NOT ONLY did French Army and Navy officers who were prisoners of war in Petersfield benefit from the practical hospitality of their hosts, they were also loaned and given money.

Local historian David Jeffery continues reporting his researches in the county record office about the prisoners and the notable Bonham family, who lived at Castle House in The Square.

“Besides having access to Henry Bonham’s library and genial hospitality, the French officers appear also to have benefited from his financial generosity. M. Rochet asks for (unspecified) help both for himself and for his son, and adds that, if he could have two or three guineas, he would promise to repay it as soon as he returns to France.

“M Beaudin’s pay of nine sous is too small (he says) and, although he regularly receives money from his parents, he begs for half a guinea which he will repay as soon as his money arrives via the commissaire. He suggests that he could also pay by instalments as soon as he has work, or if Mr Bonham gives him some.

“Henry Bonham appears to have been a little at the mercy of these ‘poor prisoners’ – M Beaudin, for example, makes an earnest request for a loan for a young man ‘who is not accustomed to poverty’, since his family is wealthy.

“The Bonham generosity is clearly legendary – in apologising for the delay in replying to a letter from him, and thanking him for his generosity and humanity, Lieutenant Dozouville claims that he has been preoccupied with helping two men whom he has ‘tried to treat as (Mr Bonham) would have done’. The men in question had no money to pay for lodgings, lived on bread and water, and went without shoes or stockings.

“Some of the pleas for pecuniary assistance appear almost unfounded, yet stir the Bonham conscience.

“Not all dealings with the French were so genteel. Among the fascinating set of letters in this dossier, there is a small-format card which was clearly intended to be given by gamekeepers to poachers unfamiliar with English.

“‘Excuse me. It is my duty to tell you that you may not walk here. It is my duty to arrest anyone who carries traps on him for catching any kind of game. That is: fish, pheasants, partridges or hares. The law demands that anyone arrested must pay five pounds immediately or he will be put in an English prison.

“The loutish behaviour of a certain M Cardimille, described as a ‘disturber of the peace’ who ‘dishonoured the French name and was unworthy of the title of officer’, was reported to Henry Bonham by a (French) Colonel Hartman, resident in Petersfield. This man had broken into Colonel Hartman’s house, sworn at him and broken one of his windows.

“Cardimille had the audacity to state that he was not under English law, nor even under your – the local commissioner’s – orders, and that he took great pleasure in breaking (the colonel’s) window and, what was more, that he would threaten (them) with a stick.”