Speaking with Shadows

Episode 2: The Caribbean Prisoners of Portchester Castle

When France declared war on Britain in 1793 their overseas colonies were also drawn into the ensuing conflict. Black prisoners of war captured from the French Republic in the eastern Caribbean were among the thousands brought to Portchester Castle in Hampshire and imprisoned there. Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour after months of sailing across the Atlantic, the prisoners were faced with a new life in an unfamiliar landscape.

Josie Long explores the lives of the Caribbean prisoners of Portchester Castle in our second episode of Speaking with Shadows – the podcast that listens to the people that history forgot.

  

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Exploring Portchester Castle, Josie meets historians Abigail Coppins and Steve Martin, and local councillor Nick Walker, to learn about the black prisoners of war who were held at the castle during the Napoleonic wars. We hear about prisoners such as General Marinier, commander-in-chief of the French forces in Saint Lucia, explore how prisoners lived at the castle, and discover some of the unique hand-made objects that were made by the prisoners during their time there.

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Gallery

Inner gatehouse at Portchester Castle

Inner gatehouse at Portchester Castle

Inner gatehouse at Portchester Castle
The inner gatehouse of Portchester Castle with the castle keep, where many of the prisoners of war were held, in the background (left)
Interior of the keep at Portchester Castle

Interior of the keep at Portchester Castle

Interior of the keep at Portchester Castle
The interior of the keep at Porchester Castle where a number of prisoners were kept. You can still see the hooks in the beams where prisoners have slung their hammocks
A cutaway drawing showing prisoners in the keep at Portchester Castle

A cutaway drawing showing prisoners in the keep at Portchester Castle

A cutaway drawing showing prisoners in the keep at Portchester Castle
A cutaway drawing of the keep at Portchester Castle showing how it may have looked when occupied by prisoners of war. Many of the beams spanning the upper floors still have large numbers of nails driven into them, which were probably for prisoners’ hammocks. © English Heritage (illustration by Peter Urmston)
Gaming board carved from bone made by a prisoner

Gaming board carved from bone made by a prisoner

Gaming board carved from bone made by a prisoner
This carved-bone gaming board sits on legs and is decorated with intricate markings around the sides. It includes a set of dominoes inside and would have been hand-crafted by a prisoner at Portchester. Objects such as these were made to help pass the time in prison and were also often sold at prison markets to visitors, locals and other prisoners. © By kind permission of the Nick Walker Collection (image: English Heritage)
Box with straw-work decoration made by a prisoner

Box with straw-work decoration made by a prisoner

Box with straw-work decoration made by a prisoner
Many of the prisoners at Portchester were highly skilled craftsmen. They made use of these skills to help pass the time and earn some money while in prison. This box was hand-made by a prisoner at Portchester and contains multiple compartments which are decorated with scenes, delicately made from straw and then dyed. It was likely made to be sold in the prison markets at Portchester. © By kind permission of the Nick Walker Collection (image: English Heritage)
View from the top of the keep at Portchester

View from the top of the keep at Portchester

View from the top of the keep at Portchester
The view from the top of the keep with Portchester Harbour in the background. The large green space in the middle-ground would have been filled with two-storey barrack buildings where the prisoners were held.
Prison ships in Portsmouth Harbour

Prison ships in Portsmouth Harbour

Prison ships in Portsmouth Harbour
A painting of hulks in Portsmouth Harbour made by Louis Garneray, a French prisoner of war, between about 1806 and 1814. Prison ships were stripped of their masts and rigging and whitewashed inside. Wooden buildings on the decks provided extra accommodation, storehouses and kitchens, and prisoners slept in hammocks slung between the beams. © Hampshire Cultural Trust

Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode we hear more about the prisoners' stories through the French prisoner of war theatre that took place during the Napoleonic wars, and a new audio artwork recently installed at Portchester Castle.

Sketch of an unknown French soldier by Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet, c.1830
Sketch of an unknown French soldier (detail) by Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet, c.1830
© Jacqueline Hyde, Paris/The Menil Foundation/The Image of the Black Archive and Library, Harvard University

Discover more about the Black Prisoners at Portchester

Read more about the black prisoners who were transported thousands of miles from the Caribbean to Portchester. Their story is not only part of the castle’s history, but also the history of race and diversity in Britain. How did they come to be at Portchester, what were their lives like as prisoners, and what happened to them after their release?

Read more

Further Reading

  • Chamberlain, P, Hell upon Water: Prisoners of War in Britain 1793–1815 (Stroud, 2008)
  • Chamberlain, P, The Napoleonic Prison of Norman Cross (Stroud, 2018)
  • Chartrand, R, Napoleon's Overseas Army (London, 1989)
  • Chartrand, R, British Troops in the West Indies, 1793–1815 (London, 1996)
  • Chater, K, Untold Histories: Black People in England and Wales During the Period of the British Slave Trade, c.1660–1807 (Manchester, 2009)
  • Cunliffe, B, Excavations at Portchester Castle, Volume V (London, 1995)
  • Girard, P, Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life (New York, 2016)
  • Howard, M, Death Before Glory: The British Soldier in the West Indies in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793–1815 (Barnsley, 2015)
  • Reiss, T, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo (London, 2012)
  • Smith, D, The Prisoners of Cabrera: Napoleon’s Forgotten Soldiers, 1809–1814 (New York, 2001)

Download a transcript of episode 2

Download a transcript of the bonus episode

Episode Credits

Presenter: Josie Long

Producer: Katharine Kerr for Fresh Air

Contributors (episode 2):

  • Abigail Coppins – Historian
  • Steve Martin – Writer and Historian
  • Nick Walker – Councillor for Portchester West

Contributors (bonus episode):

  • Kate Astbury – Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick
  • Elaine Mitchener – Artist and Musician 

Explore More

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  • | Les Murs Sont Témoins | These Walls Bear Witness |

    A new audio artwork at Portchester Castle, produced by Elaine Mitchener, brings to life the stories of French and French-Caribbean prisoners. 

  • Black Lives in 18th-century Britain

    How much do we know about other black people living in Britain around the time the prisoners from the Caribbean were being held at Portchester?

  • History of Portchester Castle

    Read a full history of the castle, from its origins as a Roman fort, through its development as a medieval castle and its role as a prison, to the present day.

  • Prisoners of War at Portchester

    During the wars with France between 1793 and 1814, thousands of prisoners of war were held at Portchester Castle. Learn more about where they came from and what their lives were like at the castle.