http://solomonmossfamilyarchives.blogspot.com.au
Napoleon's Picnic at "The Briars" 18 October 2015
Two hundred years after Napoleon came to stay with the Balcombe family at "The Briars" on the island of St Helena at the commencement of his exile there, 60 people gathered at "The Briars" in Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia on 18 October 2015 to celebrate such an occasion.
We enjoyed picnic food similar to what Napoleon ate on 18 October 1815. We sat at 3 long tables in the dining room which were decorated with red, white and blue, the French colours. The fine dining china and silverware were most appropriate for the occasion, we sipped on Champagne, and chatted enthusiastically with the other guests about our associations with Napoleon which was quite varied.
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| Joy & Peter Olney |
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| Napoleon's picnic fare |
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| The little cakes were delicious but not quite what Napoleon would have eaten! |
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| Anne Whitehead launched her book "Betsy and the Emperor" |
"Betsy and the Emperor" is about the British family, the Balcombe family, who lived at "The Briars" on the island of St Helena and incurred the wrath of the British Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe because of their friendship with Napoleon Bonaparte. Through that relationship with Napoleon they inevitably became closely acquainted with his immediate companions in his household, his devoted chamberlain and biographer, his physician and his valet.
Napoleon spent the first 7 weeks of his imprisonment on the island of St Helena with the Balcombe family while he waited for "Longwood House" to be completed and ready to shift into. Napoleon's friendship with 14 year old Betsy Balcombe whose impudent charm briefly enlivened his exile is interesting reading.
Anne's book follows the Balcombe family back to Britain and to the penal colony of New South Wales. The book argues that Napoleon, a master of strategy, had a particular reason for cultivating the Balcombes. It also answers how and why the lives of that English family on St Helena, the merchant William Balcombe, his wife who resembled the Empress Josephine, and their two pretty daughters, Betsy and Jane came to be entangled with Napoleon and the reason why he was anxious to entangle them.
My interest is with the Moss and Solomon families, in particular with
Saul Solomon (1776-1852), the local Merchant on St Helena, often called "The
Merchant King of St Helena". Also Cousins George Moss 1815-1898 and Saul
Solomon 1817-1892 who were business associates and owned "The Briars"
for half a century, and "Longwood House" where Isaac Moss later lived.
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”. Betsey 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 Betsey 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 Betsy 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. Betsey 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 Betsey 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.
Betsey 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 Betsey:
‘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’.
Betsey 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 Betsey
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…..
About "The Briars" and the Balcombe family in Melbourne, Australia.
William Balcombe was given the job of Colonial Treasurer in the new colony of Australia in 1824. He took up land in New South Wales near where Canberra is today and called that house "The Briars" also. His son Alexander Balcombe, as a young man travelled south. The Government was granting leases for farming and grazing land on the Mornington Peninsula. "Tichingorourke" was leased to Captian Reid, a retired army officer who found farming difficult, went backrupt and returned to Scotland. Alexander Balcombe took up some of the land covered by this lease. It was 40 miles from Melbourne along a rough bush track, a trip that took 2 days. In 1846 Alexander erected the pre-fabricated "Hutch", built the South Wing about 1850 and the North Wing about 1865. The Balcombes raised and sold livestock. Animals were taken overland to Melbourne and Balcombes owned a large grazing paddock at Mordialloc. This was a resting place about half way along the route to Melbourne. The Balcombes also owned a house in East Melbourne called "Eastcourt" where they stayed when in Melbourne. Alexander became quite wealthy and well known in Schnapper Point, now called Mornington. In the 1860s Alexander and Emma built a new home, extending onto the first homestead. It had sixteen rooms with fireplaces in every room, high ceilings and French windows which opened onto a wide verandah that went around the house. This new home was called "The Briars" after the one on St Helena. Trees were planted and hawthorn hedges were growing. There were flowers gardens, vegetable and herb gardens. Alexander made wine from the grapes in his vineyard. The farm provided all that the family needed. Dairy cows for milk, butter and cream. Hives of bees supplied honey, chooks were kept for eggs and meat. Fodder crops like oats, fed the animals. The house had a wing for the servants. During this period Alexander was able to buy freehold title to more than 500 hectares. Alexander and Emma had nine children but Stephen and William died when they were babies. Alexander was well known in Mornington, serving on many committees. He helped start the school and St Peters Anglican Church. He was a Magistrate. Emma found farm life very hard as she grew older. Later "The Briars" was leased out to other farmers and the Balcombes went to live at their home in East Melbourne where Alexander died in 1877 at 66 years old.
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| "The Briars" at Mt Martha |
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| Peter Olney at "The Briars" on 18 October 2015 |
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| "The Briars" at Mt Martha |
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| Edwardian Wing built about 1907. The bricks are laid with the long side of one brick (actually two bricks side by side) alternating with the end of a brick which has been laid at right angles to them. This pattern is known as Flemish bond which gives a double thickness to the wall. |
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| The laundry/Diary was built 1857-1862. The laundry is at the far end. During the 1920s era the cook prepared meals here when the kitchen was white-washed every spring. The central room is believed to be the dairy and the closest room, clad with corrugated iron was probably a store room. |
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| Chickens |
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| The stables can be seen on the hill. The block contained stall for three horses and a tack room. They were built in 1850s. |
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| The Hutch (West Wing) built about 1846. This wooden structure was the first section of the homestead to be erected. The family lived here while their brick homestead was being built. It was a pre-fabricated house that was brought out from England. Originally it was a two roomed cottage with a rear skillion. Shingles formed the original roofing and these are still in place beneath the present iron roof. |
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| The Garage was built pre-World War 11 and extended from the original in 1955. It now houses a couple of horse drawn vehicles and a furphy water tank on wheels. |
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| The North Wing was built mid 1860s of hand made bricks. Four rooms now make up this wing and displays items of interest about St Helena and Napoleon. The front door is a panelled and painted half-glazed door. The verandah roof was originally straight and altered to a curved one when it was re-roofed in the 19th century. The Banksia rose across the verandah is well over one hundred years old and is said to be a cutting from neighbour Georgiana McCrae. |
Alexander's descendants, the Murphy and a'Beckett families remained at "The Briars" until 1976. In that year Richard a'Beckett sold the remaining 220 hectares to the Shire of Mornington and presented "The Briars" Homestead and surrounding eight hectares of lawns, old established trees, gardens and outbuildings jointly to the Shire and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), for the people and in memory of his wife Elizabeth Clare.
The Homestead today contains a collection of Balcombe family photographs, National Trust owned furniture typical of the nineteenth centry, and the Dame Mabel Brookes Family Records of Napoleon. It was on the island of St Helena in 1815 that Alexander's father and Dame Mabel's great grandfather William Balcombe befriended the exiled French Emperor, permitting him to live temporarily in a pavilion attached to the original Briars. William's career with the East India Company was nearly destroyed by this perceived indiscretion and resulted in his recall to England on suspicion of treason. Exonerated in 1824, he was appointed as the first Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales.
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| "The Briars" - A Cultural Landscape. This pastoral lease was firstly named Tichingorourke after the Boonwurrung people who lived, hunted and gathered here for tens of thousands of years. |
If you see anything that needs correction or for comments, please contact the author, Joy Olney via email - joyolney@gmail.com
If you are really interested in Napoleon, St Helena, the Moss and Solomon families you might like to take a look at more posts within this Blog at http://solomonmossfamilyarchives.blogspot.com.au/
Another Blog of interest would be - http://olneyfamilyarchives.blogspot.com.au/
