No descendants of the prisoners are to be traced in or about Portchester; but Mrs. Durrand, who is a familiar figure to all visitors to the Castle, believes that her late husband’s grandfather was a French prisoner of war here.
It may be noted that Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, was at one time an officer of the garrison at Portchester.
Note on the Portchester Theatricals
A correspondent of the French paper L’Intermédiaire, the equivalent of our Notes and Queries, gives some details. The Portchester Theatricals originated with the prisoners who came from Cabrera and the Isle de Léon. On these awful islands the prisoners played entirely as amateurs, but at Portchester the majority of the actors were salaried; indeed, only three were not.
I give a list of the actors in or about the year 1810:
1. Sociétaires (salaried subscribers). Hanin, an employé in the English prison office, with the purely honorary title of Director. Breton, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris Comique. Reverdy, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris père noble. Lafontaine, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris jeune premier. Gruentgentz, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris mère et duègne. Moreau, Captain 2nd Garde de Paris les Colins. Blin de Balue, Sergeant, Marine Artillery les tyrans. Sutat (?), Maréchal des logis jeune première. Wanthies, Captain, 4th Legion soubrette et jeune première. Defacq, fourrier, chasseurs à cheval jeune premier en séconde. Siutor or Pintor, marin jouant les accessoires. Palluel, fourrier, 2nd Garde de Paris bas comique. Carré, soldat, 2nd Garde de Paris machiniste. Montlefort, Marine artificier. 2. Amateurs. Gille, fourrier, 1st Legion jeunes premiers. Quantin, fourrier, 1st Legion les ingénues. Iwan, chasseurs à cheval les confidents. The orchestra consisted of four violins, two horns, three clarinets, and one ‘octave’.
In the above list both Gille and Quantin wrote memoirs of their stay at Portchester. The former I have quoted.
A French writer thus sarcastically speaks of the dramatic efforts of these poor fellows:
‘Those who never have seen the performances of wandering troupes in some obscure village of Normandy or Brittany can hardly form an idea of these prison representations wherein rough sailors with a few rags wrapped about them mouth the intrigues and sentiments of our great poets in the style of the cabaret.’
No doubt the performances on the hulks were poor enough. The wonder to us who know what life was on the hulks is, not that they were poor, but that there was any heart to give them at all. But there is plenty of evidence that the performances in such a prison as Portchester, wherein were assembled many men of education and refinement, were more than good. At any rate, we have seen that they were good enough to attract English audiences to such an extent as to interfere with the success of the local native theatres, and to bring about the exclusion from them of these English audiences.
| 1. Sociétaires (salaried subscribers). | |
| Hanin, an employé in the English prison office, with the purely honorary title of Director. | |
| Breton, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris | Comique. |
| Reverdy, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris | père noble. |
| Lafontaine, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris | jeune premier. |
| Gruentgentz, Sergeant, 2nd Garde de Paris | mère et duègne. |
| Moreau, Captain 2nd Garde de Paris | les Colins. |
| Blin de Balue, Sergeant, Marine Artillery | les tyrans. |
| Sutat (?), Maréchal des logis | jeune première. |
| Wanthies, Captain, 4th Legion | soubrette et jeune première. |
| Defacq, fourrier, chasseurs à cheval | jeune premier en séconde. |
| Siutor or Pintor, marin | jouant les accessoires. |
| Palluel, fourrier, 2nd Garde de Paris | bas comique. |
| Carré, soldat, 2nd Garde de Paris | machiniste. |
| Montlefort, Marine | artificier. |
| 2. Amateurs. | |
| Gille, fourrier, 1st Legion | jeunes premiers. |
| Quantin, fourrier, 1st Legion | les ingénues. |
| Iwan, chasseurs à cheval | les confidents. |
CHAPTER XIII
THE PRISONS ASHORE
5. Liverpool
Liverpool became a considerable dépôt for prisoners of war, from the force of circumstances rather than from any suitability of its own. From its proximity to Ireland, the shelter and starting and refitting point of so many French, and, later, American privateers, Liverpool shared with Bristol, and perhaps with London, the position of being the busiest privateering centre in Britain.
Hence, from very early days in its history, prisoners were continually pouring in and out; in, as the Liverpool privateers, well equipped and armed by wealthy individuals or syndicates, skilfully commanded and splendidly fought, swept the narrow seas and beyond, and brought in their prizes; out, as both sides were ready enough to exchange men in a contest of which booty was the main object, and because the guarding of hundreds of desperate seafaring men was a matter of great difficulty and expense in an open port with no other than the usual accommodation for malefactors.
Before 1756 the prisoners of war brought into Liverpool were stowed away in the common Borough Gaol and in an old powder magazine which stood on the north side of Brownlow Street, where Russell Street now is. Prisoners taken in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence were lodged in the Tower Prison at the lower end of Water Street, on the north side, where now Tower Buildings stand, between Tower Garden and Stringers Alley, which remained the chief jail of Liverpool until July 1811. It was a castellated building of red sandstone, consisting of a large square embattled tower, with subordinate towers and buildings, forming three sides of a quadrangle of which the fourth side was occupied by a walled garden, the whole covering an area of about 3,700 square yards.
The Old Tower Prison, Liverpool.
(From an old print.)