Transcribed from the 1913 Constable & Company Ltd edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org [Picture: The Block House, Norman Cross Barracks, 1809, where French Prisoners of War were confined. Drawn by Captain George Lloyd, 2nd West York Militia, 1809. Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall] 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 VINEY LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY. CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORDS ix CHAPTER I THE URGENT NEED FOR PRISON ACCOMMODATION, NORMAN CROSS, 1 HUNTS, SELECTED AS THE SITE, AND THE PRISON BUILT CHAPTER II THE PRISON AND ITS ESTABLISHMENT 17 CHAPTER III ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION OF THE PRISONERS 47 CHAPTER IV ADMINISTRATION AND DISCIPLINE 58 CHAPTER V PRISON LIFE 89 CHAPTER VI “LES MISÉRABLES” OF NORMAN CROSS AND THE “ROMANS” OF 112 DARTMOOR CHAPTER VII EMPLOYMENTS OF THE CAPTIVES—STRAW PLAIT 124 CONTROVERSY—CONDUCT—ESCAPES CHAPTER VIII THE SICK AND THE HOSPITAL 163 CHAPTER IX THE CEMETERY—RELIGIOUS MINISTRATIONS—BISHOP OF MOULINS 173 CHAPTER X PRISONERS ON PAROLE—SOCIAL HABITS—MARRIAGES—EXCHANGE OF 190 PRISONERS CHAPTER XI BRITISH PRISONERS IN FRANCE—VERDUN—NARRATIVE OF THE REV. J. 223 HOPKINSON