Hello
Does anybody have any references where French prisoners (normal soldiers) were taken captive during the Peninsular War?
There has been much written about the P.O.W. camps in Great Britain, yet I find it sometimes hard to believe French soldiers were shipped all the way to Britain to be held captive there.
That must have been an enormous logistical task, if you ask me.
Some (online) sources state that this was primarily done for low- and high-ranking officers. Soldiers were often kept in the land where they were captured.
Hence, my question: Does anybody know if these kinds of "camps" in Spain existed?
For example, after the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (or other sieges or battles during the Peninsular War), were there prison camps in Spain itself?
Many thanks
Boris
The names of prisoners are often written in a number of variations at the time, depending on which clerk was recording them. It was usually the 1st Clerk who was employed for his linguistic skills, not the other staff. And then these names were transcribed by Findmypast to go onto their website, and a few more variations creep in.
And here is the transcription of that record that is attached to the image on the website.
First name(s) Arnd
Last name Delafontaine
Age 25
Year 1755-1831
Rank as transcribed Soldier
Rank Soldier
Ship or corps 86th Regt
Ship name 86th Regt
Birth place Voccat
Prison camp or ship Porchester Castle
Country of imprisonment -
Conflict French Revolutionary And Napoleonic Wars
Document details General alphabetical list of prisoners of war, c1755-c1831.
Archive The National Archives
Archive reference ADM 103/530
Record set Prisoners Of War 1715-1945
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Subcategory Regimental & Service Records
Collections from Great Britain, UK None
Here is the image of the prisoner from the Findmypast record.
69e ligne
I think I managed to find the person I was looking for via FindMyPast.
See image below :
Unfortunately, I cannot access the image in question through this paying site. It is a bit of a waste for me to buy a subscription for just 1 image.
I know it is not the regular way of doing things, but does anyone have an account on FindMyPast who can send me this image ? You never know ... :)
Many greetings
Boris
Prisoners of war of all ranks were brought to Britain. From 1812 the depot at Perth took a lot of Peninsular pows, who were shipped from Lisbon to Leith and marched inland to the depot. Where prisoners were held depended on what space was available in the land depots or prison ships, and captives were moved around the system. If you have some names of prisoners then search on Findmypast who have transcribed all the General Entry Books, find these men, and this will give you access to the other prisoners taken in the same action as that one - you can skip through the pages.
Haven’t seen all of these:
James, Trevor, Prisoners of War At Dartmoor, American and French Soldiers and Sailors in an English Prison During the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, (McParland & Company,
London, 2013)
Lloyd, Clive, A History of Napoleonic and American Prisoners of War 1756-1816: Hulk, Depot and Parole, (ACC Publishing, 2007)
Chamberlain, Paul, The Napoleonic Prison of Norman Cross, (History Press, 2018)
Morieux, Renauld, The Society of Prisoners: Anglo-French Wars and Incarceration in the Eighteenth Century, (Oxford Univ. , 2022)
Bennett, J. French Connections: Napoleonic Prisoners of War on Parole in Leek, 1803-1814, (Churnet Valley Books, 1995)
Abell, Francis, Prisoners of War in Britain 1756 to 1815: A Record of Their Lives, Their Romance and Their Sufferings, (Oxford Univ., 1914)
MacDougall, Ian, All Men Are Brethren: Prisoners of War in Scotland, 1803–1814, (John Donald, 2009)
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisi%C3%B3n_de_Perth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_P%C3%A9gase_(1781)
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_Portchester
Unwounded prisoners in the custody of the British were delivered to Lisbon, where they were kept under close confinement until transport could be found to an even more distant and secure destination. Transfer of prisoners to England had been halted by the British government in 1810 in the hope that some less financially burdensome alternative could be found, but the inability of the Portuguese government to pay for any of these forced the British to resume sending captured Frenchmen back to Great Britain just after Albuera. When the captured French soldiers arrived at their destinations (typically Plymouth or Portsmouth in the first instance), a detailed description of each man was meticulously recorded by the clerks of the Transport Board responsible for their care.[1] Since there are few instances of multiple entries in the record books for the same regiment on the same day, it appears that the British made no effort to keep men from the same unit together for purposes of transportation and confinement.
[1] TNA/PRO Series ADM 103/295 et seq.
Some are covered here: https://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/military/c_denis.html