The Premier Consul, the Middy and the Pot de Chambre

As joyful_molly seems to have developed a bit of a thing about chanteys or jerrys pots de chambre as she so delicately calls them, I though she might appreciate this little tale, particularly in light of her recent post featuring a rather fetching portrait bust of Napoleon inside a fine English chantey.

In 1803 18 year old William Boys, masters mate of the frigate HMS Phoebe, was captured in a prize off Toulon along with two fellow midshipmen Murray and Whitehurst. The three were force marched almost the entire length of France from Toulon on the Mediterranean to the officers prison depot of Verdun in Lorraine.

At one stage during this march Boys and his companions were lodged at an inn where

...observing on the mantle various little images in plaster of Paris, in the midst of which was the bust of the adored Buonaparte, and no one being near, I could not resist the temptation of placing it head downwards, in a vessel which was no ornament to a mantle piece, nor usually found there; the arrangement of the images I also altered, so as to make them appear ridiculing this misfortune of the "premier consul."

The prisoners continued on their march, stopping at inns along the way until they reached the town of Chateauroux where they were thrown into the common gaol. The high minded midshipmen complained bitterly to the gens d’armes that this harsh treatment contravened the orders of the General of Auch to whom they had given their parole.

In vain we remonstrated and assured them they would be punished for disobeying the order which had been shown to us by the late guard, from the general at Auch, relative to our treatment.
They became excessively enraged, and, at length, one said, "You are in prison by a counter order lately received from Auch, for having put Buonaparte's head into a 'pot-de-chambre.'” A silent gaze of astonishment, was followed by sudden gusts of laughter, which so thundered through the prison, as to drown the voice of the incensed orator; and nothing could be heard but "Buonaparte" and "Diable" the louder he spoke, the more boisterous was our mirth, until, frantic with rage, he drew his sword, rushed forward, and thrust it through the grated hole in the door, stamped, and swore in such a foaming passion, that when the storm of derision was over, he could scarcely articulate :—

"Each passion dimm'd his face, Thrice changed with pale ire, envy, and despair."

It was sometime before we ceased laughing at this truly ridiculous event, for we had forgotten the boyish frolic alluded to, and had not the least idea that it could be thought of sufficient importance to cause an official report, and an order by a "courier de la republique," that we should be cast into prison.

Boys and Whitehurst went on to spend six years as prisoners of war before escaping from Valenciennes. The fugitives endured a bitter winter in Flanders and finally made it back to England with the help of a formidable woman named Madam Deriekre and the assistance of a network of Flemish smugglers and Anglophiles. Boys wrote an account of his adventures for his family on his return but he refused to publish it until 1827 for fear of incriminating those that had assisted his escape. Parts of his narrative appeared in the press at a much earlier date however. Molly’s Napoleonic pot de chambre predates Boys’ spirited account of his adventures but I like to think he would have approved of it highly!

Boys, E., (1827), Narrative of a captivity, escape, and adventures in France and Flanders: between the years 1803 and 1809, Richard Long, London.