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Recollections Of The Emperor Napoleon, During The First Three Years Of His Captivity On The Island Of St. Helena
“Young Elizabeth Balcombe, or Betsy to friends and family, found life on the remote island of St Helena intolerably dull. Most fourteen-year-olds would. Her father had been posted to that unforgiving station in the Atlantic and, being a family man, he took his family with him. Life was bleak in Balcombe’s bungalow on the fringe of James Town. But then, in October 1815, the situation was transformed by the arrival of an unusual visitor. Napoleon Bonaparte, one-time master of Europe, now prisoner and exile, stepped ashore. The Balcombes, like all the islanders, were amazed. And even more so when Napoleon, taking a fancy to their bungalow (the Briars) moved in with them. Betsy, overcoming her surprise at sharing her home with an emperor, delighted in his company and the two became firm friends. Miss Betsy Balcombe made the most of her time with the world’s most famous prisoner, keenly observing all around her, noting down conversations, recording moods. The result is a unique set of memoirs which records in astonishing detail an almost unbelievable story. That of how a precocious teenager and an emperor talked, argued, played, confided and teased their way through grim years of exile on the barren rock of St Helena.”-Print ed.
118 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 6, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 9, 2025
fascinating book!
July 27, 2024
#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Saint Helena
Saint Helena island has always been a place of fascination to me, due to its remoteness, and our family having ancestry from there, so I had to read Betsy Balcombe’s memoirs of her life on the island during Napoleon’s famous exile there.
For a little context, the rugged volcanic island is currently part of the British overseas territory known as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is one of the remotest islands in the world, being located in the South Atlantic Ocean around 1,950 km west of the coast of South Africa. Arriving there by plane has only been a fairly recent luxury, and prior to 2018 travelling to Saint Helena meant a 5 day voyage from Cape Town aboard the Royal Mail Ship which left for the island every three weeks.
The island was apparently uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese around 1502. It was briefly claimed by the Dutch in 1633, before becoming a British outpost in 1659, initially as a possession of the East India Company, then later as a crown colony. Saint Helena was a frequent stopover for passing ships. It was populated by British settlers, sailors and military personnel and also enslaved people brought initially from Africa to work the plantations, and later Madagascar, India and Malaysia. The importing of slaves was discontinued in 1792 but the process of emancipation of the existing enslaved took much longer, with most gradually being freed by 1836, often having purchased their freedom just to continue working for the same master for low wages, while trying to repay the debt of freedom.
Napoleon was brought to Saint Helena in 1815 by the British as an exile, following his surrender. He stayed with the Balcombe family for the first three months, at their home, The Briars, while his planned accommodation at Longwood House was being restored. William Balcombe was Superintendent of Public Sales for the East India Company and his youngest daughter, Elizabeth or Betsy, became firm friends with the Emperor during his stay, until the family returned to Britain in 1818. Balcombe later was appointed the first treasurer of the Colony of New South Wales, arriving there 1824. Betsy herself visited the colony with her family in 1824 but returned to England soon after. She and her brother William took up a land grant adjoining their father's property near Bungonia, New South Wales in 1830.
In her memoir Betsy recounts her impressions of the Emperor, beginning with an initial fear for this supposed monster, and then developing a respect and admiration for him, along with a playful relationship of jokes and pranks. Betsy was 13 years old when Napoleon arrived, and although her story gives some interesting insights into Napoleon, his philosophies, his daily life, and the difficulties and confinement he faced, it does have a rather saccharine, somewhat artificial feel to it. This may be due to the fact it was published when Betsy was in her forties, largely from her memories rather than any childhood diaries, and it has a distinctly nostalgic air. I was impressed that a renowned military leader would take the trouble to play games with the children of his host, but I fluctuated between viewing Betsy as a daring and high-spirited girl or alternatively a spoiled brat.
Betsy writes about the harshness of the island. “The appearance of St. Helena, on viewing it from the sea, is different from that of any land I ever saw, and is certainly but little calculated to make one fall in love with it at first sight. The rock, rising abruptly from the ocean, with its oblong shape and perpendicular sides, suggests to one’s mind more the idea of a huge dark-coloured ark lying at anchor, floating on the bosom of the Atlantic, than of a land intended for the habitation and support of living beings.” She also describes its lushness, “Every description of tropical fruit flourished here luxuriantly; various species of vine, citron, orange, fig, shadoc, guava, mango — all in endless profusion.”
Jamestown, Saint Helena (Saint Helena Island info)
She writes about the Emperor that, “The portraits of him, give a good general idea of his features; but his smile, and the expression of his eye, could not be transmitted to canvas, and these constituted Napoleon’s chief charm.”
Napoleon on Saint Helena (wikipedia)
“The emperor had that great charm in social life, of being amused and interested in matters of trifling import. It seems to me to be an attribute of his countrymen, from which, no doubt, they derive that vivacity and talent de societe generally possessed by them, but which, from our inherent reserve and national shyness, would sit awkwardly on us, English.”
I was also intrigued at Betsy recalling having asked him why he had changed his religion whilst in Egypt. “He laughed and said, “What is that to you? Fighting is a soldier’s religion; I never changed that. The other is the affair of women and priests; quant a moi, I always adopt the religion of the country I am in.”
There is an interesting anecdote about Toby, an enslaved Malay man, who Napoleon much admired, wishing to purchase him and grant Toby his freedom, but not being permitted to do so by island bureaucracy. Toby himself referred to Napoleon as “that good man, Bony” and held in high regard his kindness.
Betsy also recounts Napoleon’s declining health, his conflict with the Governor of Saint Helena, and his depression on learning his captivity on the island was to be an indefinite one. Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821, several years after Betsy and her family had left, a death that has always created speculation and controversy. An autopsy reported that his death was from stomach cancer, exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, after a huge dose of calomel (a mercury-containing medicine) was administered to him the day before he died. Later examination of a lock of his hair found traces of arsenic and excited rumours of poisoning, but given its widespread use by the French in face powders, hair treatments and even medicinally this would be impossible to prove.
Overall this was a short and reasonably engaging read which gives a very small snapshot of Napoleon’s time in exile. I would probably take Betsy’s memoirs with a large grain of salt, and ultimately if you are interested in either Napoleon or Saint Helena you would definitely need to supplement this memoir with some further research or reading.
Saint Helena island has always been a place of fascination to me, due to its remoteness, and our family having ancestry from there, so I had to read Betsy Balcombe’s memoirs of her life on the island during Napoleon’s famous exile there.
For a little context, the rugged volcanic island is currently part of the British overseas territory known as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is one of the remotest islands in the world, being located in the South Atlantic Ocean around 1,950 km west of the coast of South Africa. Arriving there by plane has only been a fairly recent luxury, and prior to 2018 travelling to Saint Helena meant a 5 day voyage from Cape Town aboard the Royal Mail Ship which left for the island every three weeks.
The island was apparently uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese around 1502. It was briefly claimed by the Dutch in 1633, before becoming a British outpost in 1659, initially as a possession of the East India Company, then later as a crown colony. Saint Helena was a frequent stopover for passing ships. It was populated by British settlers, sailors and military personnel and also enslaved people brought initially from Africa to work the plantations, and later Madagascar, India and Malaysia. The importing of slaves was discontinued in 1792 but the process of emancipation of the existing enslaved took much longer, with most gradually being freed by 1836, often having purchased their freedom just to continue working for the same master for low wages, while trying to repay the debt of freedom.
Napoleon was brought to Saint Helena in 1815 by the British as an exile, following his surrender. He stayed with the Balcombe family for the first three months, at their home, The Briars, while his planned accommodation at Longwood House was being restored. William Balcombe was Superintendent of Public Sales for the East India Company and his youngest daughter, Elizabeth or Betsy, became firm friends with the Emperor during his stay, until the family returned to Britain in 1818. Balcombe later was appointed the first treasurer of the Colony of New South Wales, arriving there 1824. Betsy herself visited the colony with her family in 1824 but returned to England soon after. She and her brother William took up a land grant adjoining their father's property near Bungonia, New South Wales in 1830.
In her memoir Betsy recounts her impressions of the Emperor, beginning with an initial fear for this supposed monster, and then developing a respect and admiration for him, along with a playful relationship of jokes and pranks. Betsy was 13 years old when Napoleon arrived, and although her story gives some interesting insights into Napoleon, his philosophies, his daily life, and the difficulties and confinement he faced, it does have a rather saccharine, somewhat artificial feel to it. This may be due to the fact it was published when Betsy was in her forties, largely from her memories rather than any childhood diaries, and it has a distinctly nostalgic air. I was impressed that a renowned military leader would take the trouble to play games with the children of his host, but I fluctuated between viewing Betsy as a daring and high-spirited girl or alternatively a spoiled brat.
Betsy writes about the harshness of the island. “The appearance of St. Helena, on viewing it from the sea, is different from that of any land I ever saw, and is certainly but little calculated to make one fall in love with it at first sight. The rock, rising abruptly from the ocean, with its oblong shape and perpendicular sides, suggests to one’s mind more the idea of a huge dark-coloured ark lying at anchor, floating on the bosom of the Atlantic, than of a land intended for the habitation and support of living beings.” She also describes its lushness, “Every description of tropical fruit flourished here luxuriantly; various species of vine, citron, orange, fig, shadoc, guava, mango — all in endless profusion.”
Jamestown, Saint Helena (Saint Helena Island info)
She writes about the Emperor that, “The portraits of him, give a good general idea of his features; but his smile, and the expression of his eye, could not be transmitted to canvas, and these constituted Napoleon’s chief charm.”
Napoleon on Saint Helena (wikipedia)
“The emperor had that great charm in social life, of being amused and interested in matters of trifling import. It seems to me to be an attribute of his countrymen, from which, no doubt, they derive that vivacity and talent de societe generally possessed by them, but which, from our inherent reserve and national shyness, would sit awkwardly on us, English.”
I was also intrigued at Betsy recalling having asked him why he had changed his religion whilst in Egypt. “He laughed and said, “What is that to you? Fighting is a soldier’s religion; I never changed that. The other is the affair of women and priests; quant a moi, I always adopt the religion of the country I am in.”
There is an interesting anecdote about Toby, an enslaved Malay man, who Napoleon much admired, wishing to purchase him and grant Toby his freedom, but not being permitted to do so by island bureaucracy. Toby himself referred to Napoleon as “that good man, Bony” and held in high regard his kindness.
Betsy also recounts Napoleon’s declining health, his conflict with the Governor of Saint Helena, and his depression on learning his captivity on the island was to be an indefinite one. Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821, several years after Betsy and her family had left, a death that has always created speculation and controversy. An autopsy reported that his death was from stomach cancer, exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, after a huge dose of calomel (a mercury-containing medicine) was administered to him the day before he died. Later examination of a lock of his hair found traces of arsenic and excited rumours of poisoning, but given its widespread use by the French in face powders, hair treatments and even medicinally this would be impossible to prove.
Overall this was a short and reasonably engaging read which gives a very small snapshot of Napoleon’s time in exile. I would probably take Betsy’s memoirs with a large grain of salt, and ultimately if you are interested in either Napoleon or Saint Helena you would definitely need to supplement this memoir with some further research or reading.
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April 12, 2020I've just reread "The Last Love," by Thomas Costain, and the source of his material, "Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon..." I've never thought much about Napoleon, and these two books have been both delightful and distressing. Delightful in the portrait they give of the man, and distressing in that they reveal how horribly he was treated during his captivity on the island of St. Helena. That he was befriended by so many paints an encouraging picture about the ability of human beings to not simply forgive, but to accept and move beyond. I recommend both of these books, equally well written for their times, and equally informative.
January 28, 2024
During Napoleon’s second and final exile, he briefly stayed with the Balcombe family, whose youngest daughter, Betsey, befriended him. Years later, she decided to jot down her recollections, as they might be of interest to the (still) Napoleon-obsessed public. Rambling collection of anecdotes, but nevertheless a one-of-a-kind record and poignant glimpse into the actual person behind the legacy.
December 4, 2024
Pretty good read. if you like biographies and direct historical accounts, would 100% recommend this. I'm not the very familiar with Napoleonic history but after reading this I will look into it more, and might reread this after. In general, enjoyable book, regardless of your view of napoleon or how much you trust the authors account and view of Napoleon, I think most people would enjoy this.
November 3, 2023
Touching.
December 21, 2016
Interesting view..
September 10, 2023
The Librivox reader meant to call someone "goddess of the toilette" but instead called her "goddess of the toilet." That made me chuckle.
Other than that, I'm not sure what to make of this book. Not sure how much to believe. It is kind of saccharine at some points but it does have some intriguing moments. Left me wanting to read more.
Other than that, I'm not sure what to make of this book. Not sure how much to believe. It is kind of saccharine at some points but it does have some intriguing moments. Left me wanting to read more.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews