Chapter I: Preface

Two influences have urged me to make a study of the subject of the prisoners of war in Britain.

First: the hope that I might be able to vindicate our country against the charge so insistently brought against her that she treated the prisoners of war in her custody with exceptional inhumanity.

Second: a desire to rescue from oblivion a not unimportant and a most interesting chapter of our national history.

Whether my researches show the foregoing charge to be proven or not proven remains for my readers to judge. I can only say that I have striven to the utmost to prevent the entrance of any national bias into the presentation of the picture.

As to the second influence. It is difficult to account for the fact that so interesting a page of our history should have remained unwritten. Even authors of fiction, who have pressed every department of history into their service, have, with about half a dozen exceptions, neglected it as a source of inspiration, whilst historical accounts are limited to Mr. Basil Thomson’s _Story of Dartmoor Prison_, Dr. T. J. Walker’s _Norman Cross_, and Mr. W. Sievwright’s _Perth Depôt_, all of which I have been permitted to make use of, and local handbooks.

Yet the sojourn among us of thousands of war prisoners between the years 1756 and 1815 must have been an important feature of our national life—especially that of officers on parole in our country towns; despite which, during my quest in many counties of England, Scotland, and Wales, I have been surprised to find how rapidly and completely the memory of this sojourn has faded; how faintly even it lingers in local tradition; how much haziness there is, even in the minds of educated people, as to who or what prisoners of war were; and how the process of gathering information has been one of almost literal excavation and disinterment. But the task has been a great delight. It has introduced me to all sorts and conditions of interesting people; it has taken me to all sorts of odd nooks and corners of the country; and it has drawn my attention to a literature which is not less valuable because it is merely local. I need not say that but for the interest and enthusiasm of private individuals I could never have accomplished the task, and to them I hope I have made sufficient acknowledgement in the proper places, although it is possible that, from their very multitude, I may have been guilty of omissions, for which I can only apologize.

FRANCIS ABELL

LONDON, 1914.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. INTERNATIONAL RECRIMINATIONS 1

II. THE EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS 25

III. THE PRISON SYSTEM—THE HULKS 37

IV. LIFE ON THE HULKS 54

V. LIFE ON THE HULKS (_continued_) 75

VI. PRISON-SHIP SUNDRIES 92

VII. TOM SOUVILLE: A FAMOUS PRISON-SHIP ESCAPER 103

VIII. THE PRISON SYSTEM—THE PRISONERS ASHORE. GENERAL 115

IX. THE PRISONS ASHORE:

1. SISSINGHURST CASTLE 125
X. 2. NORMAN CROSS 133
XI. 3. PERTH 155
XII. 4. PORTCHESTER 166
XIII. 5. LIVERPOOL 186
XIV. 6. GREENLAW—VALLEYFIELD 196
XV. 7. STAPLETON, NEAR BRISTOL 207
XVI. 8. FORTON, PORTSMOUTH 215
XVII. 9. MILLBAY, PLYMOUTH 220
XVIII. 10. DARTMOOR 235

XIX. SOME MINOR PRISONS 262
WINCHESTER 262
ROSCROW AND KERGILLIACK 264
SHREWSBURY 266
YARMOUTH 268
EDINBURGH 269

XX. LOUIS VANHILLE: A FAMOUS ESCAPER 278

XXI. THE PRISON SYSTEM—PRISONERS ON PAROLE 284

XXII. PAROLE LIFE 299

XXIII. THE PRISONERS ON PAROLE IN SCOTLAND 316

XXIV. PAROLE PRISONERS IN SCOTLAND (_continued_) 338

XXV. PRISONERS OF WAR IN WALES 357

XXVI. ESCAPE AGENTS AND ESCAPES 365

XXVII. ESCAPES OF PRISONERS ON PAROLE 376

XXVIII. COMPLAINTS OF PRISONERS 395

XXIX. PAROLE LIFE: SUNDRY NOTES 412

XXX. PAROLE LIFE: SUNDRY NOTES (_continued_) 432

XXXI. VARIORUM:

1. SOME DISTINGUISHED PRISONERS OF WAR 442
2. SOME STATISTICS 449
3. EPITAPHS OF PRISONERS 451

INDEX 455

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

PLAIT MERCHANTS TRADING WITH THE FRENCH PRISONERS OF
WAR AT NORMAN CROSS _Frontispiece_
_From a painting by A. C. Cooke, Esq., in the Town
Hall, Luton; reproduced here by permission of the
artist._

FRENCH SAILORS ON AN ENGLISH PRISON SHIP 42 _After Bombled._

PRISON SHIPS 45 _From a sketch by the Author._

MEMORIAL TO FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR IN THE ROYAL NAVAL
BARRACKS, CHATHAM _To face p._ 46

GARNERAY DRAWING AN ENGLISH SOLDIER 62 _After Louis Garneray._

THE _CROWN_ HULK SEEN FROM THE STERN 67 _After Louis Garneray._

EXTERIOR VIEW OF A HULK 72 _After Louis Garneray._

THE _VENGEANCE_ HULK 74 _After Louis Garneray._

ORLOP DECK OF _BRUNSWICK_ PRISON SHIP, CHATHAM 101 _After Colonel Lebertre._

SISSINGHURST CASTLE _To face p._ 126 _From an old print in the possession of Henry Neve, Esq., by whose permission it is reproduced._

ARTICLES IN WOOD MADE BY THE PRISONERS AT SISSINGHURST
CASTLE, 1763 _To face p._ 132
_Reproduced by permission of the owner, Henry Neve,
Esq._

MEMORIAL TO FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR WHO DIED AT NORMAN
CROSS. Unveiled July 28, 1914 134

NORMAN CROSS PRISON 137 _Hill’s Plan_, 1797–1803.

COLOURED STRAW WORK-BOX, MADE BY FRENCH PRISONERS OF
WAR _To face p._ 148
_Presented to the Author by Mrs. Ashley Dodd, of
Godinton Park, Ashford, Kent._

THE BLOCK HOUSE, NORMAN CROSS, 1809 _To face p._ 152 _From a sketch by Captain George Lloyd in the United Service Museum, Whitehall._

PORTCHESTER CASTLE _To face p._ 166
_From the ‘Victoria History of England—South
Hampshire’, by permission of Messrs. Constable &
Co._

PLAN OF PORTCHESTER CASTLE, 1793 168

CLOCK MADE IN PORTCHESTER CASTLE, 1809, BY FRENCH
PRISONERS OF WAR, FROM BONES SAVED FROM THEIR
RATIONS _To face p._ 173
_In the Author’s possession._

BONE MODEL OF H.M.S. _VICTORY_ MADE BY PRISONERS OF
WAR AT PORTSMOUTH _To face p._ 176
_In the possession of Messrs. Doxford & Sons, Pallion,
Sunderland, by whose permission it is reproduced._

THE OLD TOWER PRISON, LIVERPOOL 187 _From an old Print._

MONUMENT AT VALLEYFIELD TO PRISONERS OF WAR 199

STAPLETON PRISON _To face p._ 212 _From the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’_, 1814.

DARTMOOR WAR PRISON, IN 1812 236
_From a sketch signed ‘John Wethems’ in the Public
Record Office. Reproduced by permission of Basil
Thomson, Esq., and Colonel Winn._

DARTMOOR. THE ORIGINAL MAIN ENTRANCE 248 _From a sketch by the Author._

WOODEN WORKING MODEL OF A FRENCH TRIAL SCENE MADE BY
PRISONERS OF WAR AT DARTMOOR _To face p._ 251
_In the possession of Maberley Phillips, Esq., F.S.A.,
by whose permission it is reproduced._

BONE MODEL OF GUILLOTINE MADE BY PRISONERS OF WAR AT
DARTMOOR _To face p._ 256
_Now in the Museum, Plymouth, and reproduced here by
permission of the owner, Charles Luxmoore, Esq.,
from a photograph by Mr. J. R. Browning, Exeter._

DARTMOOR PRISON, ILLUSTRATING THE ‘MASSACRE’ OF 1815 _To face p._ 260 _From Benjamin Waterhouse’s ‘Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts’._

JEDBURGH ABBEY, 1812 _To face p._ 347 _From a painting by Ensign Bazin, a French prisoner of war. Reproduced by permission of J. Veitch, Esq._

BONE MODEL OF H.M.S. _PRINCE OF WALES_ MADE BY PRISONERS OF WAR _To face p._ 416 _Now in the United Service Museum, Whitehall._

LA TOUR D’AUVERGNE DEFENDING HIS COCKADE AT BODMIN 443 _From Montorgueil’s ‘La Tour d’Auvergne’._