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| Saul Solomon 1776 - 1852 |
Saul Solomon married his first wife Margaret Lee (born 1 October 1792 in St Helena, South Atlantic and died June 1815. She was buried on 14 June 1815).
Benjamin Solomon born 23 June 1801.
Phoebe Elizabeth Solomon born 20 May 1804 in St Helena. Phoebe married Captain Thomas Montgomery Hunter of the St Helena Artillery on 15 October 1823. From the years 1824 - 1834 Phoebe and Thomas produced five children: Ann, Montgomery, Highland, Orby and Grace Hunter.
Henry Robert Solomon (born 1806 and died 1847 in St Helena). He was the Colonial Surgeon & Health Officer in St Helena.
Miriam Solomon born 8 July 1808 in St Helena.
John Blenham Solomon born 2 December 1810 in St Helena.
Margaret Sarah Solomon born 5 January 1813 in St Helena.
Lee Solomon born 29 March 1815 in St Helena and died December 1891 in Cape Town, South Africa.
It appears that Miriam Solomon at the age of 56, a Spinster, is recorded as Parent to Ada Annie Solomon on her Baptism document in 1870. Witnesses were Henry & Susan Solomon and Ann Knipe. Ada Annie Solomon was born on St Helena in 1865, married John Dunstan and died in Maitland, Cape Town in 1926. It was probably Miriam who secretly brought her father's body back to St Helena for burial.
It appears that Miriam Solomon at the age of 56, a Spinster, is recorded as Parent to Ada Annie Solomon on her Baptism document in 1870. Witnesses were Henry & Susan Solomon and Ann Knipe. Ada Annie Solomon was born on St Helena in 1865, married John Dunstan and died in Maitland, Cape Town in 1926. It was probably Miriam who secretly brought her father's body back to St Helena for burial.
Saul Solomon married his second wife, Mary Chamberlain (born 1790 in St Helena and died June 1823 in St Helena. Mary was buried on 24 June 1823 in St Helena).
Saul Solomon and Mary Chamberlain married 2 December 1815 and together had two children:
Saul Solomon born 12 August 1818 in St Helena.
Nathaniel Lee Solomon born 5 June 1822 in St Helena.
Saul Solomon married his third wife, Harriet Bryan (born 1800 in St Helena).
Saul Solomon and Harriet Bryan were married 24 June 1823 (the day his previous wife was buried).
Together they had two children:
Mary Chamberlain Solomon (1825 - 1828) in St Helena.
William Solomon (1827 - ?) in St Helena.
Saul Solomon:
About the year 1796 a young Jew aged twenty landed at St Helena from an East India Company ship. He was ill and dying but he rallied and eventually opened up a business in the island. He was joined a few years later by his brother Joseph Solomon who was followed by his future wife Hannah Moss. These two young Jews, Saul and Joseph Solomon, established a business which remains in St Helena to this day. The Solomon and Moss families were also in business together.
The business at St Helena prospered, in many ways due to the introduction to St Helena of Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo as he was exiled there from 1815 until his death in 1821. Saul Solomon was known as the "Merchant King of St Helena".
Information about Saul Solomon (1776-1852) as recorded in family letters and on the Internet.
From “St Helena - who’s who or a directory of the island during
captivity of Napoleon”.
Saul Solomon (1776-1852), the founder of the business house in St
Helena at the time of Napoleon’s exile in St. Helena. Solomon, with his 2 brothers, Lewis and
Joseph, was engaged in business at Jamestown as a Store-Keeper and Lodging
House-Keeper. His house was the Resort
of many who came to the island and in the days of the captivity news thus
received from Europe was transmitted to the inhabitants of the island. The house of Solomon was also frequently the
medium through which clandestine correspondence was sent from Longwood to
Europe. The firm of Solomon still
flourishes, and is the only one in St Helena which can trace an unbroken line
since the days of Napoleon. Saul Solomon
died on December 6th 1852 at Eastwood, Portishead, near Bristol, the
residence of his son-in-law, Captain Thomas Montgomery Hunter and husband of his
daughter Phoebe Elizabeth Solomon.
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From notes by Mary Brown, daughter of Henry Solomon (1816-1900) born in
St Helena.
It is to be my privilege and
honour to pass on to a younger generation some information regarding some
memories of the Grandparents (Joseph & Hannah Solomon) whose sons and
grandsons have associated their names with the history and development of this
Country (South Africa), and who nearly eighty years ago made their home in this
neighbourhood. Why and how they migrated hither, must be told later; it arose
out of the settling, years before, of the eldest brother Saul Solomon in the
island of St.Helena. The date of this we do not know, but we gather certain
facts from an old Hebrew Prayer-book in my possession. This states that the said Saul Solomon was
born on December 25th 1776, that his first wife (Margaret Lee) died in 1815, that
seven children were born of this marriage, all at St Helena except one,
Margaret, who was born in London in 1813 at West Square. In 1808 Saul received
this same Prayer-book, the gift of his dear Mother by the Europe Store-ship on
4th July 1808.
The story is that as a young man
this Saul Solomon (1776-1852) was landed, ill of fever, at St Helena from an
East Indian man, bound probably for India, but of this we are not certain. It was expected he would die at sea, and
fearing this, instructions were given to land him at the island, where the vessel
also put in for water. Here he
recovered, and seeing the possibilities of trade with the East India Company’s
merchantmen which made St Helena a port of call on their outward and homeward
bound voyages he began a business. Thus
was established the Commercial House known for years afterwards as the firm of
“Solomon & Moss”, which continues to the present day.
Saul Solomon was joined in this
business later by his brother Joseph (1780-1861), our grandfather, who was
followed by his future wife Hannah Moss (1793-1858) and married probably about
the year 1814-1815 as their eldest son Henry was born in April 1816. (First born child Nathaniel Solomon born
& died June 1815). Here the families lived gaining considerable wealth and
confidence and owning valuable properties.
It was in the year (some of which still remain in the families of the
Solomon & Moss) 1815 that the British Government secured Longwood, St
Helena, as the residence of Napoleon and the stationing of French and British
officers, in the island not only increased its importance but brought into it
much brilliant social life.
Saul Solomon (1776-1852) known as the “King of St.Helena” was a man of
character and influence and various stories were told to us as children, of his
kindness of heart, his generous hospitality and his conveying courtesy to
strangers. In those long ago days his
house was the centre and the style kept in his household was lavish and
luxurious. By his second wife (Mary
Chamberlain b1790) he had a son Nathaniel (1822-1874) and daughter Isabella
(Saul? 1818-1861), these were our father’s (Henry’s 1816-1900) contemporaries
and are prominent in our memories of childhood.
Cousin Nat inheriting many of the kindly qualities of his father endeared
him to the then younger generation.
Among the stories that specially interested us, as told by my father
were these.
The general stage Saul Solomon’s
(1776-1852) house was extravagant and amongst the household property were some
valuable silver plates. On the occasion
of a visit of a British celebrity to the island, the Governor desired to borrow
this plate for use at a banquet given by him.
“I regret not lending it” said old Saul Solomon “as I am entertaining
your guest the following evening and it might be thought that I had borrowed
your plate”.
Amongst Napoleon’s ardent sympathisers and admirers was Mr Solomon
(1776-1852), and it is said he contrived at the attempted escape of the Emperor
from St.Helena. The plot was laid,
the boat waiting at the foot of a precipitous cliff to convey the illustrious
prisoner to an out-lying vessel and a cleverly constructed ladder of silken
rope, strong and light, introduced into the island, no doubt in some
merchandise and had been conveyed in a teapot from Saul Solomon to Longwood,
and received by those in the scheme.
Happily for the peace of Europe when all seemed ready, the “silken
ladder” was discovered and the escape frustrated. These and my father’s talk of the French
soldiers, the occupation of Longwood by Napoleon, his death and burial, and
being lifted as a little child to see the great man lying in state, the bending
of our Grandmother to kiss the dead hand of the Emperor, all made an impression
on our minds that never faded. And he
used to tell us how he learned to speak French from the French guard who
praised his smartness and memory.
But to return to Saul Solomon
(1776-1852). He was the eldest of four
brothers, Joseph (1780-1861), Benjamin (1777-?) and Edward (1774-1855), are the
ones of whom we have knowledge. Joseph
and his wife Hannah came to Cape Town from St Helena in the year 1831. I have this from a letter from my father in
which he says “the first person to meet us our arrival at the Cape in 1831 was
our old St Helena friend, the father of Captain Anderson of Green Point”. Thus judging from my father’s birth in 1816,
the family of Joseph (our grandfather) remained in St Helena some 15 or 16
years.
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From notes by Mary Brown, daughter of Henry Solomon born 1816 in St
Helena.
Brothers Saul (1776-1852) & Joseph Solomon (1780-1861) arrived in
St.Helena. Joseph & Hannah (nee
Moss) Solomon & sons, Henry (1816-1900), Saul (1817-1892) & Edward
(1820-1886).
About the year 1796 a young Jew
aged twenty landed at St.Helena from an East India Company ship. He was ill and supposed to be dying, but he
rallied and eventually opened up a business in the island where he was joined a
few years later by his brother Joseph.
These two young Jews, Saul and Joseph Solomon, established a business
which remains at St.Helena to this day.
In 1806 Saul Solomon received a
Hebrew Prayer Book by a store-ship from his dear mother. It is from this prayer-book that the date of
Saul’s birth – 1776 is taken.
All we know of their mother is
that her name was Phoebe de Metz (1745-1834), the wife of Nathaniel Solomon
(1735-1760), she was married at the age of 14, had eighteen children, some of
whom died in infancy, was left a widow while still young and died at the age of
one hundred and four (I believe it should be 84), she lived in much competency
in London, and to her care were sent two little grandsons (Henry & Saul)
from St.Helena, but of this later.
A miniature of this old lady is
in my possession, it was bought by me from a grand-daughter of hers, who in
reduced circumstances was living in Cape Town. The names of some of Phoebe’s
daughters will be found in a letter in this Hebrew prayer-book, which is also
in my possession.
In 1814 Joseph Solomon married
Hannah Moss, who came to St.Helena from England. They had been betrothed before he left
England.
The business at St.Helena
prospered in many ways due to the introduction to St.Helena of Napoleon after
Waterloo, and to its being a port of call for the East India Company’s ships
both going to and returning from India.
In later years Saul Solomon (b1776) was known as the “Merchant King of
St Helena”, but as these notes have special reference to Joseph we shall
continue then on these lines.
In the year 1816 was born the
eldest son of Joseph and Hannah. He was
named Henry and in 1817 a second son Saul was born. These two little lads at the ages of five and
six were sent to their grandmother Phoebe in London under the care of an
efficient soldier’s wife travelling by troop ship. These two little boys remained under their
Grandmother’s care until about the ages of twelve and thirteen. They were brought up in the strictest Jewish
faith. Some of my Father’s remembrances
of this I have given elsewhere. The other children born to Joseph and Hannah
were Richard (1818), Edward (1820), Isabella (1826), Margaret (1828) and
Benjamin (1819), one girl Rosa died at St.Helena. (Nathaniel was born 3 June
1815 and died 4 June 1815).
In 1831 Joseph migrated with his
family to the Cape, where there would be better opportunities for his sons in
life. The two elder were about twelve
and thirteen when they returned to St.Helena.
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The St Helena Solomon's and their connections monopolised the
prestigious albeit non-salaried post of Sheriff on the island:
Saul Solomon snr 1839-1842 and
1846-1850; his brother Lewis Gideon (who had taken on a new surname) 1842-1844
and 1852-1856; his son Nathaniel 1853-1855 and 1859-1860; his partner George
Moss 1870-1880; and his other son Saul jnr 1880-1888.
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Biographical Details
for Saul Solomon: (Extract from article via Internet)
Saul's wish to return to St.
Helena was honoured in a rather bizarre sequel, revealed by Mrs. Harriet Tytler
sailing home from India in 1853 on the S.V. “Camperdown”: The remains of Mr. Saul Solomon arrived on
2nd March 1853 - on the “Perseverance”. At the Cape we …… took in fresh
passengers, among them a Miss Solomon. ….. who confided to some of us a burden
on her mind .... Unknown to everybody
she had brought her father's corpse on the ship to have it buried on his
beloved St. Helena. The burden was a terrible one, for fear that if the sailors
found it out, they would chuck her father overboard. Of course we were all
under vow not to disclose the terrible fact of a corpse on board, so that when
we reached St. Helena and the contents of that case were safely landed, her
brother Nathaniel came on board and... invited us to his hotel as guests.
If the Camperdown's crew were
unaware of the contents of Miss Solomon's luggage, people at St. Helena were
not. Both local papers, recording the death of "our late Sheriff in
London"[sic], had announced that he was to be buried on the Island, the “St.
Helena Chronicle” reporting on 19 February "that his remains are at the
Cape". Saul was buried on 4 March 1853 in St. James Church, Jamestown, St.
Helena Island. FHL Film No. 1259107, Gravestones and Memorials on St. Helena
1686-1975. The tombstone for Saul Solomon is as follows: “Sacred to the Memory of S. Solomon, Esq. who
died in England on the Sixth of December 1852 Aged 76 years”.
If one man dominates St. Helena's
history it must, according to 'the outside world', surely be Napoleon
Bonaparte. But the experience of daily life tells St. Helenians differently.
Long before Napoleon arrived, Saul Solomon had founded a business that, after
200 years, still wields all-pervasive influence over their affairs. Yet the
founder is as little known as St. Helena's other benefactors. So what can a
search, far from Island sources, reveal about St. Helena's
"Merchant-King"?
Solomon's origins seem mantled in
mystery. Where and when he was born, why and how he reached St. Helena, no-one
yet knows. Tradition has it that he was born in London about 1776 and in his
'teens set out for India on a ship sailing via St. Helena. There he was left at
death's door and nursed back to health by an officer's family. Geoffrey
Kitching, pre-war government secretary, told W.E.G.Solomon that he was a
corporal in the St. Helena Corps in 1796. But the India Office Library has no
record of this.
During Saul's business, career
ships increased from about 150 to over a thousand a year, St. Helena became a
haven for American whalers and a base for the Royal Navy's anti-slavery
squadron, with a Vice-Admiralty Court condemning slavers and unseaworthy
vessels to the benefit of Jamestown's ship chandlers.
Solomon had funds for speculation
when it mattered, which perhaps explains partners such as the shadowy Dickson
and Taylor, George Janisch of Teutonic Hall, and Robert Morrison, who had the
fact inscribed on his grave in 1865. (Daniel Hamilton's memorial in 1867 also
records service to the Company). But when calamity fell, like the collapse of
the St. Helena Whale Fishery Co., it was rivals, Thomas Baker, John Scott and
others, who lost, not Solomon, Gideon or Moss. Ironically, forty years later
his successors ignored, or were ignorant of, this experience and made a
disastrous investment in the Island whaler, Elizabeth. If Saul speculated
unwisely, it has yet to be discovered. At the watershed of St. Helena history -
the Island's transfer from the Company to the Crown in 1836 - he was again
among the winners, as old Company landed families sold out at great loss, while
merchants took their pickings and prospered.
Saul was no less skilful in
climbing the social ladder as the Napoleonic era receded. Despite being 'in
trade', which normally put one beyond the pale of polite society, he and his
partners were invited to sit with 'gentlemen' on various committees - Benefit,
Benevolent, Fire and those of other social welfare societies. Solomon, Gideon
and Moss virtually ran the Annuity Fund Committee. Indicators abound of rising
social status. In 1823 Saul's daughter Phoebe married Capt. T.M.Hunter of the
St. Helena Artillery; in 1838 his son Henry (1806-1847) became Colonial Surgeon
and Health Officer, whose widow married Governor Sir Patrick Ross; they were
leading Freemasons, churchwardens and JPs. For 50 years they almost monopolised
the prestigious post of Sheriff ("no salary") through Saul Solomon
(1839-42, 1846-50), Lewis Gideon [changed his name from Solomon] (1842-4,
1852-6), Nathaniel Solomon (1850-52, 1859-60), George Moss (1870-80) and Saul
Solomon, jun. (1880-88). In short, during the founder's lifetime, Solomon &
Co. became pillars of the Establishment and of the Church, to be symbolised
finally by Homfray Welby Solomon (1877-1960), grandson of Bishop Welby,
Churchwarden and Member of Council (from 1898), commercial and social Island
Supremo - "King Sol". His death on 30 October 1960 at 83 ended the
Solomon dynasty at St. Helena, and in 1974 the firm, dominating Island
production and commerce, was 'nationalised' by the St. Helena Government. Among
his Victorian competitors only W.A.Thorpe & Sons now survive as independent
merchant-landowners.
Saul was undertaker at many
Anglican funerals, in 1818 at that of Napoleon's Roman Catholic valet,
Cipriani."
In 1971, inside St James’s
Church, St Helena by the north wall is the following gravestone inscription: Sacred
to the Memory of S. Solomon, Esq. who died in England on the Sixth of December
1852. Aged 76 years.
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“ Who's who in Jewish
history: after the period of the Old Testament” by Joan Comay, Lavinia
Cohn-Sherbok.
On his way from England to India
at the age of twenty, Saul Solomon (1775
- 1850) became ill and was put ashore on the Indian Ocean island of St. Helena.
He became the leading merchant and ships purveyor on the island and an intimate
of Napoleon during his years of exile there. His nephew, also Saul Solomon (d.
1892), was educated in Cape Town and became the government printer and a
leading newspaper publisher. Although tiny in stature, he was an influential
member of the Cape legislator and its most effective debater. He married a
non-Jew and was baptized. Other members of the family, all Christians, played a
prominent part in South African life, and included a chief justice and the
South African high commissioner in London.
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“In search of Saul Solomon of St Helena 1776-1852”
Saul married Margaret Lee in
circa 1800. After Margaret's death, he married Mary Chamberlain in 1815 in
Saint Helena, South Atlantic. In 1815 Saul was living at Armstrong's Corner,
St. Helena. Mary died in June 1823 in St. Helena and Saul then married for a
third time, a Harriet BRYAN on 24 June 1823 in St. Helena.
Saul died of softening of the
brain, paralysis, apoplexy, 9 months certified on 6 December 1852 in 'Eastwood'
in Portishead, Bristol, England. His death certificate gave his age as 75 and
occupation "Consul", reflecting his appointments as "Consul for
Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, the Brazils, Spain and Austria; Vice-Consul for
Belgium; Consular Agent for France; and Commercial Agent for Holland."
Saul's body was returned to St.
Helena where he was buried at the north wall of St. James' Church. The
graveyard has since been cleared to make way for a children's playground but
Saul's gravestone still survives and reads "Sacred to the Memory of S.
Solomon, Esq., who died in England."
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Saul Solomon founded a business empire that has dominated
commercial life on St. Helena for more than two centuries.
Tradition says he was born in
London in about 1776, and set sail for India in 1790. The ship dropped anchor
off the port of Jamestown and young man was carried ashore to die. The ship
sailed on and the young man, Saul Solomon, remained, not to die, but to become
one of the most influential men on the island. In a very short time he recovered his health
and, seeing the possibility of trade with the many ships that called on their
way to and from India and the Cape, he set himself up in business, initially as
a hotel-keeper but soon on a much broader basis.
His business is thought to have
been founded in the year of his arrival, when young Saul set up a boarding
house and general store. Later he
included an insurance business and also installed the island’s first printing
press, printing the “St. Helena
Register” newspaper. He also served
as undertaker. Early success meant a
need for people to help run the business, so he sent for his brothers,
Benjamin, Edward, Charles and Joseph. A
family called Moss came too, remaining prominent
members of the business for many years. Joseph married Hannah Moss in 1814 in St Helena. Hannah’s brother, Isaac Moss
arrived and later lived in Longwood House where Napoleon lived before his death. Saul was clearly quite a non-conformist. In
1810 he was directed to “print no more objectionable remarks in the Register
without permission of the Secretary”.
Napoleon arrived on the island in
1815 and Solomon’s readily traded with the deposed emperor’s entourage at
Longwood. Profits rose, though there were frequent complaints about
over-charging; for example, the company charged 1,400 gold francs for the
funeral of Napoleon’s valet.
Saul Solomon also earned a
reputation for questionable loyalty to the island government. Hudson Lowe listed
the Solomon brothers, with their clerk ex-soldier George Bruce, as the chief
suspects of aiding Napoleon. Solomon’s premises (in what is now the Rose &
Crown shop in Market Street) became notorious for gossip and intrigue. He was
even said to have smuggled a silken ladder into Longwood in a chest of tea (or,
another variant says, in a teapot) to help Napoleon clamber down a cliff into a
waiting boat! Certainly Longwood’s clandestine correspondence passed through
his hands - at a price. In 1840, as French Consul, he was among the favoured
few to accompany Napoleon’s coffin aboard the Belle Poule. He received a medal for his services to the emperor.
One of his many business
activities was the forwarding of mail dropped off by calling ships.
At one time, Solomon issued its
own copper halfpennies, which circulated alongside the East India Company
coinage. The business continued to prosper as the island became a haven for
American whalers and a base for the anti-slavery squadron.
Saul Solomon died in 1852 on a visit to England. His daughter
managed to get his body to the Cape, where she smuggled it aboard a ship bound
for St. Helena. The two island newspapers praised his memory fulsomely. “We
have many living witnessed to his kindness to the distressed and suffering,”
wrote the St. Helena Herald, welcoming the news that he was to be buried on the
island. An executor’s sale took place ‘under the trees’ in Jamestown in 1854,
at which “a rare selection of most desirable dwelling places” were auctioned,
including The Briars and The Pavilion, once home to Napoleon.
Saul Solomon’s modest gravestone
was among those rescued when the burial ground in Jamestown was cleared in 1951
to become a children’s playground. The inscription revealed nothing of
Solomon’s life, beyond the date of his death, aged 76.
Over time, family members rose to
prominent roles, including on benevolent committees. For 50 years they almost
monopolised the prestigious post of Sheriff. The last of the family line,
Homfray Welby Solomon, died in 1960. The business was taken over by South
African entrepreneurs, then nationalised and part-privatised, as it remains
today, still bearing the name “Solomon’s”.
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Extracts from “Betsy and the Emperor” by Anne Whitehead re Saul Solomon & Longwood House.
Page 5 .….. In 1815, William Balcombe had his official duties as
superintendent of public sales for the Company but also his separate interests
as senior partner in the firm Balcombe, Cole and Company, supplying vessels
calling at Jamestown. Saul Solomon, proprietor with his brothers
Lewis and Joseph of the town’s only emporium – ladies fashions, fabrics,
lace, jewellery and rosewater – studied the papers for trends, knowing that
styles would be half a year out of date by the time their order arrived
(allowing three months for the requisition and three for the despatch) but that
this did not matter to the ladies of St Helena as long as they kept pace with
one another……
Page 9……The immediate issues were housing and catering. The official ‘Secret letter’ stated that any
residence on the island could be allocated for Bonaparte, ‘with the exception
of the Governor’s Plantation House’.
Wilks learned from the captain of the Icarus that a retinue was coming with the prisoner, not only his
officers and servants but also some aristocratic Frenchwomen. He thought Longwood House, the lieutenant-governor’s isolated summer
residence, could be a possibility, but it was badly in need of repairs….
Page 10 …… With the fleet imminently arriving under the command of
the rear-admiral, there would also be another 200 sailors and soldiers and the
massive logistical exercise of feeding them all. Most of the island’s food came from the Cape
of Good Hope and shortages were chronic.
It would be a challenge for the commissary-general and store-keeper, who
allocated provisions brought by the twice yearly store-ship, and for Solomons Merchants and William
Balcombe, the Company sales agent with a providore business on the side.
In fact, the merchants recognised
splendid commercial opportunities in the new situation. Balcombe was pleased; as well as his
providore business, he owned the Union brewery supplying beer to the garrison,
and has an orchard and large vegetable garden at his home, The Briars. He would soon, like the Solomons, take advantage of the increase in the island’s population
by doubling his prices. But there were
negative implications for the merchants as well: with the island removed from
the jurisdiction of the East India Company and patrolled by the Royal Navy,
ships of other flags would be unable to call for water, victualling and
trading, thereby limiting business.
However, Balcombe was a man who looked in every setback for an
opportunity and usually succeeded in finding one ……
Page 32 – 33 …… Admiral Cockburn elected to stay at the castle,
where he had access to the warships in the bay, rather than be a guest at
Plantation House, the governor’s mansion out of town. It was determined that Bonaparte permanent
home would be Longwood House, up on
the high plateau, remote enough to serve as a prison. It has recently been occupied by the
lieutenant-governor and his family as a summer retreat from the humidity of
Jamestown, but its earlier use was as a cattle house and barn, to which some
rough additions had been made. It was
dilapidated and at least two months’ work would be needed before it could be
acceptable accommodation ……
Page 42 …… I walked past the Consulate Hotel down the steep main
street, at the bottom of which the RMS St Helena, still at anchor, was framed
in the town wall’s archway. With some
surprise I noted the sign “Solomon &
Company” on a substantial building – the largest island merchant during
Napoleon’s captivity and apparently still …...
Page 63 …. The canaries and Java sparrows Betsy described –
brought by East India Company ships had gone, but Indian mynahs flittered about
in squabbling, fussy numbers. A former
resident of The Briars was responsible for the preponderance of these drab
little creatures all over the island. In
1868, Miss Phoebe Moss brought a cage of six mynahs from England and released
them in The Briars’ garden, imagining they might feast on the invasive white
ants. The crumbling ruin that the house
became testified to the fact that they did not ……
Page 74 ….. Mesdames Fanny Bertrand and Albine de Montholon had
little to do each day but read, sew, watch their children play in the castle
gardens, and find new ways of quarrelling with each other. During breaks in hostilities they visited Saul Solomon’s store in the vague hope
of finding something interesting to purchase. They were a popular sight from
the doors of the taverns, wine houses and hostels, teetering on dainty Parisian
heels up Jamestown’s cobbled main street, holding lace trimmed parasols aloft to
protect their complexions. Their ensembles in satin and mousseline do soie (silk muslin) were the latest in Empire fashion,
and Albine’s hourglass shape belied her new pregnancy. Encased in whalebone corsets, the ladies
found the summer hear unendurable.…..
Page 75 …... A welcome distraction came with the news that Admiral
Sir. George Cockburn was to host a ball at the castle in late November. The local society people would attend, and
also the military and ships officers, one of whom wrote that if Sir George ‘can
find the ladies, of course we shall go there’.
The real excitement was that the French were to be invited, including
their diabolical leader. Whom among the
local ladies might he ask for a quadrille? At
Solomon’s store and along the promenade they talked of little else…..
Page 76 – 78 …... As the day drew closer, Betsy’s own excitement
could barely be contained. She had been
in boarding school for years and had never attended such a grand occasion. She would need a new dress and chattered
about fabrics and designs. However, her
father ruled that she was too young; Jane could go, but Betsy must wait for at
least a year before coming out into society.
She resolved to change his mind.
Written invitations from the
castle duly arrived for Napoleon and all his French companions except the
domestics. But there was a major problem
with the wording. On 14 November, which
happened to be his birthday, Gourgaud made a glum entry in his journal: ‘We
receive invitations to the Admiral’s Ball.
There is one for “General Bonaparte”.
Napoleon promptly refused it. He
said he did not know of such a person on the island. ‘Send this card to General Buonaparte’, he
told Bertrand. ‘The last news I heard of
him was at the Battle of the Pyramids’.
Betsy was still desperate to go,
and pleaded with Napoleon to intercede with her father. He surprised her by arguing her case, and
Balcombe relented. Soon she and Jane were paying a visit to Solomon’s store with their mother to
choose silks, muslins and ribbons and to pore over the London fashions in “The
Lady’s Magazine”. Betsy was entranced
with the design for her dress, which was to be appliqued with delicate paper
roses.
One evening, as was their
frequent habit, Napoleon and Las Cases came to The Briar’ house after dinner
for a game of whist, with sugar plums as stakes. The senior Balcombes were unaccountably
absent – Mrs Balcombe, who suffered from recurrent hepatitis, may have retired
early – but the little card table was set up in the parlour. Napoleon and Jane were to play together
against the ill-matched partnership of Betsy and the count.
The cards were muddled and Las
Cases was instructed to sort them into suits.
While the former chamberlain was occupied with this fiddly task,
Napoleon asked Betsey about her robe de
bal. She was inordinately proud of
the new gown, her first, and had him to thank that she would be wearing it to
the castle. She ran upstairs and
fetched, showing off the fine needlework and appliqued paper roses. ‘Very pretty’ he said.
Las Cases returned to the table
with the sorted deck, so Betsy placed the dress on the sofa and the game
began. It was soon clear that Napoleon was not abiding by the rules. Betsy caught him ‘peeping under his cards as
they were dealt to him, he endeavoured whenever he got an important one to draw
off my attention, and then slyly held it up for my sister to see. I soon discovered this and, calling him to
order, told him he was cheating, and that if he continued to do so, I would not
play’.
At the end of the hand, Napoleon
claimed to be the winner; when Betsy disputed this, he laughed and declared
that she was the cheat and should pay what she owed.
‘Never! You revoked! You cheated!
At this Napoleon jumped up and,
calling her wicked (‘Ah, you are merhante!’),
snatched up her ball drew from the sofa.
He ran from the room with it and up to the pavilion. She gasped in astonishment. Then she set off up the path in pursuit. But he was too quick, darting through the
marquee and locking himself in the inner room.
Despite her remonstrances and tears, he called through the door that he
was keeping the dress to teach her a lesson.
The ball was the following
evening. There was no sign of Napoleon
throughout the day. Betsy sent several
begging messages to the pavilion but was told that the emperor was sleeping and
could not be disturbed. Neither of her parents was willing to approach
him. Because she was not yet of an age
to ‘come out’ into society, they had not wanted her to go in the first place;
nor would they have wished to engage their distinguished guest on such a
frivolous matter – although they must have wondered why he bothered with it.
The day wore on and at last the
hour arrived for their departure. The
horses were brought around and the young slave boys loaded the tine cases
holding the ladies’ silks and satins – but not Betsy’s beautiful gown. Her mother and sister would be able to change
into their evening finery at the castle and she would still be wearing her
plain little house dress. By the time
they reached the gate she was inclined to return home, but then Napoleon came
running across the grass with her gown over his arm. ‘Here, Miss Betsee, I have
brought it for you! I hope you are a
good girl now and that you will enjoy the ball.’ He walked beside their horses until they came
to the end of the bridle track which joined the Sidepath. He asked idly about a farmhouse he noticed
far below. As they waved goodbye he called out toe Betsy: ‘Make sure that you
dance with Gourgaud!’ The emperor was
mocking her as usual. She detested
Gourgaud …..
…..Gourgaud was discomforted to
be greeted by their host Admiral Cockburn, who requested – with a firmness
sounded like an order – that he should book the first quadrille with Mrs
Balcombe, the second with Betsy Balcombe and the third with Miss Knipe, a
farmer’s daughter…..
Page 86 – 88 ….. For weeks Napoleon had observed the fatique
parties of the 53rd Regiment as they wound around the mountais to
the beat of fifes and drums, building materials on their shoulders. Now they were no longer heaving stone blocks
and timers, but rather furniture, rugs and pictures. Longwood
House would soon be ready for occupation…..
Bertrand visited Longwood and reported that the house
smelled badly of paint. Betsy would ‘never forget the fury of the
emperor. He walked up and down the lawn,
gesticulating in the wildest manner. His
rage was so great that it almost chocked him.
He declared that the smell of paint was so obnoxious to him that he
would never inhabit a house where it existed’…..
Page 94 - 95….. The garden at Longwood,
with agapanthus and iris flower and the Tricolore flapping on the flagpole, is
attractively wooded now, but was bare and unsheltered when the French were
installed in December 1815. Napoleon was
partly responsible for the improvement; in 1818, after three years of boredom,
he began work, digging and planting out in the sun in loose trousers and a
Chinese coolie hat, saying: ‘One day, perhaps one hundred years from now,
people will visit this area and admire the garden’.
Napoleon was five and a half
years at Longwood House, longer than he ever spent at any imperial residence,
for he used his palaces only between campaigns.
Our tour group was guided through the rooms, shrines to the former emperor:
the billiard room where he rarely played billiards but spread his old campaign
maps on the table; the circular holes in the shutters were he squinted at
Governor Lowe and the British guards through his telescope; the huge globe of
the world, sepia with age, where the island of St Helena does not appear in the
Atlantic, allegedly rubbed out by a furious finger. There is the dimly lit dining room where
meals were served with formal pomp, and the emperor’s little bedchamber and
sitting room, with his tricorne hat and a copy of the greatcoat he wore at the
Battle of Marengo displayed on the pink chaise lounge. We peered into the deep timber clad copper
bath in which he soaked for house, reading and fretting away his life.
‘Boredom,’ wrote Gourgaud in his journal, ‘boredom, boredom, sadness….’ Most gloomy is the drawing room and the green
curtained campaign bed where Napoleon breathed his last on 5 May 1821.
Napoleon was unimpressed with the
renovations to the sprawling and rackety farmhouse, still infested with
rats. The only part he cared for was the
new addition, an airy wooden reception hall with six windows and a small
lattice enclosed porch looking across to the Barn, dropping almost sheer to the
ocean far below. His narrow bedroom on
the ground floor adjoined a small study; an antechamber contained the one great
improvement to his comfort: a deep lead-lined bath made for him by ship’s
carpenters from the Northumberland (later
replaced by an imported copper one), and filled from buckets heated over a fire
outside…..
Page 96 …..Napoleon loathed the bare surrounding of Longwood. He was incesed to be told that he could walk
and ride freely in an area only 12 miles in circumference, much of it cut by
ravines and therefore unusable; beyond that limit he was to be accompanied by a
British officer. A complex code of
signals had been issued to every sentry post, tracking the prisoner’s daily
movements, whether inside the house, in the garden or within the 12 mile corden……
Page 99 …… Balcombe brought his wife and daughters to visit
Napoleon at Longwood House. They found Napoleon sitting on the steps of
the green-latticed porch, chatting with young Tristan de Montholon. Then he saw them he came forward: ‘Running to
my mother, he saluted her on each cheek.
After which fashion he welcomed my sister, but, as usual with me, he
seized me by the ear, and pinching it, exclaimed, “Ah! Mademoiselle Betsee, etes-vous sage, eh eh?” – “Are you being
good, eh?”
He took them on a tour of his
ironically dubbed ‘palace’, leading them first to his bedroom, which she found
small and cheerless. The walls were
covered in fluted nankeen fabric and the only decoration she observed were the
different portraits of his son and the Empress Marie Louise which she had seen
before. ‘His bed was the little camp
bestead, with green silk hangings, on which he said he had slept when on the
battlefields of Marengo and Austerlitz.
The only thing approaching to magnificence in the furniture of his
chamber, was a splendid silver wash-basin and ewer. The first object on which his eyes would rest
on awaking, was a small bust of his son, which stood on the mantelpiece, facing
his bed, and above which hung a portrait of Marie Louise. We then passed on, through an ante-room, to a
small chamber, in which a bath had been put up for his use, and where he passed
many hours of the day.
They proceeded to the
stone-flagged kitchen, where Napoleon asked Pierron the confectioner to create
creams and bonbons for the girls; he then led them into the garden. Betsey
found the view dismal and forbidding; the overhanging cliffs and great hulk of
the Barn, the iron-coloured rocks scattered with prickly pear and aloes. Madame Bertrand had told Mrs Balcombe the
emperor stared for hours at the clouds rolling across it, wreathing into
fantastic shapes.
Life for Napoleon and his court
at Longwood settled into a pattern. He
rose late and soaked in a hot bath, revelling in this pleasure…...
After the informalities of The
Briars, meals were now observed with great pomp and ceremony and a nighty
tussle for precedence, the men in full dress uniform, the ladies resplendent in
jewels and decollete gowns. The liveried servants stood at attention
throughout the meal. No one sat until
invited by the emperor…….
Page 123 …… ‘I hate this Longwood,’
Napoleon fulminated. ‘The sight of it
makes me melancholy. Let him (Lowe) put
me in some place where there is shade, verdure and water. Here it either blows a furious wind, loaded
with rain and fog, or the sun beats on my head through the want of shade, when
I go out. Let him (Lowe) put me on the
Plantation House side of the island if he really wishes to do anything for me.
But what is the use of coming up here proposing things and doing nothing?’….
Page 133 …… Lowe further restricted the boundary of Longwood and
commanded the 23 sentries to move close to the house at dusk, rather than at
9pm, denying the prisoner his evening stroll in the garden, for he refused to
go out under guard. Instead Bonaparte
requested (not entirely seriously) that the servants did ditches around the
perimeter, eight or ten feet deep if necessary, so he could walk in privacy…..
Page 139 …… At Longwood, Bonaparte huddled by the fire, suffering
toothache and a cold. ‘What a miserable
thing is man!’ he exclaimed. ‘The
smallest fibre in his body, assailed by disease, is sufficient to derange his
whole system.’ He marvelled that his
body was a most ‘curious machine … and perhaps I may be confined in it for
thirty years longer’.
O’Meara, who extracted the tooth,
thought not. He informed the governor
that in his view if Bonaparte continued to stay indoors and refused to take
exercise he would become ill and ‘in all probability his existence in St Helena
would not be protracted for more than a year or two’. Low asked him to make
note of his opinion, cautioning the doctor that in writing it, he ‘must bear in
mind that the life of one man was not to be put into competition with the
mischief which he might cause were he to get loose’.
Betsy Balcombe sneaked a visit to Longwood
with her father. Napoleon said that he
wished he could return to The Briars.
Betsy found him less amiable than usual, his face swollen and inflamed.
He told me “Mr. O’Meara had just performed the operation of drawing a tooth,
which caused him some pain”. Betsy exclaimed, “What! You complain of the pain so trifling an
operation can give?” She said “he astonished her, he who had survived countless
battles and bullets. I am ashamed of
you. But, nevertheless, give me the
tooth and I will get it set by Mr. Solomon as an ear-ring and wear it for your
sake”. The idea made him laugh heartily,
in spite of his suffering, and caused him to remark that he thought I should
never cut my wisdom teeth. He was always
in good humour with himself whenever he was guilty of anything approaching to
the nature of a witticism…..
Page 153 – 154 …… The article, which also included an insinuating
description of Napoleon and Betsy playing Blindman’s Buff, noted that she was
Napoleon’s favourite and would tell him everything that passes through her
flighty head. She asked him the most untoward questioned but he answered them
all without hesitation. Montchenu
concluded that Miss Betsee was the wildest little girl he had ever met and
expressed the opinion that she was folle
– a madwoman. His account was very
damaging to a young lady’s reputation and future prospects. Betsey observed in her recollections “My
father was much enraged at my name thus appearing, and wished to call the
marquess to account for his ill nature”. However, her mother’s intercession prevailed,
a duel was averted and “an ample apology” was obtained from the marquis.
When Napoleon hears of the
affront that “Miss Betsee” had received from the “vieux imbecile” (old fool), he asked O’Meara to call at The Briars
with a message for her on his way to Jamestown. He suggested how she might
revenge herself: “It so happened, that the marquess provided himself on the
peculiar fashion of his wig, to which was attached a long cue. This embellishment on his head Napoleon
desired me to burn off with caustic. I
was always ready for mischief and in this instance had a double inducement, on
the emperor’s promise to reward me, on the receipt of the pigtail, with the
prettiest fan Mr. Solomon’s shop contained.
Fortunately I was prevented indulging in this most hoydenish trick by
the remonstrances of my mother”.
The next time she saw Napoleon,
she made much of being too dutiful to disobey her mother, despite her
inclination for revenge. “He pinched my
ear, in token of approval”, and said “Ah, Miss Bettee, to commences a etre sage” – “You begin to be sensible”. He
then called Dr.O’Meara, and asked him if he had procured the fan? The doctor pointed; on perceiving which,
Napoleon, with his usual good nature, consoled me with the promise of something
prettier – and he kept his word. In a
few days I received a ring of brilliants, forming the letter N, surmounted by a
small eagle……
Page 159 - 160 ….. In an interview for The Times, Santini had deplored the conditions in which his master
lived: the climate at Longwood was
most unhealthy, with extremes of wind, humidity and heat. The house was a hovel and the roof leaked; it
was ‘infested by rats, who devour everything that they can reach. All the Emperor’s linen, even that which was
lately sent from England, has been gnawed and completely destroyed by
them……When the Emperor is at dinner the rats run about the apartment and even
creep beneath his feet.’ However, his
strongest criticism was reserved for the food sent by Balcombe the
purveyor. The provisions were always too
small in quantity and frequently of bad quality. Often there was no butcher’s
meat for the emperor’s table, and Cipriani would send Santini to town to
purchase a sheep for four guineas or some pork for making soup. ‘I was even, from necessity, in the habit of
repairing secretly to the English camp to purchase butter, eggs and bread, of
the soldier’s wives, otherwise the Emperor would often have been without
breakfast, and even without dinner.’ Santini claimed that he sometimes rose at
daybreak to shoot pigeons, or else the Emperor would have nothing for
breakfast, as ‘the provisions did not reach Longwood until two or three o’clock in the afternoon.’ He said that
in publishing his account he was fulfilling a ‘painful but sacred duty’……
Page 187 ….. The inexplicable suddenness of Cipriani’s death was a
huge shock to Napoleon. He felt a blood
tie with the Corsican, for their two families had been friends back in
Ajaccio. Cipriani’s espionage work had
facilitated the escape from Elba; on St Helena he had frequented the town
shops, mixed with seamen in the taverns, and been tireless in collecting
intelligence. An elaborate headstone was
ordered (but apparently never completed), and Bertrand paid Saul Solomon his
hefty fee of 1400 gold francs for the burial arrangements……
Page 388…….On 9 December there was a large headline in the
Australian “Reported loss of the Nancy”.
A French ship had found the vessel stricken off the West African coast,
waterlogged and deserted.
This must have been the most
terrifying time in the lives of Jane Balcombe, Betsy and her daughter. They would have been far from shore, for
ships to England never hugged the African coast, and in grave danger of
drowning. The passengers had abandoned the ship in lifeboats and, after what
must have been days in the baking sun, perhaps with little food and water, had
all come to shore somewhere on the barren south-western coast of Africa (today’s
Namibia). It seems they waited for up to
two weeks for the Nancy to be towed and repaired, while accepting the
hospitality of the local people.
When the ship’s captain was
confident of taking the Nancy to sea again they set sail, only to make an
unexpected call at St Helena, presumably for supplies of food and water and to
ascertain that the repairs were holding. The emotions of Betsy and her mother
must have been in turmoil to see their beloved home The Briars. The upper floor now extended right across the
building with at least six bedrooms. The
house was surrounded by mulberry trees, ripe with red berries. They learned that the East India Company had
purchased the property for 6000 Pounds from the merchant Solomon in August
1827, to establish a mulberry plantation for feeding silkworms. The production of silk was to be St Helena’s
new industry, and like most other ventures it was doomed to failure.
They must have visited Napoleon’s
tomb, the willows shading it almost denuded by tourists breaking off
souvenirs. But what would have come as
the greatest shock was to ascend the mountain (perhaps even taken by the
governor in his carriage) to see Longwood.
It was a wreck, having reverted to being a barn and granary. There was a threshing machine in the drawing
room where Napoleon had died, his billiard room was filled with potatoes and
straw and his bathroom was a stable…..
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"Views of St Helena" by T.E.Fowler in 1863.
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| Jamestown Harbour, St Helena |
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| Jacob's Ladder - built 1829, 183 meters or 700 feet high and 665 steps. |
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| Jacob's Ladder steps to Jamestown |
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| Jamestown, St Helena |
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| Napoleon's tomb |
You may be wondering why my interest in the Solomon family. I suggest you read my blog on "Doris Moss, Napoleon and St Helena". The Moss and Solomon families were related through marriage and were living on the Island of St Helena at the time of Napoleon's exile there.
If you wish to contact the author of the Solomon/Moss Family Archives blogs with comments or further information, please email Joy Olney at - joyolney@gmail.com
