Molly's Lieutenant Innes
Earlier this summer while reading Michael Lewis’ Napoleon and his British Captives I was reminded of the lovely piece of detective work that joyful_molly did last year when she tracked down Lieutenant Thomas Innes whose snuff box appeared on the Antiques Roadshow. The pedigree of the snuff box is impressive, it was presented by French Admiral Compte de Grasse to his custodian Mr Alexander Littlejohn, while he was a prisoner of war on parole in Kingston in 1782. Littlejohn then passed the snuff box to his nephew Lt Innes whose own story, as Molly pointed out, is even more fascinating. Commander Innes became a prisoner of war in 1805 when his ship HMS Woodlark was wrecked off St Valery due to pilot error. At the time, Innes had been married for less than a year and his wife travelled to France to spend the entire nine years of the war in captivity with her husband. As Molly said “If that's not love, then I don't know what is!”
Well I can now add a teeny little bit more detail to the story of Lt Thomas Innes and his devoted wife. As an officer, Innes would have been sent to Verdun, the prison depot which housed all ranking naval and military officers as well as British civilians who had been detained by Napoleon at the outbreak of the war. Verdun was a fortified town which took on the appearance of a fashionable resort following the influx of wealthy civilian detenus. Verdun catered for every whim of the gentlemen prisoners, there were recitals, balls, gentlemen’s clubs, brothels and even a race track. Money talked at Verdun and those who could afford to grease the palm of the notoriously corrupt depot commander, Colonel Wirion could maintain a very comfortable, if costly, standard of living. Indeed some were even allowed the ultimate privilege of parole, freedom of domicile. Edward Boys, who was a lowly midshipman imprisoned at Verdun, noted that six prisoners were allowed to live outside the depot and paid Colonel Wirion 10s per month for the privilege.
Many of the civilian prisoners had been travelling with their wives and families when they were detained and many more were later joined by their wives and mistresses as the war dragged on. Presumably the same is true of some of the higher ranking naval and military prisoners, though the only verified example I have found is that of Captain Jahleel Brenton, the senior naval POW in France for much of the war, whose wife undertook the hazardous journey across war torn France to join her husband at Verdun. Brenton describes the moment of their meeting as follows:
Captain Jahleel Brenton
Our meeting was one of pure and unmixed felicity. My beloved wife forgot in a moment all her fatigue and anxieties; and the recollection of captivity itself was instantly banished from my thoughts, or if I remembered it at all, it was as a blessing which brought me the happiness I enjoyed.
When Brenton’s wife arrived, he was living on parole in the hamlet of Clermont, however he found this to be too inconveniently far from Verdun so he sought more suitable accommodation.
I procured lodgings at Charni, a little village on the Meuse, about two miles from Verdun, in a most commodious house, with a very respectable family. Our retreat there was a most delightful one in a spacious mansion belonging to Monsieur Beaumont, who was of an ancient and noble family. We had an excellent suite of apartments, and the use of an extensive garden. The season of the year was particularly delightful and everything for some time conspired to make us enjoy as much felicity as human nature is capable for doing. If I had not entirely forgotten I was a prisoner, I ceased to feel the pressure of captivity and was resigned to my lot.
Resigned to his lot Brenton may have been but he never forgot the suffering of his less fortune officers and the seamen held in appalling conditions at other depots and throughout the war he worked tirelessly on their behalf.
Similarly on the other side of the Channel the French Admiral Linois spent eight years as a prisoner of war residing on parole in Cheltenham and Bath where he was joined in 1813 by his wife and daughter. Even on the prison hulks there are verified accounts of women enduring captivity with their husbands. Two officers and two privates of La Légion Noire that famously and briefly invaded Fishguard were accompanied by their wives who are listed in the register of the Royal Oak prison hulk in Portsmouth.
19th century Lyons
But what of Molly’s Lt Thomas Innes and his devoted wife? Lewis makes no mention of Innes in the text of this book, however I found him in one of the comprehensive appendices accompanied by the note “Allowed to Lyons with family”. The source for this reference is The Diary of Peter Bussel, a contemporary account of captivity as a POW written by a merchant captain. I haven’t managed to track down either a print or digital copy of Bussels’s diary yet so I don’t know if he has more to say of Lt Innes. However if Lt Innes was allowed the privilege of living on parole at Lyons, rather than being restricted to the fortified town of Verdun, almost 500 km away, we can infer that either he, or his wife, must have been relatively wealthy, well connected, or both. Given the provenance of Lt Innes snuff box it is tempting to speculate that he may have had a one or two influential connections in France. That, however, is pure speculation ☺
Garneray, L., (2003), The Floating Prison: The remarkable account og the nine years' captivity on the British prison hulks during the Napoleonic wars 1806 to 1814, trans Richard Rose, Conway Maritime Press.
Lewis, M., (1962), Napoleon and his British Captives, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.
Raikes, H., (1846), Memoir of the life and services of Vice-admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, baronet, K.C.B., Hatchard and Son.
Well I can now add a teeny little bit more detail to the story of Lt Thomas Innes and his devoted wife. As an officer, Innes would have been sent to Verdun, the prison depot which housed all ranking naval and military officers as well as British civilians who had been detained by Napoleon at the outbreak of the war. Verdun was a fortified town which took on the appearance of a fashionable resort following the influx of wealthy civilian detenus. Verdun catered for every whim of the gentlemen prisoners, there were recitals, balls, gentlemen’s clubs, brothels and even a race track. Money talked at Verdun and those who could afford to grease the palm of the notoriously corrupt depot commander, Colonel Wirion could maintain a very comfortable, if costly, standard of living. Indeed some were even allowed the ultimate privilege of parole, freedom of domicile. Edward Boys, who was a lowly midshipman imprisoned at Verdun, noted that six prisoners were allowed to live outside the depot and paid Colonel Wirion 10s per month for the privilege.
Many of the civilian prisoners had been travelling with their wives and families when they were detained and many more were later joined by their wives and mistresses as the war dragged on. Presumably the same is true of some of the higher ranking naval and military prisoners, though the only verified example I have found is that of Captain Jahleel Brenton, the senior naval POW in France for much of the war, whose wife undertook the hazardous journey across war torn France to join her husband at Verdun. Brenton describes the moment of their meeting as follows:
Captain Jahleel Brenton
Our meeting was one of pure and unmixed felicity. My beloved wife forgot in a moment all her fatigue and anxieties; and the recollection of captivity itself was instantly banished from my thoughts, or if I remembered it at all, it was as a blessing which brought me the happiness I enjoyed.
When Brenton’s wife arrived, he was living on parole in the hamlet of Clermont, however he found this to be too inconveniently far from Verdun so he sought more suitable accommodation.
I procured lodgings at Charni, a little village on the Meuse, about two miles from Verdun, in a most commodious house, with a very respectable family. Our retreat there was a most delightful one in a spacious mansion belonging to Monsieur Beaumont, who was of an ancient and noble family. We had an excellent suite of apartments, and the use of an extensive garden. The season of the year was particularly delightful and everything for some time conspired to make us enjoy as much felicity as human nature is capable for doing. If I had not entirely forgotten I was a prisoner, I ceased to feel the pressure of captivity and was resigned to my lot.
Resigned to his lot Brenton may have been but he never forgot the suffering of his less fortune officers and the seamen held in appalling conditions at other depots and throughout the war he worked tirelessly on their behalf.
Similarly on the other side of the Channel the French Admiral Linois spent eight years as a prisoner of war residing on parole in Cheltenham and Bath where he was joined in 1813 by his wife and daughter. Even on the prison hulks there are verified accounts of women enduring captivity with their husbands. Two officers and two privates of La Légion Noire that famously and briefly invaded Fishguard were accompanied by their wives who are listed in the register of the Royal Oak prison hulk in Portsmouth.
19th century Lyons
But what of Molly’s Lt Thomas Innes and his devoted wife? Lewis makes no mention of Innes in the text of this book, however I found him in one of the comprehensive appendices accompanied by the note “Allowed to Lyons with family”. The source for this reference is The Diary of Peter Bussel, a contemporary account of captivity as a POW written by a merchant captain. I haven’t managed to track down either a print or digital copy of Bussels’s diary yet so I don’t know if he has more to say of Lt Innes. However if Lt Innes was allowed the privilege of living on parole at Lyons, rather than being restricted to the fortified town of Verdun, almost 500 km away, we can infer that either he, or his wife, must have been relatively wealthy, well connected, or both. Given the provenance of Lt Innes snuff box it is tempting to speculate that he may have had a one or two influential connections in France. That, however, is pure speculation ☺
Garneray, L., (2003), The Floating Prison: The remarkable account og the nine years' captivity on the British prison hulks during the Napoleonic wars 1806 to 1814, trans Richard Rose, Conway Maritime Press.
Lewis, M., (1962), Napoleon and his British Captives, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.
Raikes, H., (1846), Memoir of the life and services of Vice-admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, baronet, K.C.B., Hatchard and Son.