Prisoners of War and British Port Communities, 1793-1815

Abstract

Between 1793 and 1815 approximately one-quarter of a million prisoners of war were held in Britain.At Chatham between 1803 and 1814 there were approximately 90,000; at Plymouth between 1793 and 1814, about 175,000; and at Portsmouth for the same period, approximately 360,000.At any one time there were thousands of prisoners confined in these areas and many more at other ports.Yarmouth held approximately 38,000, and Bristol and Liverpool about 40,000 each. 1 Smaller ports absorbed fewer, but all prisoners were a potential source of trouble and a strain on local resources.Government responded to the 1797 invasion threat by gradually moving men away from the smaller ports, both in response to frantic appeals from local authorities and as a policy after 1803 to concentrate prisoners in fewer (if larger) depots. 2 The impact of that situation on British ports and port communities is a considerable topic.This paper can only deal with some of the more general themes but it may offer insights into the nature of a society so dependent on the sea.Prisoners were a muted and secondary -but not negligible -part of war policy.Their release or retention posed not merely legal and administrative questions but involved balancing seemingly contradictory outcomes: weakening an enemy by keeping his men, particularly the skilled and the leaders, or weakening itself by using its resources to care for them.Systems for the humane treatment and exchange of prisoners had evolved during earlier eighteenth-century wars.Prisoners were to be fed, on an agreed food allowance, by their own country; an agent was appointed by each combatant nation to oversee the treatment of their nationals in enemy prisons, markets were open to them to check local prices, and they were allowed to visit prisons and hear complaints.Regular exchanges were to take place, prisoners being selected by the agents and a table, stating equivalents in numbers of men exchanged for officers, was drawn up.Prisoners suffering from wounds, infirmities or advanced age; boys under twelve; and women and children were to be returned at once without equivalents in exchange.Surgeons, pursers, secretaries, chaplains, priests, schoolmasters and non-combatant passengers were not to be held as prisoners.Serving officers, separated from men, either pledged their word (gave their parole) not to escape and were permitted to live in designated inland towns, or were granted their freedom to return home on condition that they would not serve again until exchanged in a regular fashion. 3

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