Sir Christopher Wren represented the town, and it may be safely asserted
that he had no hand in designing the present elevation, because, quaint
and picturesque though it is, his style is nowhere stamped on it. It is,
however, said (with what truth I cannot say) that he was the architect
of Plympton House, a large and substantial mansion, with a façade of
Portland stone, erected in the reign of Queen Anne for Mr. Commissioner
Ourry, of Plymouth Dockyard. It is a plain but costly building, in the
then newly-adopted style, with a certain French character about it. The
large and broad barred sash windows, with their weights and pulleys,
which were novelties at that time, must have greatly puzzled Snug, the
joiner of Plympton, who had been accustomed all his days to the old
English casements.
The Guildhall has more of the mediæval character about it, with its
pillars and arches and covered way, like the Chester Rows, and probably
it was intended to have some resemblance to the Guildhall in the county
town—a humble but by no means unsuccessful imitation. Thus we follow
suit in buildings as in everything else, though the architecture of our
towns would, no doubt, be more entertaining if we oftener aimed at
originality, and played a card of our own occasionally.[10]
-----
Footnote 10:
Over the Guildhall are the arms, carved in stone, of Sir Thomas
Trevor, Knight, and Sir George Treby, Knight. Members of the Treby
family were often connected with the corporation of the borough. In
1755 the parishioners at a vestry then held passed a resolution
concerning the ringing of the church bells, “George Treby, Esq., and
the other gentlemen belonging to the corporation,” being respectfully
included in the said resolution.
“Agreed on Easter Monday, March the 31st day, 1755, by us whose names
are hereunto subscribed, being the Parishioners then present at the
Vestry then held. That only five persons shall, and are by the
authority of the said Vestry allowed to ring the Bells of this Parish
for the future, and that they shall ring only on such public days as
the Parishioners shall from time to time agree to and approve of, and
that the said five persons that shall undertake to Ring shall be
obliged likewise to chime the Bells on every Sunday in the forenoon
and the afternoon, at the proper season for Divine Service, and that
they shall be obliged to give their due and regular attendance, both
in the fore and afternoon of every Sunday upon the Service of the
church, and that they be at Liberty to ring for George Treby, Esq.,
and the other Gentlemen belonging to the Corporation, as often as the
said Gentlemen shall signify it to be their pleasure to have the Bells
rung, and that the said Ringers are never to ring after _Eight_ of the
clock in the Evening, or before Seven in the morning.”
“The Ringers are never to ring after Eight.” Thus are old customs and
traditions handed down from age to age.
“The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day.”
-----
Speaking of cards reminds me that in the same street with the Guildhall
are some curious old slated fronts, in which the slates have been cut in
the shape of clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. Under these fronts we
have also the covered way.
We now come to a building a little to the south-east of the church,
around which so many treasured associations cluster, that we hardly know
whether we have yet said adieu to the sacred edifices of Plympton. The
old Grammar School is the most venerable and interesting school of art
in all England. Here the greatest English painter—a man for “all
time”—learnt the first principles of drawing. The house in which he was
born overlooks his schoolroom and his playground. Here, too, Northcote,
his clever and eccentric pupil, acquired his, perhaps not very classic,
education. This, also, was the first school of the late distinguished
President of the Royal Academy, Sir Charles Eastlake, and the _Alma
Mater_ of poor Benjamin Haydon. A mournful interest, indeed, attaches to
the building as connected with the last-mentioned name. The year before
he died Haydon visited the old Grammar School, and wrote his name in
pencil on the wall, where you may still see it:—
B. R. Haydon,
Historical Painter, London,
Educated here 1801.
Rev. W. Haines (Master).
Head Boy then.
This was only a few months before a dark and impenetrable cloud shrouded
the clear intellect of this gifted man, and his life—so useful, but so
ill-requited—closed in saddest gloom.
The key-stone of the doorway under the cloister gives the date of the
building as 1664. Strange to say, it is a Gothic structure of the most
picturesque design and arrangement. At the time it was built,
architecture had been given over almost entirely to the Renaissance and
Italian schools. It is singular, therefore, to find here at Plympton an
unconventional style adopted at such a time, but it has been suggested
that the same eccentric architect who designed the fine Gothic church of
Charles in Plymouth in the middle of the seventeenth century built also
the Grammar School in the neighbouring town, and the points of
resemblance are certainly very great. We have the same evidence of the
desire to do something good and true in both—the same good outline and
arrangement of parts, and the same superadded faults in little details,
as though the designer himself knew what he was about, but could not
bring his workmen up to the mark. No wonder little Reynolds saw
something to admire in the outline and shadows of the cloisters, for
nothing can be better than the proportions of the pillars and arches,
and the banding of the masonry over in alternate courses about six
inches high, of granite and dark limestone. In fact, the lower portion
of the building is the most pleasing piece of masonry in this
neighbourhood; and though the large square-headed windows over are not
so good, yet the angle of the roof is excellent, and the large
Perpendicular windows at the ends not without merit. The schoolroom is
about sixty-three feet long by twenty-six feet in width, the master’s
desk at one end, and on each side of the window (over) a rudely-painted
shield, with the armorial bearings of Hele and Maynard. Overhanging the
entrance on one side is a small gallery, approached from a chamber
probably once used as a class or flogging room, but now too dilapidated
for either practical purpose, and much in keeping with the rest of the
building, which is rather out at elbows. In fact—what with the Castle,
Priory, and Grammar School—the description which the American gave of
Rome will apply to Plympton—“_Quite_ a nice place, but the public
buildings very much out of repair.” The Master’s house adjoins the
school-room, and here the great painter was born. The front appears to
be comparatively modern, but the bedroom in which he is said to have
first seen the light is in the back and older part of the house, with a
window overlooking the school and playground, as before mentioned. Some
rough sketches, drawn by Reynolds in his youth, were to be seen on the
walls of this room when Haydon and Wilkie visited the house in 1809, but
have since been obliterated by some barbarous whitewasher. The engraving
represents the cloisters of the Grammar School, the subject of almost
the first drawing Reynolds ever made.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was born on the 16th July, 1723, and was baptized on
the 30th of the same month, when, by mistake, his name was entered in
the register as Joseph.
It is unnecessary here to give anything like a sketch of the great
painter’s career, but one or two incidents connected with the place of
his birth (to which throughout his life he was strongly attached) may be
mentioned. He regarded with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure his
visit to Devonshire with Dr. Johnson in 1762. It was on this occasion
that Northcote first saw his great master. It seems that Sir Joshua went
to Plymouth Dock, in company with the Doctor, on a certain day when
there was a great commotion in reference to some local matter, probably
the water question. “I remember,” says Northcote, “when he was pointed
out to me at a public meeting, where a great crowd was assembled, I got
as near to him as I could from the pressure of the people, to touch the
skirt of his coat, which I did with great satisfaction to my mind.”
In 1772, Sir Joshua was elected to the Aldermanic gown of Plympton, Lord
Mount Edgcumbe acquainting him by letter of the circumstance. The letter
in which he acknowledges the honour, with most hearty thanks, is in the
Cottonian Museum at Plymouth. In the following year he was chosen Mayor
of the borough, and he declared that this circumstance gave him more
gratification than any other honour which he had received during his
life; and this sentiment he expressed when it was rather out of place,
as the following circumstance related by Northcote will shew. Reynolds
had built for his recreation on Richmond Hill a villa, of which Sir
William Chambers was architect, and in the summer season it was the
frequent custom of Sir Joshua to dine at this place with select parties
of his friends. “It happened some little time before he was to be
elected Mayor of Plympton that, one day, after dining at the house,
himself and his party took an evening walk in Richmond Gardens, when,
very unexpectedly, at a turning of one of the avenues, they suddenly met
the King, accompanied by a part of the Royal Family; and when, as his
Majesty saw him, it was impossible for him to withdraw without being
noticed. The King called to him, and immediately entered into
conversation, and told him that he had been informed of the office that
he was soon to be invested with—that of being made the Mayor of his
native town of Plympton. Sir Joshua was astonished that so minute and
inconsiderable a circumstance, which was of importance only to himself,
should have come so quickly to the knowledge of the King; but he assured
his Majesty of its truth, saying it was an honour which gave him more
pleasure than any other he had ever received in his life; and then,
luckily recollecting himself, added, ‘except that which your Majesty was
graciously pleased to bestow upon me,’ alluding to his knighthood.”
On the occasion of his being elected Mayor, he presented to his
much-loved native town his own portrait, painted, as it seems, expressly
to commemorate the occasion. It was placed in the Corporation
dining-room, but sold by the Common Council for £150 when the town was
disfranchised! That _this_ was “the hour and power of darkness” there
cannot be a doubt.
Sir Joshua Reynolds died on the 23rd February, 1792, and was interred in
the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral with every honour that could be shewn
to worth and genius. His tomb, adorned by one of Flaxman’s best works,
is almost close to that of Sir Christopher Wren—England’s greatest
painter, we may almost say without any qualification, and England’s
greatest architect—each, during some portion of life connected with this
honoured little town of Plympton, though by different ties and at
different periods of its history; both resting from their labours in the
great temple which Wren built, and which Reynolds sought to adorn with
his matchless pencil.
The great honour which belongs to Plympton deserves to be held in
lasting remembrance, not merely by every inhabitant of that town, but by
all who have any appreciation of art or desire for its advancement.
JAMES HINE.
[Illustration: leaf]
NOTE.—The authorities for the historical facts in this paper are Dr.
Oliver, Rev. S. Rowe, and Mr. Cotton.
[Illustration
_From a Drawing by S. Prout, Jun._] [_Engraved by Neele._
THE “WAR PRISON” ON DARTMOOR, 1807.
]
FRENCH PRISONERS ON DARTMOOR.
BY J. D. PRICKMAN.
In the early part of the nineteenth century Mr. Thomas, afterwards Sir
Thomas Tyrwhitt, who held the office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries
under the then Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., originated the
idea of building a prison on Dartmoor for the numerous prisoners of war
then in Great Britain, who were at that time mostly confined in hulks
and military and naval prisons. The Government of that day took up the
idea, and, adopting the plans of Mr. Daniel Alexander, proceeded to
carry them out, the first stone of the prison being laid by Sir Thomas
Tyrwhitt on the 20th March, 1806.
The site of the prison—about seven miles east of Tavistock and about
fifteen (straight across the moor) south of Okehampton—was granted by
the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall and Lord of the Forest of
Dartmoor.
The building as then built is described in the Notes to Risdon’s
_Devonshire,_ published in 1811, as follows:—
The outer wall encloses a circle of about 30 acres—within this is
another wall which encloses the area in which the Prison stands—this
area is a smaller circle with a segment cut off. The prisons are 5
large rectangular buildings each capable of containing more than 1,500
men; they have each two floors, where is arranged a double tier of
Hammocks slung on cast-iron pillars, and a third floor in the roof,
which is used as a promenade in wet weather. There are besides two
other spacious buildings, one of which is a large hospital, and the
other is appropriated to the Petty Officers. The entrance is on the
western side, the gateway, built of solid blocks of granite, bearing
the inscription, “Parcere subjectis.”
The total cost of the work was nearly £130,000, and it was completed
somewhere about the year 1809, and the collection of houses gradually
formed what is now known as Princetown.
The first set of prisoners was sent there on the 29th May, 1809, and the
buildings continued to be used as a war prison from then until the 22nd
April, 1814, during which time no less than 12,679 prisoners underwent
confinement there. During the years 1809, 1810 and 1811, deaths at the
prison were very numerous from one cause and another, so much so, that a
Return was asked for in the House of Commons, by which it appears that
from May, 1809, to June, 1811, no less than 622 prisoners died.
The following is a copy of such Returns:—
1809. No. in Prison. Deaths.
May 2,479 —
June 2,471 9
July 3,059 9
August 4,052 3
September 6,031 15
October 5,993 21
November 5,940 29
December 5,875 63
—-
149
===
1810. No. in Prison. Deaths.
January 5,741 131
February 5,624 87
March 5,399 63
April 5,352 28
May 5,282 25
June 5,261 17
July 5,247 12
August 5,229 16
September 5,209 11
October 5,399 9
November 5,372 12
December 5,247 8
—-
419
===
1811. No. in Prison. Deaths.
January 5,728 14
February 5,019 7
March 5,605 11
April 5,594 10
May 6,084 5
June 6,577 7
—-
54
===
In the year 1812 no less than 6,280 prisoners of war were confined in
the buildings. The total number of deaths during the whole time the
buildings were used as a war prison was 1,117; of these 1,095 were
French, and 22 American, prisoners.
Of the life of the prisoners inside the prison little is known. We know
that Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt procured the privilege of holding a market and
a fair at Princetown, and that daily markets were held within the
precincts of the prison for the sale by the country people of
vegetables, etc., to the prisoners. There are rumours that the prisoners
gambled away their clothing and rations; but their life as prisoners on
Dartmoor must have been infinitely preferable to that endured by those
who were previous thereto confined in hulks and transports; but the
details of the life are wanting, and even the pamphlet written by Capt.
Vernon Harris, for many years Governor of Dartmoor Prison after it was
re-opened, gives no great information on the subject. Many writers of
fiction have founded romances on the prison and the prisoners, but for
the most part on imagination. Probably the best of the kind, and most
accurate in detail, is _The Queen of the Moor_, by the Rev. Frederick
Adye, who was for many years resident in the district, and therefore
well acquainted with the surrounding country and the rumours of the
neighbourhood. Monsieur Jules Poulain, a Frenchman who is said to have
lived at Princetown to be near a friend who was confined there, has
written in the French language an interesting book entitled _Dartmoor,
or the Two Sisters_. He, in describing Dartmoor, says:—“Think of the
ocean waves changed into granite during a tempestuous storm, and you
will then form an idea of what Dartmoor is like,” which indeed gives
rather a vivid picture of the rolling hills and valleys.
Many of the prisoners of war were allowed out on parole. From Capt.
Vernon Harris’ interesting pamphlet we learn the form of parole was as
follows:—
Whereas the Commissioners for conducting His Majesty’s Transport
service and for the care and custody of French officers and sailors
detained in England have been pleased to grant A. B. leave to reside
in .... upon condition that he gives his parole of honour not to
withdraw one mile from the boundaries prescribed there without leave
for that purpose from the said Commissioners, that he will behave
himself decently and with due regard to the laws of the Kingdom, and
also that he will not directly or indirectly hold any correspondence
with France during his continuance in England, but by such letter or
letters as shall be shewn to the Agent of the said Commissioners under
whose care he is or may be in order to their being read and approved
by the superiors. He does hereby declare that he having given his
parole of honour will keep it inviolably.
(Signature)
The following towns in Devon and Cornwall were set aside for prisoners
on parole:—Ashburton, Okehampton, Moretonhampstead, Tavistock, Bodmin,
Launceston, Callington, Roscoe and Regilliack, but probably prisoners
were from time to time billetted in other towns such as Tiverton
(mentioned later) and elsewhere.
The following notice was sent and posted as notice to the inhabitants of
the town selected for residence of the prisoners allowed out on parole:—
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN,
That all such prisoners are permitted to walk or ride on the Great
Turnpike Road within the distance of one mile from the extreme parts
of the Town (not beyond the bounds of the Parish) and that if they
shall exceed such limits or go into any field or cross road they may
be taken up and sent to prison and a reward of 10s. will be paid by
the Agent for apprehending them. And further that such prisoners are
to be in their lodgings by 5 o’clock in the winter and 8 o’clock in
the summer months and if they stay out later they are liable to be
taken up and sent to the Agent for such misconduct. And to prevent the
prisoners from behaving in an improper manner to the inhabitants of
the town or creating any riots or disturbances either with them or
among themselves notice is also given that the Commissioners will
cause upon information being given to their agent any prisoner who
shall so misbehave to be committed to prison. And such of the
inhabitants who shall insult or abuse any of the prisoners of war on
parole or shall be found in any respect aiding or assisting in the
escape of such prisoners will be prosecuted according to law.
In reference to Tavistock, the Prison Commissioners reported that there
were 150 prisoners there allowed out on parole, and that their conduct
was exemplary. The Report further stated—
Some of them have made overtures of marriage to women in the
neighbourhood which the magistrates have very properly taken pains to
discourage.
When allowed out on parole the prisoner was assigned to some place of
residence, after which he received a fixed sum for his maintenance, and
was permitted to engage in any kind of business or occupation, and to
use any additional funds he might possess. Many of the prisoners
occupied their time in teaching languages, and in carving various things
such as chessmen, etc.
There are instances of attempts by the prisoners on parole to escape. At
the Devon Summer Assize, 1812, Richard Tapper, described as of
Moretonhampstead, Carrier, Thomas Vinnacombe and William Vinnacombe (his
brother) of Cheriton Bishop, described in the indictments as Smugglers
(a curious and, one would have thought, a somewhat prejudiced
description of their occupation), were indicted and convicted of
misdemeanour for aiding and assisting, with divers other persons
unknown, Casimer Baudouin, an officer in the French Navy; Allain Michel
and Louis Hamel, Captains of Merchant Vessels; Pierre Joseph Dennis, a
Second Captain of a Privateer; and Andrew Fleuriot, a Midshipman of the
French Navy, to escape from Moretonhampstead. The French prisoners paid
£25 down, and subsequently £150 for the assistance rendered. They were
taken on horseback to Topsham, and placed in a large boat described as
eighteen feet long, but in going down the estuary of the Exe, however,
not far from Exmouth, the boat grounded on the Bar, and they were
apprehended. The story is somewhat graphically, though at considerable
length, told in the records of the proceedings.
The French prisoners formed no less than twenty-six Lodges and Chapters
of Freemasons in England and elsewhere. The only one in the
neighbourhood of Dartmoor was at Ashburton, and the only evidence of it
is an undated certificate granted to one Paul Carcenac, described as
Assistant Commissary, the Lodge being described as “Des Amis Reunis”
(the Re-united Friends). A copy of the certificate and many further
interesting details concerning this and other Lodges, notably those at
Abergavenny, “Enfants de Mars et de Neptune”; at Plymouth “Amis Reunis”;
at Tiverton, “Enfants de Mars” (see Bro. Sharland’s _Freemasonry in
Tiverton_, published in 1899), are given in a most interesting book by
Bro. John T. Thorp entitled _French Prisoners’ Lodges_, published in
1900, and printed at Leicester by Bro. George Gibbons, King Street.
There appear to be but few records of the prisoners at the various
towns, and only the vaguest reminiscences. In Okehampton it is said that
there were about 150 prisoners on parole. In the Churchyard is a
tombstone—a rough slate slab—on which appears the following:—
Cette Pierre Fut
Elevee Par
Lamitie a La Memoire
Darmand Bernard
ne au Harve
En Normande Marie a
Calais a Mad^{cle} Margot
11^e Officer
De Commerce Decedee
Prisoner de Guerre a
Okehampton le 26 October
1815 aged 33 ans
A Labri des vertus
Qui Distinguaient
La vie
Tu reposes en paix
ombre tendre et cherie
Another close by bears the following inscription:—
C^r Cit
Adelaide Barrin Du Puyleaune[11] De La
Commune De Montravers Dept
Des Deux Sevres Nee le 31 Avril
1771 Decedee a Okehampton le 18
Fevre 1811 Fille le Legitme Dal
F^{are} Barrion Notaire et Procav^{re}
De Machecoura ne de N^{re}
Ici repose la mere & l’enfant
-----
Footnote 11:
Entered in the Death Register of the parish as Ann Duchane.
-----
Many prisoners on parole died and were buried at Moretonhampstead, but
the grave-stones are not easily decipherable. The following entries of
burial appear in the Register:—
Jan. 24 1811 Jean Francois Rohan French Officer on Parole. June 11
1811 Arnaud Aubry Lieutenant on Parole. Buried in Wooling (Shroud)
according to act of Parliament.
Of the numerous French prisoners who died at Princetown no account
appears in the parish register, and to quote again from Capt. Vernon
Harris’ book:
Little attention appears to have been paid to the last resting-place
of these unfortunates. We read in the account published by R. Evans
that the burial place of the unfortunate captives has been sadly
neglected. Horses and cattle have broken up the soil and left the
bones of the dead to whiten in the sun.
This will be readily understood when it is remembered the prison
remained unoccupied from 1816 until about the year 1850. To Capt.
Stopforth, who was Governor of the prison in 1865, belongs the honour of
collecting the remains of the prisoners and burying them in two separate
enclosures on the northern side of the prison way from the public road,
and erecting monuments which are at present existing, being granite
columns; the one on the left or western side being the French, bears the
following inscription:—
In memory of the French
Prisoners of War who
died in Dartmoor Prison
between the years 1809
and 1814 and lie buried here
“Dulce et decorum
est pro patriâ mori.”
The other, being the American, bears the same inscription except that
the word “French” is altered to “American.”