Briars

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The Briars
Briars Pavilion

Briars Pavilion

Data
place -
Construction year before 1815
Coordinates 15 ° 56 '36.6 "  S , 5 ° 42' 35.1"  W Coordinates: 15 ° 56 '36.6 "  S , 5 ° 42' 35.1"  W.

The Briars , also Briars , is a settlement of houses on the island of St. Helena . It is known for the pavilion of the same name . This was inhabited by Napoléon Bonaparte during the first weeks of his captivity in 1815, before moving to Longwood House . The pavilion is located in the Alarm Forest district .

history

Originally the name referred to the entire property in whose garden the pavilion was located. It belonged to William Balcombe, an English merchant who became Napoleon's supplier. His 14-year-old daughter Elisabeth Lucia ("Betsy") Balcombe was the only family member who spoke French and became the translator for the family. Because of their closeness to Napoleon, Governor Hudson Lowe suspected the Balcombe family of secretly smuggling news. In 1818 the Balcombes left St. Helena - presumably under pressure from Governor Lowe - and returned to England. The Briars was then used as accommodation for the admiral stationed here on duty.

William Balcombe was later offered a position in Australia. In 1959 the pavilion was donated to the French nation by a great-granddaughter of William Balcombe, Dame Mabel Brookes . Briars became the third French property on the island .

The Balcombe family estate in the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia was also named The Briars. It is now operated by the Mornington Peninsula Shire and is open to the public. The Napoleonic memorabilia collected by Mabel Brookes, which were also donated to the Mornington Peninsula, are partly on display there.

The pavilion is a listed building (level I) .

literature

  • Lucia Elizabeth Balco Abell, Betsy Balcombe, David Markham (Eds.): To Befriend an Emperor - Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St. Helena. Ravenhall, Welwyn Garden City, UK 2005, ISBN 978-1-905043-03-3 (Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon during the First Three Years of his Captivity on the Island of St Helena. John Murray, London 1944).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alarm Forest. Saint Helena Island Info. Retrieved February 18, 2016