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Introduction
2010 – 2014 “SAVING NAPOLEON’S HOUSE ON ST HELENA”
The “Domaines Français” of St Helena belong to the French Ministry of Foreign Affaires, and are composed of three areas: Longwood House and the “Domaine de la Tombe” (which were bought by France in 1858) and the “Pavillon des Briars” (which was given to France by the descendants of the original owner, the famous William Balcombe, in 1959). The property also includes a section of land donated in 2004 by Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, honorary consul and curator of the “Domaines” (who had acquired it in order to protect the site from uncontrolled urbanisation).
The building maintenance has been entrusted to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which devotes significant resources to its upkeep, including the presence on site of its curator, Michel Martineau-Dancoisne.
The buildings are located on the Longwood plateau, one of the most exposed places on the island of St Helena. In addition, the house where the Emperor spent his exile extends from North to South in a straight line without much architectural coherence.
The house is divided into three main parts joined together: to the North are the apartments where the Emperor lived; in the centre was a service area organised around a small courtyard; and to the South the so-called “General’s wing”.
The appearance of the Imperial apartment demonstrates the everyday life of the Emperor during his captivity. Part of the service area and the Generals’ wing is now home to a valuable collection of engravings, furniture and objects from the period of exile.
The state of this latter part of the building has caused much concern: there was structural degeneration; the roofing was in need of repair and was badly adapted to the climate; and finally the public reception areas were in need of modernisation, as well as respecting the historical traces. Therefore the Foreign Ministry decided on a partial restoration and reconstruction project focussed on the part of the building housing the Generals’ Wing. An initial grant of 700,000 euros was allocated by the Ministry.
Since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided that half of the conservation work should be funded by private funds, the Fondation Napoléon (which has the status of a “public interest” charity and is therefore able to receive tax-deductable donations), was given the task of raising the necessary funds, both from corporations and private individuals.
The Fondation Napoléon and its partners, the Souvenir Napoléonien and the Fondation du Patrimoine, launched an international appeal. The appeal for donations, ended on 31 December 2014, bringing together 1.4 million euros from approximately 2,000 donors.
Have a look at the results of the International appeal.
August 2014, updated August 2015 (translation RY)
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Documents
Articles
Napoleon’s last will and testament (with a new introduction, February 2021, by Chantal Prevot, librarian at the Fondation Napoleon, to the transcription (in English translation) originally published here in January 2007).
Napoleon’s English lessons
(article by Hicks Peter, article updated 8/6/2005)Plan of Longwood: Habitation of the Emperor Napoleon on the Isle of St Helena as it was towards the end of 1816, signed: “Napoleon Baciocchi fecit” [Élisa Napoléone Baciocchi], probably a copy of a contemporary document, with descriptions of the island and of Napoleon’s residence. (new document October 2121)
Letter from Mrs Catherine Younghusband to her aunt (St Helena, 4 January 1816)
The trials and tribulations of a letter… Napoleon’s farewell to Comte de Las Cases, St Helena, 11 December 1816 by François Houdecek
Official announcement to Napoleon of his deportation to St Helena, July 31, 1815
On-line Digital Bibliography: books from the library of the Fondation Napoléon
MAITLAND, Captain F. L., Narrative of the surrender of Buonaparte and of his residence on board H.M.S. “Bellerophon”, with a detail of the principal events that occurred in that ship, between the 24th of May and the 8th of August, 1815, London : Henry Colburn,1826
BOWERBANK, John, An Extract from a Journal kept on Board H.M.S. Bellerophon, 1816
Napoleon and his fellow travellers, edited by Clement Shorter, London, Cassell, 1908, pp. 303-323.
USSHER, Thomas, GLOVER, John R., Napoleon’s last voyages, being the diaries of Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher, R.N., K.C.B. (on board the “Undaunted”), and John R. Glover, secretary to rear Admiral Cockburn (on board the “Northumberland”), with introduction and notes by J. Holland Rose, London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1906
WARDEN, William, letters written on board his Majesty’s ship the Northumberland, (1816)
London, R. Ackermann, 1816
In which the conduct and conversations of Napoleon Buonaparte, and his suite, during the voyage, and the first months of his residence in that island, are faithfully described and related.O’MEARA, Barry, An exposition of some of the transactions, that have taken place at St-Helena, s.l. : s.n, 1819
[ANONYMOUS], Narrative of proceedings connected with the exhumation and removal of the remains of the late Emperor Napoleon, by a resident, Saint Helena : printed for the proprietor by William Bateman, 1840
LOWE, Hudson, History of the captivity of Napoleon at St Helena, (1853)
From the letters and papers of the late Lieut.-Gen. Sir Hudson Lowe, and official documents not before made public by William Forsyth.
London, John Murray, 1853
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
SEATON R.C., Napoleon’s captivity in relation to Sir Hudson Lowe, 1903 (George Bell and Sons, London)
GONNARD (Philippe), The Exile of St Helena,
Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott, William Heinemann 1909
The last phase in fact and fiction.JANISCH, Hudson Ralph, Extracts from the St Helena records,
St Helena, Benjamin Grant, 1908[ANONYMOUS], Manuscrit venu de Sainte-Héléne : véritable mémorial du règne de l’empereur Napolén Ier, dicté par lui-même pendant sa captivité. Suivi de son éloge funèbre prononcé sur sa tombe par le maréchal Bertrand, Paris : Pick de l’Isère, 1862 (in French)
[Literary fraud, first edition dated 1817 and published in French London under the title “Manuscrit venu de Sainte-Hélène de manière inconnue” by an unknown author but whom the published, Murray, implies was Napoleon. The title of the English translation (issued simultaneously by the same publisher) was “Manuscript transmitted from St Helena by an unknown channel”. Almost at the same time, many manuscript copies of the ‘manuscript’ were circulating clandestinely in France. The Emperor always denied that he was the author. Current scholarship advances Lullin de Chateauvieux, a figure close to Mme de Staël, as the mostly likely candidate.]
Have a look at the results of the International appeal.
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Commentary
Commentaries in English
Napoleon and St Helena, 1815-1816
(article by Morriss Roger, lecturer in maritime history at the centre for maritime history, University of Exeter, UK 1997)Why St Helena?
(article by Jacques-Olivier Boudon)Saint Helena – Prison island
(article by Susan O’bey, headmistress of the Prince Andrew school on St Helena)The attempt to rescue Napoleon with a submarine: fact or fiction?
(article by Emilio Ocampo)General Baron Gaspard Gourgaud: A Survivor of St Helena (by Peter Friedman)
Emmanuel Augustin Dieudonné [Las Cases]: the real victor of St. Helena
(by Peter Friedman)Who was Barry Edward O’Meara?
(article by Peter Hicks)Has Cipriani’s tomb really disappeared?
(article by Thierry Lentz)Who wrote ‘Letters from the Cape’?
(article by Peter Hicks)Longwood and the Domaines Français
Napoleonic pages: Les origines de la légende napoléonienne: l’oeuvre historique de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène (English title: The exile of St Helena: the last phase in fact and fiction) by Philippe Gonnard (Paris, 1906)
(Article by LHEUREUX-PRÉVOT Chantal, trans. P.H.)An exposition of some of the transactions that have taken place at St-Helena, since the appointment of Sir Hudson Lowe as governor of that island; in answer to an anonymous pamphlet entitled “Facts illustrative of the treatment of Napoleon Bonaparte”, & corroborated by various official documents, correspondence”: a reader’s note
(Article by LHEUREUX-PRÉVOT Chantal)Commentaries in French
L’actuelle situation de Sainte-Hélène, by Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, honorary Consul of France and Curator of the “Domaines français de Sainte-Hélène”.
Pourquoi Sainte-Hélène? by Jacques-Olivier Boudon
L’embarquement de Napoléon pour Sainte-Hélène, by Paul Ganière (Revue du Souvenir Napoléonien, n° 362, October 1988, p. 8-20)
Les Domaines français de Sainte-Hélène : L’achat de la maison de Longwood et du domaine de la Tombe, by Thierry Lentz (Revue du Souvenir Napoléonien, n° 48/2, January-March 2010, p.10-17)
A propos des maladies de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène : les pathologies digestives, by Dr Jacques di Costanzo
Le corps médical britannique à Sainte-Hélène (1815-1821), by A. Benhamou
Les masques mortuaires de l’Empereur, by Michel Dancoisne-Martineau
Have a look at the results of the International appeal.
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Bibliography
BOOKS IN ENGLISH
MRS ABELL (BETSY BALCOMBE), TO BEFRIEND AN EMPEROR: BETSY BALCOMBE’S MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON ON ST HELENA
HOLGATE, MIKE, NAPOLEON’S GRAND BRITISH HOLIDAY: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF BONAPARTE AND HIS DAYS ON THE SOUTH DEVON COAST
BROOKES, MABEL, NAPOLEON ON ST HELENA
BENHAMOU, ALBERT, INSIDE LONGWOOD – BARRY O’MEARA’S CLANDESTINE LETTERSUNWIN BRIAN, TERRIBLE EXILE: THE LAST DAYS OF NAPOLEON ON ST HELENA
OCAMPO, EMILIO, THE EMPEROR’S LAST CAMPAIGN: A NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE IN AMERICA
BRUNYEE, PAUL F., NAPOLEON’S BRITONS AND THE ST. HELENA DECISION
MARKHAM, J. DAVID, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA: NAPOLEON AFTER WATERLOO
HINDMARSH, J. THOMAS, CORSO PHILIP F. , THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON: THE LAST CAMPAIGN
MARKHAM, J. DAVID, NAPOLEON AND DOCTOR VERLING ON ST HELENA
CORDINGLY, DAVID, THE BILLY RUFFIAN. THE BELLEROPHON AND THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON. THE BIOGRAPHY OF A SHIP OF THE LINE, 1782-1836CHAPLIN, THOMAS HANCOCK ARNOLD, NAPOLEON’S CAPTIVITY ON ST HELENA, 1815-1821 [REPRINT OF ‘A ST. HELENA WHO’S WHO’]
O’CONNOR, HUBERT, THE EMPEROR AND THE IRISHMAN: NAPOLEON AND DR BARRY O’MEARA ON ST HELENA
BOOKS IN FRENCH
MICHEL DANCOISNE-MARTINEAU, CHRONIQUES DE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE, ATLANTIQUE SUD, PERRIN, 2011, 360 P.
THIERRY LENTZ (ED.), BERNARD CHEVALLIER (ED.), MICHEL DANCOISNE-MARTINEAU (ED.), SAINTE-HÉLÈNE, ÎLE DE MÉMOIRE, FAYARD, 2005, 400 P.
JACQUES MACÉ, DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE DE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE, TALLANDIER, 2004, 450 P.
GILBERT MARTINEAU, LA VIE QUOTIDIENNE À SAINTE-HÉLÈNE AU TEMPS DE NAPOLÉON,
TALLANDIER, REEDITION. 2005, 340 P.THIERRY LENTZ, JACQUES MACÉ, LA MORT DE NAPOLÉON. MYTHES, LÉGENDES ET MYSTÈRES,
PERRIN, 2009, 300 P.ALBERT BENHAMOU, L’AUTRE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE. LA CAPTIVITÉ, LA MALADIE, LA MORT ET LES MÉDECINS AUTOUR DE NAPOLÉON, LONDON : ALBERT BENHAMOU PUBLISHING, 2010, 415 P.
CHARLES-ÉLOI VIAL, LE DERNIER VOYAGE DE L’EMPEREUR. PARIS-ÎLE D’AIX 1815
PARIS, ÉDITIONS VENDEMIAIRE, 2015, 352 p.Général Gourgaud – Journal intégral 1815-1818. [Gourgaud’s unabridged St-Helena Journal]
The original manuscript of “Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène” by Emmanuel de Las Cases Paris, Perrin
BOOKS IN ITALIAN
CAVANNA, ALBERTO, L’ULTIMO VIAGGIO DELL’IMPERATORE NAPOLEONE TRA WATERLOO E SANT’ELENA
DATI, ALBERTO, (ED.), GLI ULTIMI VIAGGI DI NAPOLEONE
OCAMPO, EMILIO, LA ÚLTIMA CAMPAÑA DEL EMPERADOR. NAPOLEÓN Y LA INDEPENDENCIA DE AMÉRICA (THE EMPEROR’S LAST CAMPAIGN. NAPOLEON AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA)
For the ultimate bibliography of works about St Helena see Chantal Prévot’s two-part Bibliography (in French):
Napoleon in Exile on Saint Helena. First Part: The Time of Exile
Napoleon in Exile in Saint Helena: Second Part: the Time for Writing
Have a look at the results of the International appeal.
Longwood House and Napoleon’s Journey to St Helena
