Napoleon's Prisoners of War
Napoleon Bonaparte's Men Come to the Scottish Borders
As the Napoleonic Wars dragged on French prisoners of war arrived in the towns of Selkirk, Kelso and Hawick
Following his stunning victory at Austerlitz in 1805, Napoleon looked invincible, but within a few short years, as new coalitions were formed his struggle in the Peninsular War grew more desperate.
Ever increasing numbers of prisoners of war were seized and transported to the south of England only to be sent north as the prisons overflowed.
But as men from his defeated army arrived in Scotland the officers brought music, theatre and culinary style to the Border towns of Selkirk and Kelso.
They were sent first to Edinburgh and Dumbarton Castles and as they in turn filled to capacity the officers were transported to the villages of the Scottish Borders.
The prisoners were both naval and army officers captured in Spain and Portugal as well as the French colonies of Martinique and Guadaloupe.
Among them was one Adelbert Doisy, taken by Wellington's forces at Almeida, Portugal.
Doisy was a sophisticated Parisian unused to the spartan condition in the Scottish rural backwater. It is his diary which allows us a glimpse into the lives of Napoleon’s prisoners of war.
There were no armed guards or barbed wire and as commissioned officers they were paid half a guinea a week, some also had private means. Consequently, during their enforced stay they spent around £19,500 in the area, an enormous sum in these days.
They were not expected to work and initially the long days stretched in front of them but Doisy’s diary explained “ One of our number taken at Martinique procured a billiard table from Edinburgh. He had private means and furnished a very good café where only Frenchmen were admitted.”
They found a number of other ways to pass the time and earn a little extra money, this advert appeared in the Kelso Mail – “Monsieur Brement, Professor of Belles Letteres and French prisoner of war respectfully informs the ladies and gentlemen of Kelso that he teaches the French and Latin languages.”
The French have always had a reputation for their culinary expertise and these 19th century officers were no different.
Frogs legs have for a long time been a Gallic delicacy and many a Kelso landlady was treated to the dubious pleasure of frog fricassee. Salmon from the River Tweed were also popular with captor and captives alike and even during a harsh winter when the river was frozen over they broke a hole in the ice and dropped in a line.
The exploration of food and drink was reciprocal and in the nearby town of Hawick one French officer was introduced to the ‘hot toddy’. He wrote, “ The farmers in these days freely partook of toddy on the long winter nights and introduced this drink to their alien acquaintances. One Frenchman under the influence of this alcoholic beverage remarked to his host in broken English, “Dese be melting moments.”
The French tradition of theatre was also introduced to the Kelso residents after they leased and restored a building in the town, the upper part of which had been used as a theatre some fifty years before. The budding thespians spent many hours restoring the theatre before being able to tread the boards themselves.
Dressing room space was very limited and many of the ‘actors’ preferred to change into their costumes before it was time to go on stage and anecdotes from the period tell us that the “youth of the town” used to lie in wait for the actors to get some amusement out of their “grotesque costumes.”
On certain occasions, if a show was attended by the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh or others of the ‘nobility’ the street outside would be carpeted in a welcoming crimson red cloth.
Of course most were anxious to go home but surprisingly escapes were rare. One very depressed young man took the hard way out. In September 1812, Louis Journeil a lieutenant from the 27th regiment swallowed sulphuric acid, his dying screams could be heard for miles.
Most prisoners however were content to wait until the war ended before going home. Napoleon's final defeat came at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815
