3. perth
the following particulars about the great dép?t at perth are largely taken from mr. w. sievwright’s book, now out of print and obtainable with difficulty.[5] mr. p. baxter of perth, however, transcribed it for me from the copy in the perth museum, and to him my best thanks are due.
the dép?t at perth was completed in 1812. it was constructed to hold about 7,000 prisoners, and consisted of five three-story buildings, each 130 feet long and 30 feet broad, with outside stairs, each with a separate iron palisaded airing-ground and all converging upon what was known as the ‘market place’. each of these blocks held 1,140 prisoners. south of the great square was a building for petty officers, accommodating 1,100, and north of it the hospital for 150 invalids. both of these latter buildings are still standing, having been incorporated with the present general prison. the sleeping quarters were very crowded; so much so, says sievwright, that the prisoners had to sleep ‘spoon fashion’, (as we have seen on the prison ships), the turning-over process having to be done by whole ranks in obedience to words of command; ‘attention! squad number so and so! prepare to spoon! one! two! spoon!’
around the entire space was a deep moat, ten feet broad; beyond this an iron palisade; beyond this a wall twelve feet six inches high, with a sentry-walk round it. three or four regiments of militia were always kept in perth for guard duties, which occupied 300 men. many acres of potatoes were planted outside the prison. when peace was finally made, and the prison was emptied, the owners of these profitable acres were 156in despair, until one of them discovered the london market, and this has been kept ever since.
the first prisoners came from plymouth via dundee in august 1812. they had been lodged the first night in the church of inchtore.[6] ‘during the night’, says penny in his traditions of perth, ‘the french prisoners found means to extract the brass nails and purloin the green cloth from the pulpit and seats in the church, with every other thing they could lay their hands on.’ penny seems to have exaggerated. one prisoner stole a couple of ‘mort cloths’. this so enraged his fellows that they tried him by court martial, and sentenced him to twenty-four lashes. he got seventeen there and then, but fainted, and the remainder were given him later.
the prisoners were 400 in number, and had some women with them, and were in tolerably good condition. a great many came in after salamanca. they had been marched through fifeshire in very bad weather. ‘the poor creatures, many of them half naked, were in a miserable plight; numbers of them gave up upon the road, and were flung into carts, one above the other, and when the carts were full, and capable of holding no more, the others were tied to the backs with ropes and dragged along.’
kirkcaldy on the forth was the chief port for landing the prisoners; from kirkcaldy they were marched overland to perth.
the first attempt at escape from the new dép?t was made in september 1812, there being at this time about 4,000 prisoners there. a prisoner slipped past the turnkey as the latter was opening a door in the iron palisading, and got away. the alarm was given; the prisoner had got to friarton toll, half a mile away, but being closely pursued was captured in a wheat field.
one petite in this year was a slippery customer. he got out of perth but was recaptured, and lodged at montrose on 157the march back to gaol. thence he escaped by unscrewing the locks of three doors, but was again caught at ruthven print-field, and safely lodged in his old quarters in perth gaol. shortly after he was ordered to be transferred to valleyfield, and a sergeant and eight men were considered necessary to escort him. they got him safely as far as kirkcaldy, where they halted, and m. petite was lodged for the night in the local prison; but when they came for him in the morning, he was not to be found, and was never heard of again!
here sievwright introduces a story from penny, of date previous to the dép?t.
‘on april 20th, 1811, it was reputed at the perth barracks that four french prisoners had passed through perth. a detachment of soldiers who were sent in pursuit on the road to dundee, found, not those they were seeking, but four others, whom they conveyed to perth and lodged in gaol. on the morning of april 24th, they managed to effect their escape. by cutting some planks out of the partition of their apartment, they made their way to the court room, from the window of which they descended to the street. on their table was found a letter expressing their gratitude to the magistrates and inhabitants of perth for the civilities they had received, and promising a return of the kindness to any scotsman whom they might find among the british prisoners in france.’
as a supplement to this, it is recorded that two of the original quarry were afterwards captured, but were released unconditionally later on, when one of them proved that he had humanely treated general walker, when the latter was lying seriously wounded at badajos, saved him from being dispatched by a furious grenadier, and had him removed to a hospital. the general gave him his name and address, and promised to help him should occasion arise.
in january 1813 three prisoners got off in a thick fog and made their way as far as broughty ferry on the forth. on their way, it came out later, they stopped in dundee for refreshment without any apparent dread of disturbance, and were later seen on the fort hill near broughty ferry. in the evening they entered a shop, bought up all the bread in it and had a leather bottle filled with spirits. at nine the same evening they boarded mr. grubb’s ship nancy, and immediately got 158under weigh unnoticed. the nancy was of fifteen tons burden, and was known to be provisioned for ten days, as she was going to start the next morning on an excursion. the prisoners escaped, and a woman and two renfrewshire militiamen were detained in prison after examination upon suspicion of having concealed and aided the prisoners with information about the nancy which they could hardly have obtained ordinarily.
this was on thursday, january 21. on the night of monday, 18th, a mason at the dép?t, on his way from newburgh to perth, was stopped by three men at the coates of fingask on the rhynd road, and robbed of ￡1 18s. 6d. the robbers had the appearance of farm servants, but it seems quite likely that they were the daring and successful abductors of the nancy.
on january 21, 1813, there were 6,788 prisoners at the dép?t. on the evening of february 22, 1813, seven prisoners bribed a sentinel to let them escape. he agreed, but at once gave information, and was instructed to keep up the deception. so, at the fixed hour the prisoners, awaiting with confident excitement the arrival of their deliverer, were, instead, found hiding with scaling-ladders, ropes, and all implements necessary for escape upon them, and a considerable sum of money for their needs. they were at once conveyed to the punishment cells under the central tower.
at perth, as elsewhere, the prisoners were allowed to amuse themselves, and to interest themselves in the manufacture of various knick-knacks, toys, boxes, and puzzles, from wood, and the bones of their beef; of these they made a great variety, and many of them are masterpieces of cunning deftness, and wonderfully beautiful in delicacy and perfection of workmanship. they made straw plait, a manufacture then in its infancy in this country; numbers made shoes out of bits of cloth, cutting up their clothes for the purpose, and it is possible that their hammocks may have yielded the straw. it is said that after a time straw plait and shoes were prohibited as traffic. some of the prisoners dug clay out of their court-yards and modelled figures of smugglers, soldiers, sailors, and women. the prisoners had the privilege of holding a market daily, to which the public were admitted provided they carried no contraband articles. potatoes, vegetables, bread, 159soap, tobacco, and firewood, were all admitted. large numbers of the inhabitants went daily to view the markets, and make purchases. the prisoners had stands set out all round the railing of the yards, on which their wares were placed. many paid high prices for the articles. while some of the prisoners were busy selling, others were occupied in buying provisions, vegetables and other necessaries of food. some of the prisoners played the flute, fiddle, and other instruments, for halfpence; punch’s opera and other puppet shows were also got up in fine style. some were industrious and saving; others gambled and squandered the clothes from their bodies, and wandered about with only a bit of blanket tied round them.
from penny’s traditions of perth comes the following market trick:
‘as much straw plait as made a bonnet was sold for four shillings, and, being exceedingly neat, it was much inquired after. in this trade many a one got a bite, for the straw was all made up in parcels, and for fear of detection smuggled into the pockets of the purchasers.
‘an unsuspecting man having been induced by his wife to purchase a quantity of straw plait for a bonnet, he attended the market and soon found a seller. he paid the money, but, lest he should be observed, he turned his back on the prisoner, and got the things slipped into his hand, and thence into his pocket. away he went with his parcel, well pleased that he had escaped detection (for outsiders found buying straw plait were severely dealt with by the law), and on his way home he thought he would examine his purchase, when, to his astonishment and no doubt to his deep mortification, he found instead of straw plait, a bundle of shavings very neatly tied up. the man instantly returned, and told of the deception, and insisted on getting back his money. but the prisoner from whom the purchase had been made could not be seen. whilst trying to get a glimpse of his seller, he was told that if he did not go away he would be informed against, and fined for buying the supposed straw plait. he was retiring when another prisoner came forward and said he would find the other, and make him take back the shavings and return the money. pretending deep commiseration, the second prisoner said he had no change, but if the straw plait buyer would give him sixteen shillings, he would give him a one pound note, and take his chance of the man returning the money. the dupe 160gave the money and took the note—which was a forgery on a perth bank.’
attempts to escape were almost a weekly occurrence, and some of them exhibited very notable ingenuity, patience, and daring. on march 26, 1813, the discovery was made of a subterranean excavation from the latrine of no. 2 prison, forty-two feet long, and so near the base of the outer wall that another hour’s work would have finished it.
on april 4, 1813, was found a pit twenty feet deep in the floor of no. 2 prison, with a lateral cut at about six feet from the bottom. the space below this cut was to receive water, and the cut was to pass obliquely upwards to allow water to run down. a prisoner in hospital was suspected by the others of giving information about this, and when he was discharged he was violently assaulted, the intention being to cut off his ears. he resisted, however, so that only one was taken off. then a rope was fastened to him, and he was dragged through the moat while men jumped on him. he was rescued just in time by a durham militiaman.
on the 28th of the same month three prisoners got with false keys into an empty cellar under the central tower. they had provided themselves with ordinary civilian attire which they intended to slip over their prison clothes, and mix with the market crowd. they were discovered by a man going into the cellar to examine the water pipes. had they succeeded a great many more would have followed.
on may 5, 1813, some prisoners promised a big bribe to a soldier of the durham militia if he would help them to escape. he pretended to accede, but promptly informed his superiors, who told him to keep up the delusion. so he allowed six prisoners to get over the outer wall by a rope ladder which they had made. four were out and two were on the burial ground which was between the north boundary wall and the cow inch, when they were captured by a party of soldiers who had been posted there. the other two were caught in a dry ditch. they were all lodged in the cachot. it was well for the ‘faithful durham’, for the doubloons he got were only three-shilling pieces, and the bank notes were forgeries!
in june three men escaped by breaking the bar of 161a window, and dropping therefrom by a rope ladder. one of them who had got on board a neutral vessel at dundee ventured ashore and was captured; one got as far as montrose, but was recognized; of the fate of the third we do not hear.
a duel took place between two officers with sharpened foils. the strictest punctilio was observed at the affair, and after one had badly wounded the other, hands were shaken, and honour satisfied.
about this time a clerk in the dép?t was suspended for attempting to introduce a profligate woman into the prison.
the usual market was prohibited on midsummer market day, 1813, and the public were excluded, as it was feared that the extraordinary concourse of people would afford opportunities for the prisoners to escape by mixing with them in disguise.
the medical report of july 1813 states that out of 7,000 prisoners there were only twenty-four sick, including convalescents, and of these only four were confined to their beds.
on august 15, 1813, the prisoners were not only allowed to celebrate the emperor’s birthday, but the public were apprised of the fête and invited to attend a balloon ascent. the crowd duly assembled on the south inch, but the balloon was accidentally burst. there were illuminations of the prisons at night, and some of the transparencies, says the chronicler, showed much taste and ingenuity. advantage was taken of the excitement of this gala day to hurry on one of the most daring and ingenious attempts to escape in the history of the prison. on the morning of august 24 it was notified that a number of prisoners had escaped through a mine dug from the latrine of no. 2 prison to the bottom of the southern outer wall. it was supposed that they must have begun to get out at 2 a.m. that day, but one of them, attempting to jump the ‘lade’, fell into the water with noise enough to alarm the nearest sentry, who fired in the direction of the sound. the alarm thus started was carried on by the other sentries, and it was found that no fewer than twenty-three prisoners had got away. ten of them were soon caught. two who had got on board a vessel on the perth shore were turned off by the master. one climbed up a tree and was discovered. one made an attempt to swim the tay, but had to give up from exhaustion, 162and others were captured near the river, which, being swollen by recent rains, they had been unable to cross; and thirteen temporarily got away.
of these the caledonian mercury wrote:
‘four of the prisoners who lately escaped from the perth dép?t were discovered within a mile of arbroath on august 28th by a seaman belonging to the custom house yacht stationed there, who procured the assistance of some labourers, and attempted to apprehend them, upon which they drew their knives and threatened to stab any one who lay [sic] hold of them, but on the arrival of a recruiting party and other assistance the frenchmen submitted. they stated that on thursday night—(they had escaped on tuesday morning) they were on board of a vessel at dundee, but which they were unable to carry off on account of a neap tide which prevented her floating; other three or four prisoners had been apprehended and lodged in forfar gaol. it has been ascertained that several others had gone northwards by the highland road in the direction of inverness.’
the four poor fellows in forfar jail made yet another bold bid for liberty. by breaking through the prison wall, they succeeded in making a hole to the outside nearly large enough for their egress before they were discovered. the only tool they had was a part of the fire-grate which they had wrenched in pieces. their time was well chosen for getting out to sea, for it was nearly high water when they were discovered. two others were captured near blair atholl, some thirty miles north of perth, and were brought back to the dép?t.
brief allusion has been made to the remarkable healthiness of the prisoners at perth. the london papers of 1813 lauded portchester and portsmouth as examples of sanitary well-being to other prisoner districts, and quoted the statistics that, out of 20,680 prisoners there, only 154 were on the sick list, but the average at perth was still better. on august 26, 1813, there were 7,000 prisoners at perth, of whom only fourteen were sick. on october 28, out of the same number, only ten were sick; and on february 3, 1814, when the weather was very severe, there was not one man in bed.
the forgery of bank notes and the manufacture of base coin was pursued as largely and as successfully at perth as 163elsewhere. in the perth courier of september 19, 1813, we read:
‘we are sorry to learn that the forgery of notes of various banks is carried on by prisoners at the dép?t, and that they find means to throw them into circulation by the assistance of profligate people who frequent the market. the eagerness of the prisoners to obtain cash is very great, and as they retain all they procure, they have drained the place almost entirely of silver so that it has become a matter of difficulty to get change of a note.... last week a woman coming from the market at the dép?t was searched by an order of captain moriarty, when there was found about her person pieces of base money in imitation of bank tokens (of which the prisoners are suspected to have been the fabricators), to the amount of ￡5 17s. after undergoing examination, the woman was committed to gaol.’
it was publicly announced on september 16, 1813, that a mine had been discovered in the floor of the officers’ prison, no. 6, at the dép?t. this building, a two-story oblong one, now one of the hospitals, still stands to the south of the general prison village square. an excavation of sufficient diameter to admit the passage of a man had been cut with iron hoops, as it was supposed, carried nineteen feet perpendicularly down-wards and thirty feet horizontally outwards.
a detachment of the guard having been marched into the prison after this discovery, the men were stoned by the prisoners, among whom the soldiers fired three shots without doing any injury. at 11 o’clock the next sunday morning, about forty prisoners were observed by a sentry out of their prison, strolling about the airing ground of no. 3. an alarm was immediately given to the guard, who, fearing a general attempt to escape, rushed towards the place where the prisoners were assembled, and, having seized twenty-four of them, drove the rest back into the prison. in the tumult three of the prisoners were wounded and were taken to the hospital. the twenty-four who were seized were lodged in the cachot, where they remained for a time, together with eleven retaken fugitives.
next morning, on counting over the prisoners in no. 3, twenty-eight were missing. as a light had been observed in the latrine about 8 o’clock the preceding evening, that place 164was examined and a mine was discovered communicating with the great sewer of the dép?t. through this outlet the absentees had escaped. two of them were taken on the following monday morning at bridge of earn, four miles distant, and three more on thursday.
a short time previous to this escape, 800 prisoners had been transferred to perth from the penicuik dép?t, and these, it was said, were of a most turbulent and ungovernable character, so that the influence of these men would necessitate a much sterner discipline, and communication between the prisoners and the public much more restricted than hitherto. in the foregoing case the punishments had been very lenient, the market being shut only for one day.
gradually most of the escaped prisoners were retaken, all in a very exhausted state.
not long after, heavy rains increased the waters of the canal so that, by breaking into it, they revealed an excavation being made from no. 1.
in the same month three prisoners got out, made their way to findon, kincardineshire, stole a fishing-boat, provisioned it by thefts from other boats, and made off successfully.
yet another mine was discovered this month. it ran from a latrine, not to the great sewer, but in a circuitous direction to meet it. the prisoners while working at this were surrounded by other prisoners, who pretended to be amusing themselves, whilst they hid the workers from the view of the sentries. but an unknown watcher through a loophole in a turret saw the buckets of earth being taken to the well, pumped upon and washed away through the sewer to the tay, and he gave information.
yet again a sentry noticed that buckets of earth were being carried from no. 6 prison, and informed the officer of the guard, who found about thirty cartloads of earth heaped up at the two ends of the highest part of the prison known as the cock loft.
on april 11, 1814, the news of the dethronement of bonaparte reached perth, and was received with universal delight. the prisoners in the dép?t asked the agent, captain moriarty, to be allowed to illuminate for the coming peace and freedom, 165but at so short a notice little could be done, although the tower was illuminated by the agent himself. that the feeling among the prisoners was still strong for bonaparte, however, was presently shown when half a dozen prisoners in the south prison hoisted the white flag of french royalty. almost the whole of their fellow captives clambered up the walls, tore down the flag, and threatened those who hoisted it with violent treatment if they persisted.
the guard removed the royalists to the hospital for safety, and later their opponents wrote a penitential letter to captain moriarty. in june 1814 the removal of the prisoners began. those that went down the river in boats were heartily cheered by the people. others marched to newburgh, where, on the quay, they held a last market for the sale of their manufactures, which was thronged by buyers anxious to get mementoes and willing to pay well for them. ‘all transactions were conducted honourably, while the additional graces of french politeness made a deep impression upon the natives of fife, both male and female,’ adds the chronicler. it was during this march to newburgh that the prisoners sold the new testaments distributed among them by a zealous missionary.
altogether it was a pleasant wind-up to a long, sad period, especially for the frenchmen, many of whom got on board the transports at newburgh very much richer men than when they first entered the french dép?t, or than they would have been had they never been taken prisoners. especially pleasant, too, is it to think that they left amidst tokens of goodwill from the people amongst whom many of them had been long captive.
the dép?t was finally closed july 31, 1814.
during one year, that is between september 14, 1812, and september 24, 1813, there were fourteen escapes or attempted escapes of prisoners. of these seven were frustrated and seven were more or less successful, that is to say, sixty-one prisoners managed to get out of the prison, but of these thirty-two were recaptured while twenty-nine got clean away.
from 1815 to 1833 the dép?t was used as a military clothing store, and eventually it became the general prison for scotland.
