A rare firsthand account of France in the immediate aftermath of Napoleon's abdication in 1814, kept by a British soldier as he marched home across the country having served in the final battles of Wellington in south-west France. It provides a tantalising insight into a much more complex and nuanced impact of the wars on France than is commonly believed.

The first page is signed "Fred. Shaw / His Book / Toulouse April / the 10th 1814" followed by seemingly a testimony of a marriage between a fellow soldier or friend "Jack Taylor (and) Lucy Taylor". Many of the soldiers in Wellington's armies had acquired Spanish wives and girlfriends during their time in Spain during the Peninsular War who were abandoned when the British withdrew. The 10th of April was the day when Wellington led his armies across the Garonne and launched his assault in the Battle of Toulouse, his final action against Marshal Soult. Whether this marriage was a final act before the conflict or in celebration of success after, it shows the continued peril faced by soldiers on both sides in the final days when news of Napoleon's abdication had yet to reach the southern armies. Shaw also lists Bayonne in his itinerary, suggesting that he was present at the final two major actions of Wellington and the British Army in the Peninsular War.

The narrative starts "March'd at day Break six Leagues to a small Village called Mongaion Alted(?) that Night" and continues in a similar vein with small vignettes of the towns and villages he stayed. After the abdication of Napoleon and the Truce of Paris signed on the 30th of May the combined British Armies travelled to Bordeaux to be sent to their new postings, many in America or the Caribbean, or home to England. It was commonly understood the foot regiments were transported by the Navy and the Cavalry were allowed to travel back through France to be ferried across the Channel. Shaw is evidence of some of the foot regiments marching across France instead. He "marched" from Bordeaux through Angoulême, Poitiers, Tours, Vendôme, and Abbeville, to Boulogne-sur-Mer which is the final entry of the journal.

Shaw's account of France contradicts the historically British held belief that France welcomed their salvation from Napoleon the Dictator with open arms and "the Cavalry... rode home across France to Boulogne and Calais, feasting off champagne at a shilling a bottle and delighting in a countryside unravaged by war" (Bryant, p98). Although Shaw certainly appreciated the French countryside, frequently describing the towns and vistas he witnesses as beautiful, his experience with the hospitality of the French people is markedly different. He records a disagreement in Tours, when "me and two more of my friends went into one of their cook shops to get something to eat" and then, after eating a meal of giblets, bread, and beer, they were brought a bill for "not less than nine shillings / the beer at six pence per bottle". Considering that this exceeded even an officer's daily wage it is little wonder Shaw and his friends felt cheated. After some haggling "the Lady Reduced it to Six Shillings", yet it is still clear that food was not in ready supply and the countryside was struggling after the endless conscriptions by Napoleon had taken away all the young men from the cities and towns.

Narrow stitch bound folio (290 x 105 x 5 mm) approximately 20 pages of text on 26 leaves, including narrative, two leaves of accounts, and an itinerary; stitching loose with remains of other leaves to rear of journal torn off, suggesting it has been repurposed by the author.

Arthur Bryant, The Age of Elegance, 1812-1822, p98.

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Manuscript journal of a British soldier marching home through France in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.