Our May meeting brought contrasting views of two near contemporaries: Admirals Villeneuve and Barham.
Paul Chamberlain spoke on Villeneuve: The Inconvenient Admiral. The Napoleonic wars saw some 200,000 French and Spanish prisoners of war taken, few of whom were exchanged. Trafalgar gave Britain a haul of senior French naval officers, including Villeneuve, commander of the Franco-Spanish fleet, who the Admiralty attempted to use to kick-start the exchange process. Unfortunately, it soon became evident that the Ministry of Marine in Paris did not want him back. Officers such as Magendie, Lucas and Infernet were eventually exchanged but not Villeneuve.
Paul explained the mutually agreed exchange rate for prisoner exchanges – the currency being the number of ordinary seamen each rank equated to. Having described Villeneuve’s character – personable, intelligent, professional but lacking confidence and dynamism – his and Bonaparte’s mutual loathing was entirely understandable. The French ministry was in no hurry to use up its valuable stock of senior British officers to buy his release. In 1806 he took an extensive tranche of documents with him to France on four months parole. On 22 April he died at the Hotel de la Patrie in Rennes, in a case of presumed suicide.
Paul demolished the myths that whilst on parole in England Villeneuve was allowed to attend Nelson’s funeral, later being released in exchange for four British post-captains. He argued that Villeneuve actually stayed in the Crown Inn at Gosport, not Bishops Waltham as generally presumed. Nonetheless his status and personality gave him access to a wide social circle among the prominent people of England.
We were left with a picture of a talented, honourable man fundamentally unsuited for his role.
Paul has published two books on the prisoners of war in the Napoleonic age: Hell Upon Water: Prisoners of War in Britain 1793-1815 (The History Press, 2008) and The Napoleonic Prison of Norman Cross: The Lost Town of Huntingdonshire (The History Press, 2018).
The impact of Admiral Lord Barham
Our second talk, by contrast, described a near-contemporary who was thoroughly unlikeable but a perfect fit for his time and challenge. Born Charles Middleton, he brimmed with conviction, self-confidence and intellect – and had the self-assured man’s disdain for those he considered his inferiors. Almost everyone.
After an encounter with the Reverend George Whitefield he became a convinced revivalist alongside his friend the equally talented Richard Kempenfelt. The two served alongside each other in a profitable commission to the West Indies where Middleton also met the naval doctor, James Ramsay.
Without dwelling on his later career, as Comptroller of the Navy he initiated an emergency shipbuilding and repair programme to mitigate American, French and Spanish superiority during the American War of Independence. The introduction of carronades and improvement of copper sheathing gave British warships a qualitative edge over their opponents.
Promoted to First Lord in 1805 at the age of 79 he masterminded the strategy that led to Calder’s defeat of Villeneuve at Finisterre and Nelson’s at Trafalgar. He drove through the 1806 edition of Regulations and Instructions for His Majesty’s Service at Sea which insisted on captains being responsible for all punishments, officers setting an example of good behaviour, and chaplains being appointed to ships.
Returning to Ramsay, who became a fervent abolitionist, Middleton (by now Lord Barham) did not forget him. Ramsay had left the navy after sustaining an injury and taken holy orders, so Barham gave him the living of his local church. There he was introduced to a young MP, William Wilberforce, and anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson. I’m sure we will hear more of this story at our November meeting.
Richard has published Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775–1815 (Boydell & Brewer, 2017) and Religion in the British Navy, 1815–1879: Piety and Professionalism (Woodbridge, 2014).
So Villeneuve and Barham came as a fortuitous pairing – one who lost a war and the other who, arguably, preserved his nation.
Please see our events page for future attractions.