France! The Army! Josephine ... Quiz

Answer: 'It's not an attractive place. I would have done better to remain in Egypt'

St Helena was slightly larger than Elba but clearly Napoleon was not impressed. "This is a disgraceful island, it is a prison", Napoleon said upon landing. Despite its size it was chosen well by the British to prevent the escape of Napoleon. It was so remote the nearest land, being 1,140 miles away, was the west coast of Africa. France was a further 5,000 miles.

Answer: It was infested with rats

Longwood was so heavily infested with rats that servants caught at least 20 a day. On one occasion Napoleon took his hat from the sideboard and a large rat sprung out of it and scuttled down between his legs. Napoleon did not mind the rats. Instead he was profoundly annoyed by the huge presence of sentries around Longwood - 125 sentries during the day and 72 at night.

Answer: True

Napoleon chose four friends who he had chosen to share his exile with: Generals Bertrand, de Montholon and Gourgaud, and Comte de Las Cases. It is well known that Napoleon often went to General Bertrand's house to play with his children. Another interesting fact is that Napoleon once tried to learn English from Comte de Las Cases. Once he was overheard saying: "Veech you tink de best town?". Napoleon, who was not an able linguist, abandoned his attempts to learn English after nine months.

Answer: Preventing trade with the island

The British realised the naval importance the island held so decided banning trade would not be necessary. The threat of Napoleon disguising himself and stowing away on a ship was the biggest fear. Despite being, remote Jamestown was a regular port of call for ships on the Cape route.

As many as 50 ships could be in harbour on any given day. In 1815 there were around 2,000 natives and 1,380 British soldiers on the island.

Answer: Sir Hudson Lowe

Hudson Lowe was appointed to the island and certainly made an impact on Napoleon's stay. "Didn't you tell me that Lowe was at Champaubert and Montmirail? We probably fired guns at each other", Napoleon was heard saying when he discovered Lowe would be taking over. One example of their turbulent relationship was when Napoleon arranged for new shoes to be made in Jamestown. Lowe prevented this and demanded that Napoleon hand the old shoes to him and he would get a new pair. Napoleon, who found this arrangement humiliating, was reported to observe, "You are sticking pins into us, you wish to prevent us escaping, there is only one way, to kill us."

One way Lowe could easily wind up Napoleon was by refusing to call him Napoleon but instead 'General Bonaparte'. Lowe ordered that all British soldiers referring to him call him that instead.

Answer: Dictate the history of his campaigns

This dictation would often last for three hours. One way that Napoleon conquered boredom would be to instruct the driver of his carriage to ride quickly around the devil's punchbowl so as to terrify his guests. When first arriving on the island ,while staying privately with the Balcombes, Napoleon was permitted to visit Jamestown and talk to the islanders. With the move to Longwood these visits were forbidden and harsher security restrictions were imposed on the prisoner.

Answer: £20,000

Lowe decided that this was to much and wrote to the government saying that he planned to reduce the cost of food to £12,000. Anything over this would have to be paid with French funds. Napoleon did not believe the British would make their own prisoner pay for his detention but he was proved wrong. Napoleon was furious when Lowe declared the French funds were exhausted. In order to pay for the food Napoleon ordered that his silver be cut up and sold in Jamestown. Lowe was deeply annoyed by Napoleon's attention seeking. One day when Cipriani was selling the silver in Jamestown a British officer asked how Napoleon was. Cipriani replied, "Fairly well. Just as you'd imagine someone who had to sell their plate to live."
Lowe angrily shouted at Cipriani, "Why do you need so much money?."
"To buy food, your excellency."
"What, haven't you enough?"
Napoleon ended the silver incident by remarking: "The next thing I must sell will be my clothes."

Answer: Losing the Battle of Waterloo

Above all these Napoleon missed his son the most. It had been a well known fact across Europe. In his bedroom alone there were seven portraits of his son. The Italian firm Beaggini decided to smuggle a bust of his son, who at the time was king of Rome.

The bust was stowed away in the store ship the 'Baring'. However the master gunner fell delirious and revealed the plan. The bust was handed over to Lowe at the dock.

Answer: True

It was in his garden on St Helena that he often put to test his theories about fieldworks and the formation of troops. This was his favourite topic of interest with Bertrand. Even whilst at St Helena Napoleon still had political ambitions. He often spoke of escaping to US and settling the border disputes in south America and creating a Latin American empire.

Upon the arrival of Lowe, Napoleon made it as hard as possible for the guards to spy on him. Whilst in his bedroom if ever a guard came over to look in he would shut the blinds and stare at them through his Austerlitz field glasses until they left him alone.

Answer: Stomach cancer

Napoleon had said beforehand that he wished for a post mortem to be carried out so that if there any cancer was detected there might, he hoped, be a way of preserving his son from it. Many French officers protested at having it done immediately so it was delayed till the afternoon. Antommarchi opened the stomach and observed 'a very extended cancerous ulcer.'

The 'arsenic poisoning' theory came about after his death.

Napoleon's wishes had been to be buried in the banks of the Seine. However the British government told Lowe that Napoleon's body was not to leave St Helena. Napoleon's friends had once remembered a little spring that Napoleon had once admired. It was there at Torbitts Spring that Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte came to rest. In 1840 his remains were moved to Paris and re-interred in splendour in the Dome des Invalides.