Dartmoor Prison - Prisoners of war at Dartmoor: American and French soldiers and sailors in an English prison during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812

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e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-0342-1

2013 Trevor James. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover art by Paul Deacon, Detailed Representation of Dartmoor Depot in 1810, watercolour, 12" 12"; The Massacre Scene, oil on canvas, 30" 15"

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The story you are about to read is dedicated to the memory of those brave men of two nations, namely the French and the Americans who suffered and died in captivity at Dartmoor. My admiration for the French relates to their undying loyalty to Napoleon, who possessed an unrivaled charisma, and leadership qualities of a rare kind. The Americans on the other hand were, to a man, loyal to a cause, namely their independence and freedom.
May they never be forgotten.

I owe much of the content of this book to Cyril Stringer, former Strode College Manager/Offenders Learning and Skills Service at Dartmoor Prison. For the last ten years of his life he devoted all his spare time to a study of Americans imprisoned at Dartmoor during the War of 1812. Sadly, he died before completing his aim of publishing his findings to coincide with the bicentennial of the start of that war. His collection of documents and data was very generously placed at my disposal by his widow, Christine Stringer, and they have been invaluable in compiling this book. I am privileged to have partly succeeded in his plan and wish to pay tribute to a man who devoted his energies on such a wide scalefar wider than this humble offeringto place on record a full and accurate account of events. Had Mr. Stringer lived he would have produced a very thorough and lengthy description not only of a prisoners fate and sufferings under the often brutal regime that prevailed at Dartmoor Depot, but their backgrounds and activities. Such a work would have at least equaled if not surpassed anything else written to date.

Ron Joy, author of Dartmoor Prison: A Complete Illustrated History, a historian and former principal officer at the prison, assisted Cyril Stringer in several ways, and his contribution is appreciated and acknowledged.

The late Ira Dye, author The Fatal Cruise of the Argus, also made several valuable contributions. Author and historian, he was without doubt one of the foremost authorities on the War of 1812. His enthusiasm for matters relating to that war began by chance. He was a World War II U.S. Navy submarine commander and evidently an officer of exceptional ability because at the end of hostilities he was entrusted with a special project. The German Navy had developed an advanced type of submarine which was far ahead of anything the Allies had. Three vessels were captured by the Americans and brought to Plymouth. Captain Dye was selected to take an experienced crew to Plymouth to get acquainted with the technical equipment to take the submarines to the United States. This took several weeks, during which time he got to know the city pretty well. One day while on a stroll he found himself at St. Andrews Church, where he came across a headstone in memory of Lt. Allen and Midshipman Delphey of the U.S. brig Argus, who died after a battle at sea during the War of 1812. He was determined to find out how these two officers came to be buried there. His search became an obsession, culminating in his amassing a huge collection of documents, books relating to that period, microfilms, letters, etc., which together constituted one of the most extensive databases on the war. His priceless collection was donated to the USS Constitution Museum in Boston after his death in 2005. Every researcher and writer on that war owes him a huge debt, and due acknowledgement is rendered here.

It has been my privilege to employ the information referred to above in order to present the reader with what I hope they will accept as a sober description of the sufferings the men endured and their brave defiance in adversity.

Among others who kindly helped with this book were John Lawrence, former governor of Dartmoor Prison; Terry Witton, governor of Dartmoor Prison; Dartmoor Prison Museum, Princetown, Devon; former Dartmoor Prison officer Mike Chamberlain; former Dartmoor Prison officer and artist Paul Deacon, Auckland, New Zealand; Betty Thomson, researcher, Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey; Commander Nobby Clegg, R.N., retired; Duchy of Cornwall Office, Princetown, Devon; James Stevenson, photographer; William Saxton, Taunton, Somerset; Robert Martin, Versailles, France; the late Dr. R. Taverner, Exeter, Devon; the late Col. F. Theobold, Moretonhampstead, Devon; the late James Barber, Plymouth City Museum, Plymouth; R. Wood, Plymouth City Library, Plymouth, Devon; the late Ron Chudley, Exmout, Devon; Devon and Exeter Institution Library, Exeter, Devon; Exeter Central Library, Exeter, Devon; Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth, Devon; Moretonhampstead History Society, Moretonhampstead, Devon; Freemasons Hall of Research, Leicester; United Grand Lodge of England, London; Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter, Devon; Public Record Office, Exeter, Devon; West Devon Record Office, Coxside, Plymouth, Devon; Devon Library Services, Okehampton and Tavistock, Devon; Regimental Museum (Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry), Bodmin, Cornwall; Archives Office, Diocese of Exeter, Devon.

There are many others too numerous to mention, and I express my sincere gratitude to them all.

by John Lawrence

Dartmoor Prison is world famous, but few know of its origins and early history. This book is a fascinating journey from the decision to build through to its occupation by prisoners of war, both French and American.

Trevor James has used many primary sources to illustrate this book, and under his skilled hands the prison buildings teem with life. An ex-journalist and a colleague of mine at the prison in the 1990s, he has written many readable booklets with pictures on this subject over the past 20 years.

You will be informed and perhaps surprised by some of the firsthand stories within. You will certainly get a glimpse of life in the very early nineteenth century, and learn something of the feelings of those incarcerated in these grim buildings on an isolated area of land liable to sudden mists and with poor roads.

John Lawrence joined the English Prison Service in 1973. He served at various prisons around the country and was sent to Dartmoor Prison in 1990 as deputy governor. He was promoted to governor in 1994 and remained so until 2001. He now lives in Wales with his wife of forty years.

I grew up in Tavistock just seven miles from Dartmoor Prison and became familiar with its past from an early age, but it was just the convict era that was featured in the stories that were told to metales of daring escapes, bread and water punishments, solitary confinement and manacles applied to those who broke the rules or otherwise rebelled. Yet the full history of that infamous place includes the French and American prisoners of war who were held there, the French for most of six years and the Americans for a little over two.

It was not until I attained manhood that I became aware of the French connection and even later in life that I first heard about the Americans. You may be surprised to know that even today there are people living in the surrounding towns who are astonished when told of the prisons origins and purpose (most American visitors are also surprised to learn about their countrymen being imprisoned there). I was employed in the Works Department at Dartmoor Prison for the last ten years of my working life. History has always been my main interest and when I began my job at the prison I formed a fascination for it and its sad but colorful past, which never left me. Every working day I trod the very ground occupied by those foreign captives of long ago and saw at close quarters the remaining buildings they lived in. This led to my reading everything I could get hold of relating to that period and the many accounts written by the prisoners themselves.