My Ancestors

The story so far

In Part 1 https://wordpress.com/post/myancestors.blog/199 I explained how through an inherited pen and ink sketch dated 1806 I was able to ascertain that my 4 x great grandfather Thomas CLARK was on board the Hull whaler, Blenheim, when she was captured by a French frigate and all the men were taken as prisoners to France.

Why were English sailors being held prisoner in France?

After the 1789 French Revolution, many monarchies and more conservative European powers wanted to restore the Bourbon Royal Family to the French throne. From 1792 until 1801 Britain was involved in the Coalition Wars with France.

From a practical point of view though, these wars were mostly regarded as being between rulers: the lower classes continued as before and the upper classes were able to travel freely. The cessation of hostilities that accompanied the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in October 1801 further opened up the borders. Peers, MPs, soldiers and sailors, philosophers, scholars and merchants all poured over the border, keen to see what the young Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte had achieved.’ Alger (1904) says that The Philips’ Practical Guide on travel from London to Paris is advocating travel to France and providing an estimate that £30 would cover the expense of a seven weeks’ visit, including hotels, sight seeing and restaurants.

All this changed, literally overnight, though, when, on 23 May 1803, the edict went forth to detain every male Briton between the ages of 18 and 60 then on French soil, whether ‘service’ or ‘civilian’. No exceptions were made. It is estimated that this initial decree resulted in the detention of seven hundred, but over the course of the following eleven years it is estimated that around 15,000 prisoners of war would be added to these original détenus. (It is estimated that by the end of the War the British in fact held around ten times as many French prisoners – around 150,000.) men captured and detained were often soldiers, but also many merchant seamen, as well as captains and mates of smaller trading vessels. The French strategy was to ensure that Englishmen with sea-faring knowledge could not be recruited or conscripted into the British Navy.

Thomas’ life as a Prisoner

A number of prisoners must have kept diaries or written memoirs of their time ‘as a guest of Napoleon’. I wonder if Thomas did? A handful of these survive. It would be simply wonderful if one day a diary from Thomas were to emerge from somewhere! One diary held by the National Army Museum is particularly interesting to me because it describes life in the Arras citadel where Thomas was taken, and begins just two weeks after Thomas’ arrival.

The following bullets provide an illustration of camp life. These entries are chronological from early November 1806 to the end of the year:

• Marched to the city of Arras where are we are to remain some time in the citadel the buildings form a spacious square the ramparts are planted with trees the number of prisoners in this Depot amounts to about 1,600.
• Our allowance of provisions is as follows a loaf of bread weighing about three pounds for three days, half a pound of beef per day but we do not get half the beef and 14 sols for ten days and about a gill of[illegible] a man for three days.
• We found the butcher on serving the meat had cheated as of 336 pounds of beef so we gathered money enough amongst ourselves to purchase a pair of scales and weights to weigh it ourselves.
• Served out fresh straw for our beds and most of the prisoners washing their bed ticks and blankets to keep them clear of vermin.
• Great talk of an exchange of prisoners which gives us hope of seeing our native shore soon again.
• During the 27th, 28th and 29th [of November 1806] a very hard in gale of wind from the westward. Two of the mates that broke out of the dark cashot sometime ago was brought back chained together, they was led thro’ the yard for an example to the rest. The Commandant told as they had been separated from the others.
• A school was prepared for the boys belonging to the prison supported by the patriotic fund in England.
• A number of prisoners went to the hospital and some came out
• Soldiers coming in every day and a great number going to the hospital.
• The camp commandant began to serve us our wooden clogs and socks to each man
• This being Christmas day a number of prisoners making merry, yelling and fighting in the yard. The people still making merry and getting drunk nothing particular till the 31st [December 1806].
• The year is almost spent and I am far from home, but I hope from prison soon to be free and enjoy the blessings of sweet liberty. NB The people very Merry considering the place we are in. So ends the remarks for this year 1806.

Day tickets allowed men to spend time in the town on condition they returned at night and were present at roll-calls. Punishments for desertion or attempted escape usually involved a number of nights (or weeks) in the cashot which was typically a pitch dark cell without straw to lie upon.

There were many reasons not to try to escape. Significant rewards could be earned by reporting escapees. There was also constant talk of the possibility of exchanges of prisoners, and constant rumours about who was winning the war and when it might be over, making it difficult to weigh the risks.

To be continued …

Bibliography

1. Alger, John Goldworth. 1904. Napoleon’s British Visitors and Captives 1801-1815. London: Archibald Constable. pp 26 and 178.
2. The present day equivalent (relative income value – see http://www.measuringworth.com) of £30 for 7 weeks is around £5,000 per week, so this is clearly travel advice aimed at the wealthy.
3. Lewis, Michael. 1962. Napoleon and his British Captives. London: George Allen & Unwin (1962, 20 and 264-6)
4. Diary kept by Thomas or William Dixon whilst a prisoner of the French at Arras, 1806-1811 … Dixon was probably a sailor with the Royal Navy, but the details he provides about daily life and the treatment of prisoners makes this an important document in relation to Army prisoners of war as well as those belonging to the Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). NAM Accession Number: NAM. 2005-07-704-1 https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2005-07-704-1
5. I believe 14 sols for 10 days would have been equivalent to about 7d … perhaps about £3.30 a day (relative income value – see http://www.measuringworth.com). However, for such small amounts of money the real comparison would have been with the price of basic commodities such as bread, ale/wine, blankets and clothing. A number of accounts make clear that these were readily made available to prisoners by locals, but at highly inflated prices.