Public-domain ebook
Language: en2,239 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - British·History - Modern (1750+)·History - Warfare
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #60321.
Francis Abell’s work is a meticulously researched survey of the thousands of prisoners of war who lived in Britain between 1756 and 1815. The opening pages explain how the subject has been largely ignored by both novelists and historians, with only a handful of earlier studies, Basil Thomson’s Story of Dartmoor Prison, T. J. Walker’s Norman Cross, and W. Sievwright’s Perth Depôt, providing any foundation. Abell sets out to fill that gap, travelling across England, Scotland and Wales to uncover the forgotten “odd nooks and corners” where these men were held, from hulks moored on the Thames to inland forts such as Sissinghurst Castle and Dartmoor. The book proceeds through a detailed table of contents, offering chapters on international recriminations, the exchange of prisoners, life aboard prison‑ships, the various land prisons, parole life, and notable escapes, all supported by contemporary illustrations and archival material.
Written in a scholarly yet accessible Victorian style, the narrative combines factual reporting with a moral inquiry into the cruelty of the prison‑ship system and the broader corruption of the era. Abell’s measured, often apologetic tone reflects his 1914 perspective, invoking contemporary officials like John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys to lend authority. Readers who enjoy exhaustive social histories, military‑legal studies, or the gritty realities of the Napoleonic era will find this volume rewarding, while those seeking a novelistic account should look elsewhere.
The opening · free to read
As to the second influence. It is difficult to account for the fact that so interesting a page of our history should have remained unwritten. Even authors of fiction, who have pressed every department of history into their service, have, with about half a dozen exceptions, neglected it as a source of inspiration, whilst historical accounts are limited to Mr. Basil Thomson’s Story of Dartmoor Prison, Dr. T. J. Walker’s Norman Cross, and Mr. W. Sievwright’s Perth Depôt, all of which I have been permitted to make use of, and local handbooks.
Yet the sojourn among us of thousands of war prisoners between the years 1756 and 1815 must have been an important feature of our national life—especially that of officers on parole in our country towns; despite which, during my quest in many counties of England, Scotland, and Wales, I have been surprised to find how rapidly and completely the memory of this sojourn has faded; how faintly even it lingers in local tradition; how much haziness there is, even in the minds of educated people, as to who or what prisoners of war were; and how the process of gathering information has been one of almost literal excavation and disinterment. But the task has been a great delight. It has introduced me to all sorts and conditions of interesting people; it has taken me to all sorts of odd nooks and corners of the country; and it has drawn my attention to a literature which is not less valuable because it is merely local. I need not say that but for the interest and enthusiasm of private individuals I could never have accomplished the task, and to them I hope I have made sufficient acknowledgement in the proper places, although it is possible that, from their very multitude, I may have been guilty of omissions, for which I can only apologize.
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