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Our Most Famous Prisoner

nataliepetersmartin
Feb 5, 2018
6 min read

Imagine Napoleon’s dismay when he realised he was not being banished to America as he anticipated, but to the remote island of St Helena in the mid-Atlantic instead. Located 1,200 miles from the nearest landmass off the west coast of Africa, St Helena was the ideal choice for Napeoleon’s exile… after all, the last thing the British wanted was a repeat of Elba!

Napoleon arrived in St Helena on 15th October 1815, after ten weeks at sea on board the HMS Northumberland.

Napoleon Bonaparte (15th August 1769 to 5th May 1821), also known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century, being Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814. He was exiled to St Helena in 1815, arriving in October{1}, and died here in May 1821.

So much we all know (hopefully) - you can read more below. But did you also know that…

He was born in the town of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, one year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa. So if he’d been born a year earlier he would have been Genoan, not French. (Maybe that would have saved the world a lot of trouble, but made St Helena a lot less famous.)
He was initially named Napoleone di Buonaparte, but later adopted the more French-sounding Napoleon Bonaparte.
It’s possible that he had Jewish origins; or Greek. Both communities were well established on Corsica at the time of his birth{2}.
He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell properly, being teased by other students for his accent.
An examiner observed that Napoleon was good at mathematics and was fairly well acquainted with history and geography, and then suggested he should become a sailor.
He considered joining the British Royal Navy (which also might have saved the world a lot of trouble, etc.) but instead trained to become an artillery officer.
In 1791 he wrote to his uncle: Send me 300 francs; that sum will enable me to go to Paris. There, at least, one can cut a figure and surmount obstacles. Everything tells me I shall succeed. Will you prevent me from doing so for the want of 100 crowns?
During his time on St Helena there were several plots to liberate him, including a plan to rescue him with a primitive submarine. (Given the state of submarine technology at the time this could be described as anywhere between brave and insane.)
At the height of his power, Napoleon owned 39 palaces; some he never once visited.
His tomb was left nameless because his representatives and the British government couldn’t agree on what should be written on it.
People are still arguing over the cause of Napoleon’s death. At the time it was attributed to stomach cancer but it has since been argued that he died of arsenic poisoning; some say deliberate - others say from chemicals in the wallpaper released by mould growing on it.
Napoleon’s cure for piles was to apply leeches to his bottom.
He was not short, as is often said - this is a myth. He was actually 1.7 metres tall, average height for the period. The short-man suggestion came from British propaganda during the Napoleonic Wars. This and other myths about him are discussed on our Myths Debunked! page.
Napoleon’s teeth were darkened from his constant habit of eating liquorice, of which he always kept a supply in his waistcoat pocket.
Insisting on ‘equality before the law’ in civil and criminal actions, Napoleon drew up legislation to protect citizens from arbitrary arrest. He also instituted an educational system based on merit, not the privileges of birth.
Unlike most European leaders of his time, Napoleon welcomed Jews, abolishing ghettos and saying I will never accept any proposals that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them.However, during his exile on St Helena he is said to have remarked to General Gourgaud: The Jews are a nasty people, cowardly and cruel.{3}
Also unlike most European leaders of his time, Napoleon did not approve of torture as a way to extract information, saying The barbarous custom of having men beaten who are suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this way of interrogating men, by putting them to torture, produces nothing worthwhile. The poor wretches say anything that comes into their mind and what they think the interrogator wishes to hear.
Despite the above, his views on women were rather less modern, describing them in 1817 as nothing but machines for producing children.
On 29th May 1816 Napoleon received a letter from his mother, asking if she could come and live with him on St Helena. We assume he replied in the negative.
Napoleon shared genetic roots with current-day actor Tom Conti. According to The Observer Newspaper 15th April 2012, Conti’s father Alfonso was an Italian immigrant, and his mother was Scottish, but of Irish ancestry. According to the DNA research his lineage is Saracen, and he descends from a family that settled in Italy around the tenth century. One branch of the family, of which Napoleon was also a member, settled in Corsica.
On 20th September 1804 Napoleon gave orders that St Helena be captured, because of its strategic importance in the South Atlantic (the orders were lost in transmission and never attempted){4}. Ironic, therefore, that he should end up here, as a captive…
He also tried his hand at being an author.
Incredibly{5} Napoleon was allowed to own and use a gun while in captivity on St Helena! Described as a ‘fowling piece’, he apparently used it to shoot chickens for amusement, and on 20th January 1820 he used it to shoot Count Bertrand’s goat because it ate his plants.
It is said{6}: that Napoleon always wore a black scarf into battle, but he wore a white one for the Battle of Waterloo…and also that he was afraid of cats.
According to island folklore, Napoleon put a curse on St Helena, and on all island endeavors, for all time{7}. However, no mention of such an uttering can be found in any of the contemporary literature so this must be ascribed as a myth. This and other myths about him are discussed on our Myths Debunked! page.

Sunday 15th October 1815: HMS Northumberland anchored at 12 noon
Tuesday 17th October 1815: Napoleon landed at 7.30 pm at the Upper Steps and spent the night at Mr Porteous’ house in Jamestown
Wednesday 18th October 1815 Napoleon left Jamestown at 6.30 am to visit Longwood and on the return journey decided to stay at the Briars Pavilion and not return to Town
Sunday 10th December 1815 Napoleon moved to Longwood House
Saturday 5th May 1821 Napoleon died at Longwood House at 5.49 pm
Wednesday 9th May 1821 Funeral at Sane Valley at 3 pm

Napoleon was brought to the island in October 1815{1}. His first comment, on sighting St Helena from the sea, was it will not be a pleasant abode. Large crowds turned out to watch him land and he later remarked that he found it objectionable to be stared at comme un bête feroçe. In his first two months here he lived in the Briars Pavilion, just up the valley from Jamestown, where he formed a deep friendship with owners the Balcombe family, and in particular their daughter, Betsy. He moved to Longwood House on 10th December 1815.

It appears Napoleon took a little while to adjust to his new circumstances. A History of the Island of St Helena, 2nd Edition, by T. H. Brooke, Esq., published in 1824{8} reports that:

Today Longwood House is considered to be the most poignant and atmospheric of all the Napoleonic Museums, as it is preserved with its original furniture from 1821, complemented by over 900 artifacts. Thanks to the island’s Honorary French Consul, Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, with the support of the Fondation Napoleon and over 2000 donators, visitors to Longwood House can now also view an exact replica of the room where Napoleon died on 5th May 1821.