Prisoners of War in Britain 1756 to 1815: A record of their lives, their romance and their sufferingsAbell, Francis
History
Prisoners of War in Britain 1756 to 1815: A record of their lives, their romance and their sufferings
Abell, Francis
Military prisons -- Great Britain; Prisoners of war -- Great Britain; Prisons -- Great Britain
‘Mr. David Morgan of the Canal Basin, Newtown, who is now (February
1895) 81 years of age, remembers over 300 prisoners passing through
Kerry village on their way from London via Ludlow, to Newtown. He was
then a little boy attending Kerry school, and the children all ran out
to see them. All were on foot, and were said to be all officers. A great
number of them were billeted at various public-houses, and some in
private houses in Newtown. They exerted themselves greatly in putting
out a fire at the _New Inn_ in Severn Street, and were to be seen, says
my informant, an aged inhabitant, “like cats about the roof “. When
Peace was made, they returned to France, and many of them were killed at
Waterloo. The news of that great battle and victory reached Newtown on
Pig Fair Day, in June 1815. I have a memorandum book of M. Auguste
Tricoche, one of the prisoners, who appears to have served in the French
fleet in the West Indies, and to have been taken prisoner at the capture
of Martinique in 1810.’
_Welshpool_
‘On the occasion of a great fire at the corner shop in December 1813,
there was a terrific explosion of gunpowder which hurled portions of
timber into the Vicarage garden, some distance off. The French prisoners
were very active, and some of them formed a line to the Lledan brook
(which at that time was not culverted over), whence they conveyed water
to the burning building to others of their comrades who courageously
entered it.
‘Dr. P. L. Serph, one of the prisoners, settled down at Welshpool, where
he obtained a large practice as a physician and surgeon, and continued
to reside there until the time of his death. Dr. Serph married Ann, the
daughter of John Moore, late of Crediton in the county of Devon,
gentleman, by Elizabeth his wife. Mrs. Serph died in 1837, and there is
a monument to their memory in Welshpool churchyard.
‘There is at Gungrog a miniature of Mrs. Morris Jones painted by a
French prisoner; also a water colour of the waterfall at Pystyl Rhaiadr,
which is attributed to one of them. I recollect seeing in the possession
of the late Mr. Oliver E. Jones, druggist, a view of Powis Castle,
ingeniously made of diverse-coloured straws, the work of one of the
prisoners.
‘It is said that French blood runs in the veins of some of the
inhabitants of each of these towns where the prisoners were located.
‘R. WILLIAMS.’
IN PEMBROKESHIRE
_Pembroke_
In 1779 Howard the philanthropist visited Pembroke, and reported to this
effect:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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