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St Helena in 1812: Cattle Wormers and The Pillory
Spencer Perceval, British Prime Minister, assassinated May 1812By any standards 1812 was a significant year. It saw the only assassination of a British Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, who was...
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St Helena One Man's Island: "He had little time for Napoleon"
Front Cover of Ian Baker's, "St Helena: One Man's Island" (1) I have recently been reading Ian Baker's interesting and beautifully written book on St Helena. The first few paragraphs of the...
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Press Freedom on St Helena
Julian Cairns-Wicks, former Councillor, regular contributor to St Helena IndependentI have from time to time covered the tribulations of the St Helena Independent, including the arrest of ts editor,...
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William Hazlitt: "I would like to live to see the downfall of the Bourbons"
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) essayist, romantic and political radicalHazlitt is little read nowadays, but there has in the past decade or so been a revival of interest in him, particularly among those...
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Napoleon Week on the BBC
In commemoration of the retreat from Moscow in 1812, an event of far more significance than Waterloo, Radio 3 is currently scheduling a number of programmes about Napoleon. The first, broadcast...
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"No man of sense ought to be ashamed of being called a shopkeeper" - Napoleon
Ronnie Barker as Albert ArkwrightI have recently been re-reading Inside Longwood, and came across an interesting letter in which Barry O'Meara quoted Napoleon's explanation of his description of...
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Windsor Castle Part I: Marryat Prints of Napoleon on his death bed
Albert Benhamou, St George's Chapel Windsor CastleAlbert Benhamou and I were privileged to visit Windsor Castle recently, to look at the surprisingly extensive collection of Napoleonic prints...
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Inside Longwood by Albert Benhamou
It is now several months since I previewed Albert Benhamou's latest book, Inside Longwood , the first full publication of the letters that Napoleon's doctor Barry O'Meara wrote to the Admiralty from...
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Windsor Part II: Napoleon's Letter to the Prince Regent
Ile d’Aix: Napoleon's Last Lodging on French Soil At the end of our visit to Windsor a few weeks ago Albert and I were shown a large rather fragile frame in which were displayed a number of Napoleonic...
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Jamestown St Helena: 20/20 Vision
In prime position at meeting at the Consulate Hotel, Jamestown Towards the end of our recent visit to St Helena my wife and I attended a meeting to discuss the 20/20 Vision for Jamestown, a bulky...
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Funeral of "the Late Emperor of France" - St Helena Records
Entry in St James Church Records, St Helena (click to enlarge)On my recent visit to St Helena I spent many hours in the archives in the basement of the Castle. Quite unexpectedly I came across this...
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Return to Maldivia: Happy Ending or Anti-Climax?
Upper Jamestown Valley: Once the site of the Maldivia GardensFew of my blogs have attracted as much interest as those on Maldivia. With great anticipation and no little emotion I returned in January...
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Beryl Bainbridge: Napoleon and Me
Napoleon Dancing at 42 Albert St, Camden Town, to the Strains of the Gramophone, 1967On returning from St Helena I just managed to catch an interesting exhibition at the Liverpool Museum of paintings...
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Longwood House: Billiard Room sans Billiard Table
The Billiard Room at Longwood 2013 Earlier this year the staff at Longwood House were busy crating 36 pieces of furniture to be sent to Paris. There the furniture will be restored under the direction...
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Rev Boys, Napoleon and the Death Mask at Bonhams
I have generally tried to steer clear of the claims and counter claims made over the various death masks of Napoleon, at least until Bonhams kindly sent me a listing of such a mask to be sold on June...
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St Helena Britannica - new publication by the Friends of St Helena
The Friends of St Helena have recently published this collection of short pieces by the late Trevor W. Hearl(1924-2007) with an excellent preface by Alexander Schulenberg. The author's long association...
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E.M. Forster, the British Association and St Helena
E. M. Forster, photographed in 1930's In the list of famous visitors to St Helena, the scientific community is well represented by Halley, Maskelyne and Darwin, but other than a childhood visit by...
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In the Footsteps of Napoleon: The Beauty and the Legend of Mount Pleasant
Mount PleasantOn our 2008 visit to Sandy Bay we viewed Mount Pleasant from a distance, but this time, with the kind permission of its owners, we were able to walk round the garden, admire the wonderful...
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Wranghams and the Historic Country Houses of St Helena
Wranghams, one of St Helena's remaining colonial housesEarlier this year I was taken to see Wranghams, a fine late eighteenth century house, secluded down a long drive above Sandy Bay, with a fine...
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In the Steps of Napoleon: The Fishers Valley
The Honorary French Consul and an abanoned Ford above the Fishers Valley There is litle to bring most tourists to the Fishers Valley. We had not ventured here on our first visit to St Helena, but this...
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