Page from burial register 1820-1831, St Helena, parish of St James, with the record of the Emperor’s inhumation

Page 6: “[May] 9.Napoleon Buonaparte, late Emperor of France, he died on the 5th Instant at the old House at Longwood, and was interred on Mr Richard Torbett’s Estate.”

In filling in the register thus, the priest Vernon’s use of the title “Emperor of France” was totally contrary to the instructions given by Governor Hudson Lowe, who demanded that on the island, the prisoner should be referred to only as “the General Bonaparte”.