Books: "Hell upon Water - Prisoners of War in Britain 1793 - 1815"
"Hell upon Water - Prisoners of War in Britain 1793 - 1815"
by Paul Chamberlain is supposed to be "the first book to examine the tragedy and sufferings of prisoners of war of this period". Good! Fascinating! Interesting! Great for research!
Well. I don't know if this really is the first book on this subject. But it's definitely the first time I came across a work whose tone rubbed me so much the wrong way that I was tempted to tear the pages out and fold paper ships.
On page 56, for example, the author comments on a damning contemporary report on the experiences of French POWs at the hands of the British as follows:
"(...) These gentlemen conveniently ignored the similar conditions experienced by British soldiers and seamen at the hands of the French, and the often brutal treatment of foreign prisoners of war in France. It has also to be remembered that these men were writing for a French audience after Frenchmen had experienced these hulks, and so it was most unlikely that they would praise the British prison system."
Unlike a British report, which would be completely without bias and not exaggerate the bad conditions at all... and anyway, even if the conditions were rotten, the French were bad, too, so it's all fine and dandy. Which is a summary of this book, in a nutshell. A negative report about rotten food is explained as follows:
"(....) Beaudoin's account was written some years after the event, when memory and his target audience may have influenced his views. (...)"
Unlike a British report written by a British person with a photographic memory, which would be completely... never mind.
But it's getting better:
"(...) Extra staff were employed if circumstances warranted it, such as when a large number of negroes in the service of France was taken in the West Indies and sent to Portchester Castle. (...)"
Negroes?!?*** Wait a second, he certainly quoted a contemporary document there. *checks* Nope. Didn't. Printed in 2008, and here we have the word "negroes". Then you leaf through the book and find a report dating back to December 1796 (!!!), where said "negroes" are referred to as "Blacks" and "People of Colour" (the latter obviously being neither an American nor a modern expression). I'm all for getting into the spirit of the period in time you're writing about, but if your 214 year old original source sounds more modern than you, something went pear-shaped.
Don't get me wrong: there is a lot of interesting information in this book, many details about the life of POWs that I didn't know about, the author acknowledges that not everything was perfect in Britain, and I really appreciate that he spent 20 years working on it. But this could have been handled so, so much better. The obvious bias of the author is not only a disservice to the readers, but also to the POWs, whose experiences shouldn't be dismissed as propaganda or the result of a bad memory. Maybe I'm just oversensitive here, but this really made me angry.
If anybody is interested in this book, please yell. If you pay for the postage, I'll gladly send it to you.
by Paul Chamberlain is supposed to be "the first book to examine the tragedy and sufferings of prisoners of war of this period". Good! Fascinating! Interesting! Great for research!
Well. I don't know if this really is the first book on this subject. But it's definitely the first time I came across a work whose tone rubbed me so much the wrong way that I was tempted to tear the pages out and fold paper ships.
On page 56, for example, the author comments on a damning contemporary report on the experiences of French POWs at the hands of the British as follows:
"(...) These gentlemen conveniently ignored the similar conditions experienced by British soldiers and seamen at the hands of the French, and the often brutal treatment of foreign prisoners of war in France. It has also to be remembered that these men were writing for a French audience after Frenchmen had experienced these hulks, and so it was most unlikely that they would praise the British prison system."
Unlike a British report, which would be completely without bias and not exaggerate the bad conditions at all... and anyway, even if the conditions were rotten, the French were bad, too, so it's all fine and dandy. Which is a summary of this book, in a nutshell. A negative report about rotten food is explained as follows:
"(....) Beaudoin's account was written some years after the event, when memory and his target audience may have influenced his views. (...)"
Unlike a British report written by a British person with a photographic memory, which would be completely... never mind.
But it's getting better:
"(...) Extra staff were employed if circumstances warranted it, such as when a large number of negroes in the service of France was taken in the West Indies and sent to Portchester Castle. (...)"
Negroes?!?*** Wait a second, he certainly quoted a contemporary document there. *checks* Nope. Didn't. Printed in 2008, and here we have the word "negroes". Then you leaf through the book and find a report dating back to December 1796 (!!!), where said "negroes" are referred to as "Blacks" and "People of Colour" (the latter obviously being neither an American nor a modern expression). I'm all for getting into the spirit of the period in time you're writing about, but if your 214 year old original source sounds more modern than you, something went pear-shaped.
Don't get me wrong: there is a lot of interesting information in this book, many details about the life of POWs that I didn't know about, the author acknowledges that not everything was perfect in Britain, and I really appreciate that he spent 20 years working on it. But this could have been handled so, so much better. The obvious bias of the author is not only a disservice to the readers, but also to the POWs, whose experiences shouldn't be dismissed as propaganda or the result of a bad memory. Maybe I'm just oversensitive here, but this really made me angry.
If anybody is interested in this book, please yell. If you pay for the postage, I'll gladly send it to you.