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.
Lockerbie and Lochmaben
About a score of prisoners were at each of these places, but as the record of their lives here is of very much the same character as of prisoner life elsewhere, it hardly makes a demand upon the reader’s attention. In both places the exiles conducted themselves peaceably and quietly, and they, especially the doctors, were well liked by the inhabitants.
CHAPTER XXV
PRISONERS OF WAR IN WALES
In Montgomeryshire
I am indebted to Canon Thomas of Llandrinio Rectory, Llanymynech, for information which led me to extract the following interesting details from the Montgomeryshire Archaeological Collections.
Batches of French officers were on parole during the later years of the Napoleonic wars at Llanfyllin, Montgomery, Bishop’s Castle, Newtown, and Welshpool.