‘Prisoners at Leek received all the courtesy and hospitality at hands of principal inhabitants’
PHILIP BROUGH looks back to when Leek houses a large number of prisoners of war from the Napoleonic Wars...
AS A result of the Napoleonic Wars, England once accommodated thousands of French Prisoners of War. They became a feature of national life, especially those officers granted, on parole, the right of live in specified towns. The general impression in England was that Englishmen unfortunate enough to fall into French hands were very badly treated. The general impression in France was the same. Both were probably right!
According to the Regulations, every day, except Saturday, every man received one and a half pounds of bread, three-quarters of a pound of beef, and one quart of beer. On Saturday, instead of beef, he got four ounces of butter or six ounces of cheese. Four times a week each man was allowed half a pint of peas.
The French Regulations were as wellintentioned as the British ones. The
Regulations were fine, but it is doubtful that all prisoners received their full allowance or were lodged as represented. The British reply to French complaints provides an answer - “I only attribute it to infidelity and the greed of entrepreneurs.” Privatisation may not be the answer to all problems!
In 1795, there were 13,666 prisoners of war in Britain, of whom only 1,357 were those officers on parole who played a large part in the everyday social life of the English public. They were permitted, under strict conditions to which they subscribed on their honour, to reside in specified places. In 1757, there were 31 parole towns, our nearest being Whitchurch in Shropshire.
In all parole towns, a notice was posted informing everyone that parolees were restricted to “one mile from the extremities of the town.”
In 1803, as a result of a threatened invasion by Napoleon, it was deemed advisable to remove all prisoners from coastal to inland towns. The Admiralty order read: “At the present conjunction all parole prisoners from South and West towns are to be sent to North Staffordshire, and Derbyshire - that is, to Chesterfield, Ashbourne, and Leek.”
In 1804, the parole system was extended to cover all commissioned officers. The cash sum allowed to officers above the rank of captain was 14 shillings and six pence per week; and below that rank, eleven shillings and eight pence.
It was constantly necessary to keep a strict surveillance over the officers on parole, for although their conduct generally good, among so many there was bound to be some black sheep.
Many officers on parole added to their incomes by giving French, dancing, drawing, and singing lessons to English families in their homes, and for these purposes they had special permission to go beyond usual one mile limit.
This came to an end in 1811, when two officers were refused permission, despite the requests being supported by local gentry, the reason being that such requests were granted on a general scale, “prisoners would become dispersed over all parts of country without any regular control over their conduct.”
Exceptions were made in cases of officers of very high rank.
For example, in 1804, General Pageot, at Ashbourne, was given eight days’ leave to visit Wooton Lodge and in 1808, General Pillet, at Bishop’s Waltham, had leave to go two miles beyond the usual limit two or three times a week, “to take the air.”
The parole agents occupied an important and responsible position. At first, the only qualification required was that they should
“not be shopkeepers, but officers and gentlemen.”
Later, they were chosen exclusively from naval lieutenants of not less than ten years’ standing, a change brought about by complaints from many towns and from many prisoners, that agents were “palpably underbred and tactless.”
Their duties were to see that the prisoners fulfilled their obligations of parole, to muster them twice a week, to minister to their wants, to pay them their allowances, to hear their complaints and to keep a constant watch on their correspondence. Men were willing to carry out such duties only because of ‘pickings’ derivable from the office, especially in connexion with collection and payment of remittances to prisoners.
These ‘pickings’ could be considerable and temptations were always there to accept presents for services rendered, or duties left undone.
On the whole, and making allowance for character of the age and the temptations to which they were exposed, the agents in parole towns seem to have carried out their duties fairly.
Descriptions of life in parole towns, written by French officers, are few and far between.
The evidence shows that French officers were very popular with English girls. Many of them married and some remained in England after peace was declared.
In Leek, JBB Delisle, the Commandant of the Port of Caen, married Harriet Sheldon.
François Nea married Mary Lees, the daughter of landlord of “The Duke of York.” Their daughter, Emma, died aged four on February 8, 1810, and her grave may be seen between the east wall of the Church and the path.
Sergeant Paymaster Pierre Magnier married Frances Smith, who died in 1874, aged 84.
Joseph Vattel, the cook to General Brunet, married Sarah Pilsbury.
Captains Toufflet and Chouquet married and had two sons who were living in Leek in 1880 and 1870 respectively.
Jean Mien, servant to General Brunet married and still living in Leek in 1870.
Against the French officers who married English girls and honourably kept to them must, however, be placed those Frenchmen who, knowing that in France such marriages were invalid, married English girls, and deserted them on their return to France, leaving them destitute.
The feeling among the upper classes of English society was one of chivalrous sympathy with brave men in misfortune. The object of the lower classes was gain.
Leek was an important parole centre. Sleigh in his History of Leek states that “officer prisoners at Leek received all the courtesy and hospitality at the hands of the principal inhabitants, with many of whom they were on the most intimate terms, frequenting assemblies, which were then as gay and as well attended as any within a circuit of twenty miles. They used to dine out in full uniform, each with
his body-servant behind his chair.” The first prisoners arrived in 1803. In 1809 and 1812 many more arrived - some accounts say as many as 200. They must have appeared very strange to the people of Leek and many rumours spread about their unusual customs, one being that they were to be seen prowling about early in the morning in search of snails!
All accounts agree that they conducted themselves with propriety during their enforced stay in Leek; endearing themselves by their honourable behaviour. The Freemasons had a Lodge “Réunion Désirée” and a Chapter “De l’amitié.”
In 1810, an incident occurred involving the death of a French Officer prisoner. There are two accounts of what happened.
One stated that Captain Decourbes went fishing, returning at the curfew.
At 8pm. in the billiard-room of the Black’s Head (bottom of the Market Square), another Frenchman, Captain Robert, mocked him about his prowess as an angler. Words were exchanged and Robert struck Decourbes. Naturally, a challenge followed.
The only weapon they could obtain was a single cavalry horse-pistol, borrowed from a trooper.
They met at “Balidone” (Ballington?) on October 17. Decourbes won the toss for the first shot and hit Robert “in the breech.” Robert,
who had arrived on crutches, then fired and hit Decourbes in the neck. Decourbes managed to walk back to Leek, but died ten days later.
A very different version was given in the Leek Times. According to this account, Decourbes, about 10 days before the duel, was out of his lodgings after the evening curfew bell had rung, and the boys of Leek pelted him with stones.
This caused a brother officer to tell Decourbes that he was “soft” and would faint at sight of his own blood. Decourbes called him a liar; the other struck him, and the result was the duel. However, the Coroner’s verdict was “Died by visitation of God” and a letter to the newspaper declared that there was no evidence of a duel, as Decourbes’ body was in a putrid state, and that three French and two English surgeons had declared that he had died from typhus!
In 1804 Captain Areguandeau was captured. Former British prisoners of his, whom he had treated kindly kind, requested that he be returned to France because of his conduct towards them. The Commissioners of the Transport Board regretted that they could not accede to this, but allowed him a choice of parole towns. He chose Leek.
Also in 1804, a French midshipman complained that the agent in Leek had prevented him from wearing the French Revolutionary cockade.
The Transport Office replied to the agent: “We think the French midshipman to be very imprudent in wearing his Cockade, as it could answer no good purpose, and might expose him to evils greater than he has already experienced from the rage of populace, and you are to inform him if he persists he must not expect protection from consequences.”
The total number of prisoners brought to Britain between 1803 and 1814 was 122,440. Of these 10,341 died whilst in captivity, and 17,607 were exchanged or sent home sick or on parole. Their cost was £6,800,000. The greatest number of prisoners at any one time was about 72,000 in 1814.
Not all French prisoners returned home - many stayed - not all of them alive. Those that died in captivity were buried in that part of the parish churchyard that became known to their fellow prisoners as “Petit France.”
Next to the French graves were later built the houses that became known as Petty France.
The known gravestones are:
Çy-gît Jean Marie Claude Decourbes, enseigne de vaisseau de la Marine Impériale de France, décédé 17 Octobre 1812, âgé de 27 ans - Fidelis Decori Occubuit Patriaeque Deoque
( Here lies Jean Marie Claude Decourbes, Ensign of a vessel of the Imperial Navy of France, died 17th October 1812, aged 27 years - A faithful ornament redeeming the homeland is dead)
Jean-baptiste Milloy. Capitaine 72^{me} cavalerie, décédé 2 Sept. 1811, âgé de 43 ans (Jean-baptiste Milloy, Captain of the 72nd Cavalry, died 2nd September 1811, aged 43 years)
Joseph Debec, Capitaine du navire “La Sophie” de Nantes. Obiit Sept. 2^{me} 1811, âgé de 54 ans (Joseph Debec, Captain of the ship
“La Sophie” from Nantes. Died 2nd September 1811, aged 54 years)
Charles Luneaud, Capitaine de la Marine Impériale. Mort le 4^{me} Mars 1812 (Charles Luneaud, Captain of the Imperial Navy, died
4th March 1812)
There also died at Leek, but no stones mark their graves: General Brunet; Colonel Degouillier; Colonel Lefevre ; Colonel Félix; Lieut.-col. Granville ; Captain Pouget ; Captain Dupuis; Captain François Vevelle; Lieut. Davoust; Midshipmen Meunier, Berthot, and Birtin (the latter had been a prisoner for 11 years, and ‘behaved extremely well.’
Also are registered the burials of Jean le Roche, 1810, aged 44; J. B. Lahouton, 1806, aged 28; and “C.A.G.” 1812, aged 62.
These graves are a lasting memorial to the French prisoners of war, who lived amongst us here in Leek as our prisoners – and our guests.
Another is the descendants of those French officers who married and remained in Leek, a town that they had grown to love.