There was at Wincanton, as in other parole towns, a Masonic Lodge among the prisoners; it was called (as was also the Lodge at Sanquhar) ‘La Paix Désirée’. There were English members of it. Mr. Sweetman reproduces, in the little book upon which I have drawn for my information, the certificate of Louis Michel Duchemin, Master Mason in 1810. This M. Duchemin married Miss Clewett of Wincanton, and settled in England, dying in Birmingham in 1854 or 1855. His widow only survived him a week, but he left a son who in 1897 lived in Birmingham, following his father’s profession as a teacher of French. M. Duchemin was evidently much esteemed in Wincanton, as the following testimonial shows:
‘Wincanton, June 1821.
‘I, the undersigned, having been His Majesty’s Agent for Prisoners of War on Parole in this place during the late war, do certify that Monsr. L. M. Duchemin was resident for upwards of six years on his Parole of Honour in this Town, from the time [1805] of the capture of the French frigate La Torche to the removal of the Prisoners to Scotland, and that in consequence of his universal good conduct, he was excepted (on a memorial presented by Inhabitants to the Commissioners of H. M. Transport Service) from a previous Order of Removal from this place with other prisoners of his rank. Monsr. Duchemin married while resident in this place into a respectable family, and, having known him from 1806 to the present time, I can with much truth concur in the Testimonial of his Wells friends.
‘G. Messiter.’
This Mr. George Messiter, a solicitor, was one of the best sort of parole agents, and is thus eulogized by Mr. Sweetman:
‘He was a gentleman well qualified for the office he held: of a noble mien, brave, and held in respect by all who knew him. Under his direction the captives were supplied with every accommodation he could give them. Several years after his death one of the survivors, an army surgeon, came to the scene of his former captivity, when he paid a high tribute to the Commissary, and spoke in terms of affection of the townspeople amongst whom he had sojourned.’
When it is remembered that Messiter had to deal with such troublesome fellows as Generals Rochambeau and Boyer (who were actually sent away from Wincanton, as they had already been sent away from other parole places, on account of their misdeeds), the worth of this testimony may be appreciated.
Not many marriages between prisoners and Englishwomen are recorded at Wincanton, for the same reason that ruled elsewhere—that the French law refused to regard such marriages as valid.
Alberto Bioletti, an Italian servant to a French officer, married and settled in the town as a hairdresser. He married twice, and died in 1869, aged ninety-two. William Bouverie, known as ‘Billy Booby’, married and settled here. John Peter Pichon is the very French name of one who married Dinah Edwards, both described as of Wincanton, in 1808. In 1809 Andrée Joseph Jantrelle married Mary Hobbs.
Mr. Sweetman says:
‘Here, as in all other parole towns, a large number of children were born out of wedlock whose fathers were reputed to be our visitors. Some indeed took French names, and several officers had to pay large sums of money to the parish authorities before they left. One of the drawbacks to the sojourn of so many strangers among us was the increase of immorality. One informant said: “Not the least source of attraction to these gallant sons of France, were the buxom country maidens, who found their way into the town, but lost their way back. I regret to say that our little town was becoming a veritable hotbed of vice.”’
The prisoners were suddenly withdrawn from Wincanton, on account of the alarm, to which I have alluded elsewhere, that a general rising of the prisoners of war all over England, but chiefly in the west, had been concerted, and partly on account of the large numbers of escapes of prisoners, favoured as they were by the proximity of the Dorsetshire coast with its gangs of smugglers.