Seine Inférieure) |
48 |
Off Barfleur |
24th October 1803 |
Fever |
Two years ago I received from Mr. W. T. Mellows, Solicitor of Peterborough, the loan of an imperfect copy of a Parliamentary paper endorsed, “Supplement 1801 to Appendix No. 59, Report of the Transport Board to the House of Commons 1798, being correspondence with the French Government relative to Prisoners of War.” The fragment contained, as far as I recollect, thirty-eight out of the fifty-eight or fifty-nine letters enumerated in the index of contents. Those missing were apparently so important that I went to the British Museum to search through the Parliamentary Reports for this appendix. Failing to find the document, I left the imperfect copy with the assistant librarian, who finally returned it to me, saying that extraordinary as it was, this supplement was not in the Museum library. A search in the library of the House of Commons, in which I was assisted by Mr. George Greenwood, M.P., gave the same result—this supplement was not to be found. I have now to acknowledge that last year this unique but imperfect copy disappeared while under my care—my own impression is that it was lost in its travels through an intermediary from my hands to those of the typist. Fortunately I had already included some of the letters in the text of this work, and Mr. W. T. Mellows, intending to present the document to the Museum when I had done with it, had made his clerk copy six of the letters and an extract from the report of Commissioner Serle; these I reproduce in this appendix, regretting deeply that I am unable to publish the whole of the thirty-eight letters which were once in my possession, but are now lost and probably destroyed.—T. J. W.
EXTRACTS FROM PARLIAMENTARY REPORT SUPPLEMENT 1801 TO APPENDIX NO. 59, REPORT OF THE TRANSPORT BOARD TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 1798, BEING CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT RELATIVE TO PRISONERS OF WAR
At a former period of the present War it became necessary in order to vindicate the Character of this Country for good Faith and Humanity, to render publick the Proceedings and Correspondence of the Governments of Great Britain and France with respect to Prisoners of War. The whole was submitted to a Committee of the House of Commons and became the subject of a Report, followed by certain Resolutions unanimously adopted by the House. The following Correspondence may be considered as a Supplement to the Documents which were printed with that Report, and the motives for rendering it publick are the same as on the former occasion.
Downing Street,
6th
January 1801.
Downing
Street,
15th December 1799.
My Lords,
In the absence of Mr. Secretary Dundas, I lost no time in laying before the King your Lordship’s Letter to Him of the 12th Instant inclosing the Communication made to Captain Cotes at Paris, respecting the future maintenance of the English and French Prisoners of War, now detained in respective Countries.
It is the less necessary on this Occasion, to recall the Circumstances which gave rise to the Arrangement under which Two Governments agreed to provide for the wants of their respective subjects during their Detention as they have been submitted to Parliament and published to the World, in Refutation of the false and unwarrantable Assertions brought forward by the French Government on this Subject; but His Majesty cannot witness the Termination of an Arrangement, founded on the fairest principles of Justice and Protection, due by the Powers at War to their respective Prisoners, and proved by Experience to be the best calculated to provide for their Comfort, without protesting against this Departure (on the Part of the French Government) from an Agreement entered into between the Two Countries, and which tended so materially to mitigate the Calamities of War.
To prevent the Effect of this Alteration as much as possible with respect to the British Prisoners not on Parole in this Country, it is His Majesty’s Command that from the Date of the French Agent, ceasing to supply them, the Commissioners of Transports and for taking care of Prisoners of War, should furnish them indiscriminately with the same Rations of Provisions as were granted before the late Arrangement took place.
As no mention is made of Clothing, or other necessaries, in Captain Cotes’ letter, I think it right to add that the Commissioners of Transports and for taking care of Prisoners of War are on no Account to furnish any to the French Prisoners, as this Charge has at all times been supported by the French.
It will be proper that his letter should be communicated to Monsieur Niou the French Agent in London, and to the Agents at the several Depots of Prisoners, in order that the real Grounds of the Change which is about to take place, may not be mistaken or misrepresented.
I am, etc.,
(Signed) Portland.
To the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, &c., &c., &c.