Prisoners of War in Britain 1756 to 1815 / A record of their lives, their romance and their sufferings

by Francis Abell

Lauder

I am indebted to the late Mr. Macbeth Forbes for these notes.

There hangs in one of the rooms of Thirlestane Castle, the baronial residence of the Earls of Lauderdale, an oil-painting executed by a French prisoner of war, Lieutenant-Adjutant George Maurer of the Hesse-Darmstadt Infantry. He is described in the Admiralty Records as a youth of twenty, with hazel eyes, fresh complexion, five feet nine and three-quarter inches in height, well made, but with a small sword scar on his left cheek. Although his production is by no means a striking work of art, it is nevertheless cherished as a memento of the time when—a hundred years ago—French prisoners were billeted in Lauder, Berwickshire, and indulged in pleasant intercourse with the inhabitants of this somewhat remote and out-of-the-way country town. In the left corner of the painting, which represents Lauder as seen from the west, is a portrait, dated August 1813, of the artist decked in a sort of Tam-o’-Shanter bonnet, swallow-tailed coat, and knee breeches, plying his brush.

The average number of prisoners at Lauder was between fifty and sixty, and the average age was twenty-six. They appear to have conducted themselves with great propriety in the quiet town; none of them was ever sent to the Tolbooth. They resided for the most part with burgesses, one of whom was James Haswell, a hairdresser, whose son remembered two of the prisoners who lived in his father’s house, and who made for him and his brothers, as boys, suits of regimentals with cocked hats, and marched them through the town with bayonets at their sides.

About the end of January 1812, Captain Pequendaire, of L’Espoir privateer, escaped. At Lauder he never spoke a word of English to any one, and about six weeks after his arrival he disappeared. It came out that he had walked to Stow, near Lauder, and taken the coach there, and that he had got off because he spoke English so perfectly as to pass for a native!

Angot, second captain of L’Espoir, was released upon the representation of inhabitants of St. Valery, that he with others had saved the lives of seventy-nine British seamen wrecked on the coast.

A duel took place on a terrace on the east side of Lauderdale Castle between two prisoners armed with razors fastened to the end of walking-sticks. No harm was done on this occasion.

The prisoners were always kindly and hospitably treated by the inhabitants. On one occasion some of them were at a dinner-party at Mr. Brodie’s, a farmer of Pilmuir. The farm was beyond the one-mile limit, but no notice would have been taken if the prisoners had duly reported themselves and enabled the Agent to make the necessary declaration, but, unfortunately, a heavy snowstorm prevented them from getting back to Lauder, and the report went in that So-and-so had not appeared. The Transport Board at once dealt with the matter, and the parish Minister, the Rev. Peter Cosens, who had been one of the party at Pilmuir, wrote to the authorities by way of explaining, and the reply received was very severe, the authorities expressing surprise that one in his position should have given countenance to, and should seek to palliate or excuse, the offence. The result to the prisoners is not known, but they were probably let off with a fine stopped out of their allowance.

Many of the prisoners knew little or no English when they came to Lauder. On the occasion of a detachment coming into the town, some of the baggage had not arrived, and the interpreter of the party appeared before the Agent, and made a low bow, and held up a finger for each package that was wanting, and uttered the only appropriate English word he knew, ‘Box’. Another, who wished to buy eggs, went into a shop, and, drawing his cloak around him, sat down and clucked like a hen.

Many of the prisoners in the Scottish towns were Germans in French service. In January 1813, the Lauder St. Luke’s Lodge of Freemasons admitted eight Germans and one Frenchman, and it is related that on the occasion of their induction, when the time for refreshments after business came, the foreign installations delighted the company with yarns of their military experiences. When the great movement for German liberty got into full swing, Britain encouraged the French prisoners of German nationality to fight for their own country. Accordingly the eleven German prisoners in Lauder, belonging to the Hesse-Darmstadt regiment, received £5 each at the end of February 1814, to pay their expenses to Hawick, whence to proceed to the seat of war. It is related that the joy they felt at their release was diminished by their regret at leaving the town where they had been treated by the inhabitants with so much marked hospitality and kindness. The evening previous to their departure, the magistrates gave them an entertainment at the Black Bull Inn, and wished them all success in their efforts to restore liberty and prosperity. The remaining twenty-two prisoners finally left Lauder, June 3, 1814; others having been previously removed to Jedburgh, Kelso, and Dumfries. While they were in Lauder some of the merchants gave them credit, and they were honourably repaid on the prisoners’ return to their own country. Maurer, the artist before alluded to, often revisited his friends in Lauder, and always called on and dined with the Agent, and talked over old times.