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French and American Prisoners of War at Dartmoor Prison, 1805-1816

The Strangest Experiment

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Neil Davie

    1. Lyon Lumière University, Lyon, France

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  • Explores the social dynamics of life - and death - at Dartmoor War Prison

  • Draws on official records and a wealth of prisoners’ letters, diaries and memoirs

  • Examines the fate of more than 20,000 French and American prisoners

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
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  2. Introduction: Dartmoor—The Lost Prison?

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 1-15

  3. Prisons and Prisoners of War: Shifting Definitions, 1780–1815

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 17-50

  4. The Prison on the Moor: Conception and Design

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 51-96

  5. A “Fair Matter for Public Discussion and Enquiry?”

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 97-136

  6. Hierarchy, Solidarity and Conflict: Dartmoor’s Hybrid Regime

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 137-182

  7. The Porous Prison: Commerce, Culture and Escape

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 183-234

  8. “Blood Shed & Cloudy Weather, Wind Easterly”: The Dartmoor Massacre (1815)

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 235-295

  9. Conclusion

    • Neil Davie
    Pages 297-310

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 311-337
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores the history of Dartmoor War Prison (1805-16). This is not the well-known Victorian convict prison, but a less familiar penal institution, conceived and built nearly half a century earlier in the midst of the long-running wars against France, and destined, not for criminals, but for French and later American prisoners of war. During a period of six and a half years, more than 20,000 captives passed through its gates. Drawing on contemporary official records from Britain, France and the USA, and a wealth of prisoners’ letters, diaries and memoirs (many of them studied here in detail for the first time), this book examines how Dartmoor War Prison was conceived and designed; how it was administered both from London and on the ground; how the fate of its prisoners intertwined with the military and diplomatic history of the period; and finally how those prisoners interacted with each other, with their captors, and with the wider community. The history of the prison on the moor is one marked by high hopes and noble intentions, but also of neglect, hardship, disease and death

Reviews

‘For decades after the War of 1812, the Dartmoor Massacre – when British guards fired upon rioting American prisoners of war – caste a dark shadow over Anglo-American relations.  This book not only retells the story of that incident, but also places it in a larger context of carceral history in terms of prison design and in terms of the lived experience of both the French and the Americans held in Dartmoor Prison in the early nineteenth century.’

—Paul A. Gilje, University of Oklahoma, USA

 ‘The Napoleonic Wars brought unprecedented numbers of prisoners-of-war to Britain and posed huge problems for the authorities. In this pioneering study Neil Davie looks at one of the more radical solutions, the construction on Dartmoor of a war prison that would house 5000 men, many in cramped and insanitary conditions. The prison achieved notoriety in 1815 when rioting American prisoners were mown down, and nine killed, in what became known as the ‘Dartmoor Massacre’. But violence was never far away, and this book offers keen insights into the social dynamics of life within the prison walls.’

—Alan Forrest, University of York, UK

 ‘As Davie demonstrates in this painstakingly researched book, Dartmoor is a fascinating observatory for any historian interested in carceral spaces, the organisation of prison societies, and prison governmentality.’

—Renaud Morieux, University of Cambridge, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lyon Lumière University, Lyon, France

    Neil Davie

About the author

Neil Davie is Professor of British History at Université Lumière, Lyon, France.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: French and American Prisoners of War at Dartmoor Prison, 1805-1816

  • Book Subtitle: The Strangest Experiment

  • Authors: Neil Davie

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83891-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83890-4Published: 12 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83893-5Published: 13 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-83891-1Published: 11 November 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 337

  • Number of Illustrations: 11 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, History of France, US History, History of Military, Prison and Punishment

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