32 chapters
8 hour read
Selected Chapters
32 chapters
THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 1796 to 1816
THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 1796 to 1816
BY THOMAS JAMES WALKER, M.D., F.R.C.S. Fellow (Member of Council 1908–9) of the Royal Society of Medicine. Associate of the British Archæological Association. Past President of the Peterborough Natural History Antiquarian and Scientific Society. “I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice.” Shakespeare’s “ Othello .” LONDON CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD 1913 PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FOREWORDS
FOREWORDS
In April 1894 an exhibition was held at the Grand Assembly Rooms, Peterborough, under the auspices of the Local Natural History and Antiquarian Society, the major portion of the exhibits being articles of various descriptions made by the French prisoners of war at the barracks built in 1796–97 for their confinement at Norman Cross. On that occasion, Dr. Walker drew up a short account of the buildings and their inmates, derived principally from recollections of old people and from old newspaper
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
URGENT NEED FOR PRISON ACCOMMODATION, NORMAN CROSS, HUNTS, SELECTED AS THE SITE, AND THE PRISON BUILT I watched where against the blue The builders built on the height: And ever the great wall grew As their brown arms shone in the light. Trowel and mallet and brick Made a wedding of sounds in the air: And the dead clay took life from the quick As their strong arms girdled it there. Laurence Housman : The Housebuilders . The Depot for Prisoners of War, at Norman Cross in Huntingdonshi
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
THE PRISON AND ITS ESTABLISHMENT It is no flattery to a prisoner to gild his dungeon. Calderon , Fortunas de Andromed et Persus . The following description of the Depot is founded on personal observations of the site, on contemporary plans and records, of greater or less accuracy, on the meagre information which could be obtained from the few old people who had in their early days seen and known the place, and who were still alive in 1894, when the materials for the lecture on which this narrati
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION OF THE PRISONERS A prison is a house of care, A place where none can thrive; A touchstone true to try a friend, A grave for one alive; Sometimes a place of right, Sometimes a place of wrong, Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves, And honest men among. Inscription in Edinburgh Tolbooth . We have now arrived at that stage in the story of the Norman Cross Depot when, although the whole of the buildings were not yet erected, sufficient progress had been made fo
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
ADMINISTRATION AND DISCIPLINE Wherever a Government knows when to show the rod, it will not often be put to use it. Sir George Savile . Excellent organisation was necessary in order to keep these 6,000 foreign soldiers and sailors in safe custody, in a good state of discipline, and at the same time in the best health and greatest comfort compatible with the circumstances. To the heads of departments mentioned at the close of the second chapter should be added the surgeon appointed by the Governm
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
PRISON LIFE The worst prisons are not of stone, they are of throbbing hearts, outraged by an infamous life.—H. W. Beecher . It is on coming to the consideration of the life of the captives in their prison that the want is felt of any contemporary account written by one of themselves; such accounts are extant for the historian of the Dartmoor Prison, but for Norman Cross the only sources from which a description of the prison life can be given, are the meagre information gleaned from the very few
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
“LES MISÉRABLES” AND THE “ROMANS” OF DARTMOOR What are these So wither’d and so wild in their attire, That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth, And yet are on’t? Shakespeare , Macbeth . The prototypes of the self-styled “Romans” of Dartmoor were the prisoners of Norman Cross, known and mentioned, ten years before Dartmoor was built, in various official documents as “Les Misérables.” It has already been stated that the absence of any description of the internal life of the Norman
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
EMPLOYMENTS OF THE CAPTIVES—STRAW PLAIT CONTROVERSY—CONDUCT—ESCAPES Ye, to your hot and constant task Heroically true, Soldiers of Industry! we ask, “Is there no Peace for you?” Lord Houghton , Occasional Poems . It is a relief to turn over the last page of the chapter which illustrates the darkest side of the prison’s history, and to pass on to the consideration of what probably was the greatest solace which those in confinement experienced. This was work. Not the work done daily
54 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
THE SICK AND THE HOSPITAL Dangers stand thick through all the ground, To push us to the tomb; And fierce diseases wait around, To hurry mortals home. Dr. Watts . The general health of the prisoners was good, but occasional epidemics led to a temporary very heavy mortality, the miserable men who had sold their rations and clothes to provide money for gambling dying off so rapidly, and in such numbers, that no room could be found for them in the well-equipped hospital. In November 1800
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
THE CEMETERY—RELIGIOUS MINISTRATIONS—BISHOP OF MOULINS No column high-lifted doth shadow their dust, And o’er their poor ruin no willow trees wave; Yet their honour is safe in the thought of the Just, And their agony fireth the hearts of the Brave Unto deeds that shall shine through Oblivion’s rust. Norman Hill , Père Lechaise . For a short period after the occupation of the Depot, the prisoners who died were buried outside the prison wall, in the north-east corner of the site. The discovery of
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
PRISONERS ON PAROLE—SOCIAL HABITS—MARRIAGES—EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS Law that is obeyed is nothing else but law; law disobeyed is law and jailor both. Philistion , Menandri et Philistionis . They enjoy a moderate degree of liberty, which, when kept within bounds, is most salutary both for individuals and for communities, though when it degenerates into licence, it becomes alike burdensome to others, and uncontrollable and hazardous to those who possess it. Livy , Histories , xxxiv. 49. The conditio
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
BRITISH PRISONERS IN FRANCE—VERDUN—NARRATIVE OF THE REV. J. HOPKINSON Oh, to be in England, Now that April’s there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf, Round the Elm tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the Chaffinch sings in the orchard bough, In England—now. Browning . It has been necessary in the preceding chapters to allude occasionally to the English prisoners in France, and a short chapter on their experiences may be deemed
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
THE TRUCE AND THE PEACE—PRISON EVACUATED, 1802—FINALLY CLEARED, 1814—DEMOLISHED, 1816 Joyous presage of ultimate bliss For the heart long depressed by vain yearning; Timely token of pardon—the kiss That reviveth Faith’s innermost burning; Peace prevailing o’er War’s artifice, Love o’er Hate, and delight over Mourning. Norman Hill , Lingering Winter . With what feverish anxiety must the occupants of the courts and caserns of Norman Cross have listened to the garbled accounts of the progr
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A
A REPORT OF THE SURVEY OF THE DEPOT FOR PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS 31 st 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 par
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B
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 178
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX C
APPENDIX C
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 Bat n . Artily. Pieter Van Dyc
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX D
APPENDIX 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 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 subm
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX E
APPENDIX E
Transport Office , 14 th June 1811. RETURN OF NUMBER OF PRISONERS IN HEALTH OR SICK IN THE VARIOUS PRISONS IN GREAT BRITAIN Distinguishing — The Prisons in which they were confined in the Month of April 1810, and , according to the Latest Returns , Distinguishing those in Health , from the Sick and Convalescents In prison. 30th April 1810. 11th June 1811. Total No. In health. Sick. [286a] Sick. Convalescent. Cases of wounds and accidents. Chatham 5,109 4,970 139 3,863 3,803 38 15 7 Dartmoor 5,
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX F
APPENDIX F
FULL NOMINAL RETURN OF THE HOSPITAL STAFF AT NORMAN CROSS PRISON The Hospital accounts seem to commence in 1806; there are none extant before. The first document in the bundle of papers is a report from Captain Pressland, the Agent, to the Board, enumerating the staff and the date of appointment of each member. George Walker, Surgeon, allowed for stationery by letter from the Sick and Hurt Board , 12th August 1803, and by warrant from the Transport Board, 11th February 1806, 15 s. per diem and
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX G
APPENDIX G
CORRESPONDENCE REFERRING TO THE BISHOP OF MOULINS, LORD FITZWILLIAM, SIR RUPERT GEORGE, LORD MULGRAVE, AND THE BISHOP, THE LATTER ADDING A BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHY CONTENTS PAGE I. Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam , 21 st March 1808 291 Translation 292 II. The Note enclosed in the Bishop’s Letter , being a Narrative of his Experiences , from the Date of Nomination to the See of Moulins to that of his taking up his Residence at Stilton 293 Translation 295 III. Draft of Portion of Lord Fitzwil
59 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
I
I
The Rt. Rev. Stephen John Baptist de Galois de la Tour , Bishop-designate of Moulins , to the Rt. Hon. William , 4 th Earl Fitzwilliam . Mylord , Vous exprimer combien j’ai été touché de vos bontés et de l’accueil que vous avez daigné me faire me seroit impossible. Permettés moi de vous offrir le juste hommage de ma reconnoissance. Depuis vingt ans bientôt que tous les genres de malheurs n’ont cessé de m’accabler, j’ose dire que c’est à vous seul que je suis redevable d’avoir pu les oublier un
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
II
II
The Memoir in the handwriting of the Bishop , inclosed in his letter of the 21 st March 1808, addressed to the Earl Fitzwilliam . L’Evêque de Moulins parti de France en 1791, avec très peu de moyens, a passé en Italie. Assés heureux pour obtenir la place de premier Aumônier de Mde. Victoire de France, c’est aux bontés de cette auguste Princesse qu’il a dû son existence. A sa mort arrivée en 1799, il s’est vu privé de toutes ressources. A cette époque, il a passé en Angleterre, où il a obtenu
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
III
III
Unfinished draft of Lord Fitzwilliam’s reply to the letter of the Bishop of Moulins , dated 21 st March 1808, in which letter was enclosed the autobiographical notes . Depuis la recette de l’exposé que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de me confier, je me suis adonné à faire la revue, de mes propres moyens, préliminaire très necessaire dans les circonstances dans lesquelles moi-même je me trouve actuellement, ayant à payer la dépense de l’élection de mon fils, une occasion que me coûte guère moins de
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IV
IV
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam Mylord , Les nouvelles bontés dont vous daignes me combler, me pénétrent d’une reconnoissance qu’il m’est impossible de vous exprimer; mais si j’ose vous le dire, ce sont encore moins ces bontés relatives au soulagement et au secours qu’elles me procurent qui me font éprouver tout ce qu’un cœur honnète et sensible doit sentir, que la lettre que vous m’avés fait l’honneur de m’écrire, tout ce que je craignois, étoit d’avoir pu vous déplaire par mon importunit
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
V
V
Mr. Commissioner Rupert George to Captain Moorsom , Secretary to Lord Mulgrave Transport Office , 19 th March 1808. Dear Sir , In answer to what is stated in Lord Fitzwilliam’s letter to Lord Mulgrave, I request you will inform his Lordship that the Bishop of Moulins was introduced to me by the Bishop of Montpellier, and at his request I prevailed on my colleagues to release a Prisoner of War from Norman Cross Prison to attend upon him; this, I am sorry to acknowledge, was irregular and unauthor
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VI
VI
Lord Mulgrave to Lord Fitzwilliam Admiralty , 21 st March 1808. My Lord , On receipt of your Lordship’s letter, I made immediate enquiry at the Transport Board into the circumstances of the case of the Bishop of Moulins. I enclose the answer of Sir Rupert George, for your Lordship’s information, and am sorry to find that the conduct of the Bishop of Moulins has not been such as to justify a repetition of the indulgences which have heretofore been extended to him. I have the honour to be, my Lo
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VII
VII
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam Mylord , C’est à votre âme généreuse et bienfaisante qu’il appartient de sentir tout ce que j’éprouve, privé de tout secours, de toutes consolations, plongé dans le malheur depuis près de vingt ans, la providence m’a conduit à Stilton pour y trouver dans vous, ce que je n’aurois jamais osé espérer, sans aucun mérite, sans aucun titre, auprès de vous, vous seul avés daigné me servir de consolation, d’appui, et me procurer des secours, que je n’aurois jamais c
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIII
VIII
Lord Mulgrave to Earl Fitzwilliam Admiralty , 6 th April 1808. My Lord , The earnest interest which your Lordship takes in the Request of the Bishop of Moulins could not fail to determine me to make further enquiry respecting that person, from Sir Rupert George:—From him I learn, that in point of fact the Bishop of Moulins was only designated as such, and has not, in addition to his other sacrifices, to lament the splendour of a Bishop’s establishment. The allowance of a servant from amongst th
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IX
IX
Bishop of Moulins to Earl Fitzwilliam Mylord , J’ai reçu avec la lettre que vous m’avés fait l’honneur de m’écrire, les £200 sterl. qui y étoient jointcs, donc £100 en billets de banque, et £100 en une traite sur votre Banquier à Londres. Vos bontés pour moi sont à leur comble, ma reconnoissance leur est proportionnée, les expressions me manquent pour vous la témoigner. A tant de choses que vous faites pour moi, My lord, vous daignés encore y ajouter de vous occuper du domestique: je désire si
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
X
X
Passport of Jean Baptiste David referred to in the Bishop’s Letters By the Commissioners for conducting His Majesty’s Transport Service, for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and for the care and custody of Prisoners of War. These are to certify, that Jean Baptiste David, as described on the back hereof, a French boy taken in the capacity of Domestic on board L’Aigle , French ship of War, has been released from Norman Cross Prison, for the purpose of his entering into the service of the Frenc
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX H
APPENDIX 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 [312] Name of the Officer. Rank or Condition. Date of Arrival at Verdun. Date of Capture. Mode and Date of the Termination of his Imprisonment at Verdun. Post-Captains and Commanders Jahleel Brenton Post-Captain, Minerve 15th Dec. 1803 3rd July 1803 Tours 31st
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter