Devon (England) -- Social life and customs; Wreyland (England)
According to the Entry-book of French prisoners-of-war on parole at
Moreton (now in London at the Public Record Office) twenty-eight arrived
in 1807: four of them (a Navy captain and three midshipmen) broke their
parole on 27, 28 September--the Entry-book says ‘run’: another
midshipman ‘ran’ in 1809, another one remained till 1810, and a general
(Rochambeau) and his servant remained till March 1811; but all the rest,
and nine new-comers, left in May 1808, and no more came till March 1810.
In that month ninety-three arrived, and fifty others before October. One
of them died there, and thirty-three ‘ran,’ including eight captains,
eight commanders, and fourteen other Navy officers. They mostly ‘ran’ in
batches: six on 28 October and seven on 21 December 1810, five on 18
January and four on 26 January, and six on 11 October 1811. Fifteen of
the others left in 1810, forty-four in 1811, and the remaining fifty in
February 1812.
Up to October 1810 the prisoners-of-war at Moreton were chiefly Navy
men; but in that month a hundred and twenty-eight arrived, and these
were chiefly Army men. In the Entry-book seventy-one of them are marked
‘General Dupont’s Army, Spain.’ (This army had capitulated at Baylen, 20
July 1808.) Only one of these men ‘ran’--he was a surgeon--and the other
seventy left in March 1811 together with thirty-three other Army men who
arrived in October 1810 but are not entered as Dupont’s. Of the other
twenty-four who arrived then, two died, two ‘ran,’ two left in 1811 and
eighteen in February 1812. There were only twenty-eight arrivals from
November 1810 to March 1812: four of them ‘ran,’ ten left during 1811
and seven in February 1812, after which date a general (Reynaud) and six
others were the only prisoners remaining, and they all left in November
1812. There were no more prisoners there until May 1814: then
forty-three arrived, and these very soon left.
This gives a total of 379 French prisoners-of-war on parole at Moreton
at one time or another; and the greatest number at any one time was 250
at the beginning of 1811. Rochambeau was the best known of them--he came
out in full uniform on hearing of any French successes. He had been
commander-in-chief at San Domingo, capitulated there in 1803 and was not
exchanged till 1811, and in 1813 he was killed at Leipzig.
The three who died at Moreton were buried in the churchyard, and the
tombstone of lieutenant Arnaud Aubry is still there, but I cannot now
find the tombstones of the other two, lieutenant Louis Quaintain and
midshipman Jean François Rohan. The tombstones were there not long ago,
and must have been destroyed or carried off--nothing is safe now from a
curiosity hunter in a motor car. Out at Dartmoor prison the graves were
all obliterated in the following thirty years while the place was
uninhabited and derelict; and the present monument, for all the French
who died there, was not erected until 1865.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account