Napoleonic Prisoner of War Items

Napoleonic Prisoner of War Items 

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1814) over 100,000 French prisoners of war (POWs) were held captive in Britain.  

Unlike 18th century POWs, prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars remained captive for the whole duration of the conflict, unable to return home through the traditional means of prisoner exchange.

The staggering number of French POWs and the long length of their internment placed a growing administrative, policing and financial burden on the prison system.  

There are many detailed accounts of how French soldiers were recruited, trained and fought, yet there are very few studies which look at the experiences of those who were captured. The French POWs held in Britain were soldiers, naval seamen, privateers, merchants and occasionally civilians including women and children) who had been captured at sea. Initially POWs were housed in existing war prisons based at the South Coast ports, as they received the prison ships. There was also a large land prison at Norman Cross near Peterborough.  

However, the sheer number of new POWs being interred meant new land prisons had to be built, including Dartmoor, Portchester and Perth (Scotland). Decommissioned naval vessels known as “hulks” at Portsmouth and Chatham also housed prisoners. By the end of the war in 1814, there were around 50 of these “hulks” in operation.   

Largely abandoned by the French government these prisoners were absent from home and family for in some cases over a decade. Most French POW memoirs focus on the brutal and inhumane conditions on the infamous “floating tomb” hulks. Of the land prisons, Dartmoor was the most feared for its isolation, poor climate, poor ventilation, reputed diseases and brutality. Poor conditions and corruption amongst prison contractors was regularly discussed in Parliament.  

The standard daily ration for prisoners was:

 “half a pound of bread, and half a pound of beef supplemented with barley, onions and cabbage or turnips; twice a week the meat was replaced with herring and cod”

 

 Medical inspectors from the Transport Board visited and reported on the state of the hulks and prisons, with contractors and staff reprimanded and in a handful of cases dismissed for providing substandard services. Amongst the POWs there were cases of gambling, alcohol dependency and violence. Today we would recognise this as being linked to depression, and the duration of time they spent confined and incarcerated. Escape plots and smuggling networks were fairly commonplace.  

The luckiest of the POWs were probably those who were paroled officers. They were given a tiny allowance and had to live within the bounds of a designated parole town, adhere to curfews and report to parole agents, but they were free to integrate themselves into local communities, socialising at local restaurants and cultural events. There appear to have been relatively few cases of friction and violence between POWs and local communities. There are recorded cases of marriages between paroled POWs and British women. In these cases the British government paid for the subsistence of the wives and any children.     

 

POW Craft Items 

Many prisoners whiled away their days making bracelets, gloves, hats, bonnets, purses, pipes, trinket boxes, combs, chess sets, dominoes, figurines, models of war ships and working mechanical models such as guillotines to alleviate their boredom. These were sold to the public on prison market days and items were even commissioned by the public to be made especially by the POWs. At Portchester castle a thriving lace industry employed 3,000 POWs and here too the prisoners even established their own theatre company. Some paroled officers, also earnt money by teaching the locals French, Latin, Drawing, Music, Dancing and Fencing.        

Beef and Mutton bones saved from the meat ration were used and in rare cases whalebone. The best pieces of bone would have been traded amongst the POWs. The bones would have been boiled and then bleached to make them more white using sulphur, hydrogen peroxide and lime. The glue-like substance gained from boiling the bones would have been used as a natural glue to bind parts of the finished craftwork together.

Materials such as wood, ivory, glass, horse and human hair, cloth, straw, dyes and pigments, tortoise shell and metals (mainly brass, iron and copper) were also used in the models and craft items. Tools to create the craft items were often fashioned from hoop iron (from food casks), bolts, nails and knives. These were converted into knives, chisels, gouges, saws and a wide selection of engraving tools, pens and brushes. Rather than being crafted by one lone POW, many of the models and craft pieces which have survived appear to have been created by organised groups of POWs, who combined their individual talents to produce exceptional handcrafted items which included very technical elements such as filigree, ornate carving and moving parts.  

Straw plaiting was a staple industry during the Napoleonic Wars, particularly in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. POWs were eventually banned from producing straw hats and bonnets because their production was in direct competition with local producers. It appears though that their production continued in the prisons, as straw was either smuggled in or came from the prisoner’s bedding, and the manufactured hats or straw marquetry items were smuggled out and sold, which avoided tax being levied on them.  

It was a labour intensive craft and highly specialised as they created their own tools such as straw splitters out of metal or bone, so that they could plait the straw finer rather than using it whole. The straw was then bleached and dyed various colours. Straw marquetry techniques were then used to create artworks and decorate fans, tea caddies and trinket boxes. 

 

There are even cases of the POWs using their artistic skills for more dubious activities such as forging banknotes!          

 

Sources:

Chamberlain, Paul: Bone, Straw and Paper: How French Prisoners of War Occupied their Time, 1793-1815

Daly, Gavin: Napoleon’s Lost Legions: French Prisoners of War in Britain, 1803-1814. History, Volume 89 issue 295 page 361 (2004).    

 

The Museum’s collection houses a number of items skilfully crafted by French POWs who were imprisoned in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1814). Wonderful examples of bone carving and straw-plaiting and marquetry, these include:

 

 Bone back scratcher made in two sections, decorated with ring and dot pattern and carved hand

• Doll’s tea set made from Pear wood, from Portsmouth
• Box disguised as a book, decorated with straw work design 
• Velvet pin cushion with base decorated with inlaid straw work
• Game of dominoes made from bone
• Game of Spillikins - straw-work container and example of three carved bone Spillikin sticks. The aim of the game is to pick up each jackstraw (or spillikin) individually without disturbing the other ones in the pile. Quite a task when there are 30 of them and they are so fine and delicate. 
• Lozenge shaped box decorated with straw work
• Bone model soldiers and civilian figures with jointed arms. 
• Box decorated with inlaid straw work 
• Carved cherry stone with an ivory stopper and containing 9 dozen miniature silver teaspoons.  
• Tubular needle case, decorated with straw work 
• Box decorated with inlaid straw work