To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe’s Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena

Author(s) : ABELL (BETSY BALCOMBE) Mrs
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To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe’s Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena

This excellent little book brings to modern readers the charming (but out-of-print) account of the time that Betsy Balcombe (aged 14), daughter of the William Balcombe, purveyor of supplies to the island of St Helena during the Emperor's exile, spent with Napoleon. On arriving on the island of St Helena on 15 October, 1815, Napoleon found that the refurbishment of his intended place of confinement, Longwood House, was not complete, and so rather than reside in the 'goldfish bowl' of Jamestown, Napoleon preferred to stay out of town at 'The Briars', the residence of the Balcombes – despite the fact that accommodation for him and his retinue was 'tight', to say the least. Besty recounts her initial fear and later great love for the fallen emperor – Napoleon stayed with the Balcombes almost two months, and Betsy visited the emperor at Longwood frequently until she and her family left the island in March 1818. Some of the 'snapshots' of the emperor are remarkably vivid – Napoleon teasing Besty about a ghost haunting the house, Napoleon running off with Betsy's ballgown, Napoleon quizzing the young girl on the burning of Moscow and the fact that people said that Napoleon had done it, Napoleon's pronunciation of English – 'leetle monkee' he frequently calls her – and Napoleon's inability to sing! Whilst the commentary by J. David Markham is succinct and useful, it does not however replace the more detailed commentary by Aimé Le Gras, published in 1898. Particularly interesting is Le Gras's critique of the texte, showing where Mrs Abell filled out her shorter account with texts taken from O'Meara and Las Cases. He also recounts the history of the publication – how the original manuscript was lost in Australia, how the work was serialised in The New Century Magazine in 1843, the year before being published in 1844 by John Murray under the title, Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon during the first three Years of his Captivity on the Island of St Helena – indcluding the times of his residence at her father's house , “The Briars”.
 
David Markham is the author of Imperial Glory and Napoleon's Road to Glory.

Year of publication :
2005
Place and publisher :
Welwyn Garden City: Ravenhall Books
Number of pages :
189
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