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Napoleon and Cooke´s first Plymouth engravings 

Napoleon Bonaparte, hero of Toulon in 1793, visited Plymouth somewhat against his will for ten days in July-August 1815. Napoleon had celebrity status, despite the misery caused to millions and every person who could, tried to make profit out of this unique opportunity. Probably the first to see a money-making opportunity every resident who owned a boat was keen to hire out their small craft: it is reported that almost 10 000 trippers were taken out in all manner of boats over the ten days. Others supplied the various needs of those on HMS Bellerophon such as supplying the large quantities of provisions, carrying messages or even doing the laundry. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Maitland after negotiations off the French coast and was escorted first to Tor Bay, arriving on July 24th. The Bellerophon then spent ten days in Sutton Harbour before Napoleon was transferred on August 7th to HMS Northumberland off Berry Head for ultimate exile on St Helena.

Fig. 25. Advert for an engraving of Napoleon Buonaparte, Royal Cornwall Gazette, August 1815. 

Napoleon was accompanied on board the Bellerophon by an entourage of officers, men, his surgeon and ladies. Colonel Planat, one of those officers, drew a sketch likeness of the Emperor and this was soon copied. The exact circumstances of the drawing becoming available are not known but within weeks a large number of copies of this were being printed.

We know that at least two local entrepreneurs were offering such a print: John Cooke and Thomas Huss. In an advertisement dated August 17th, 1815, John Cooke is offering an Engraving by Mr Cooke, Union Street, New Road, Stonehouse and Shortly Will Be Published The most respectable portrait of Napoleon Buonaparte (Fig. 25). In addition, the advert assets that even Captain Maitland had testified its likeness to the Emperor. Proof Impressions were to cost 5s and subscriptions were requested. These were to be sent to Mr Nettleton of the Royal Cornwall Gazette Office in Truro. This would be Peter Nettleton, Jr, who published the Gazette, also known as the Falmouth Packet and Plymouth Journal.

One of those selling such a print was the Stonehouse bookseller and print publisher Thomas Huss. The engraving was finished by John Cooke[1]. The title reads Napoleon, born at Ajaccio 15 August 1769 / engraved by John Cooke of Plymouth, but the imprint according to Maxted is Published by T. Huss, bookseller of Stonehouse, 29 September, 1815. According to Alfred John Dunkin[2], Captain Maitland actually possessed an original copper plate engraving by John Cooke but writes the imprint was Published by T [sic] Cooke, Union Street, Stonehouse, Devon, Aug. 15, 1815.

Another of such portraits was by John Spurgeon[3] (Fig. 26), a well-known artist. The text title here reads: Napoleon Buonaparte from a sketch by Colonel Planat his private Secretary on board H M S Bellerophon, Plymouth Sound, July 31st 1815. A similar portrait has Napoleon Bonaparte drawn by M Planat Lt. Col. D´artillerie, officier d´ordnance á l´empeur. Eurotas Frigate Augt 7th 1815. Nicolas Louis Planat De La Faye, on hearing of his master´s impending exile, was much affected, and even wept;[4] he himself being transported on the Eurotas to his place of exile, on Gozo (Malta).[5]  He was bequeathed 40,000 francs in Napoleon´s will.

Fig. 26. Sketch of Napoleon by John Spurgeon. [6] 

Thomas Huss had been a bookseller and music seller for many years, possibly since the 1790s, and had been involved in selling works by local residents, and may have published a small number with other local booksellers. He was also an agent for lotteries, e.g. selling tickets for Bish`s New Year Lottery in 1814.[7] Huss ran a circulating library from premises in Chapel St. from c. 1821 which continued for at least another twenty years. When, in 1824, Thomas Huss died Mrs. (Mary) Huss retained the stationery business until at least 1852 and the library continued until at least 1850 when to walk round and view Edgcumbe Park (see 24A), it was necessary “for strangers to make application to Mrs. Huss, bookseller, Stonehouse, when a guide may be obtained for a party not exceeding six persons; but on Mondays free admission is given to the public, without more trouble than entering names at the lodge gate”.[8]

When Ann Thomas of Millbrook needed her anti-Jacobin novel, Adolphus de Biron. A novel sold, she turned to local booksellers including Thomas Huss. Her novel, set out in a sequence of letters, was printed for the authoress in Plymouth by P. Nettleton and appeared in 1794[9], was published or distributed by Messrs. Nettleton, Wills, and Barnikel, in Plymouth; Mr. Huss, Stonehouse; Messrs. Hoxland, Fraser, and Heydon, Dock; and Mr. Woolmer, Bookseller, Exeter.

Obadiah Prim would certainly have appreciated her contribution to anti-Jacobin sentiments as shown by Adolphus when he said: Look, therefore, ye Sons of Britain, on the awful Scene, which France now presents to your View, with Sentiments worthy of your Character. Regard the Passing Events in awful Silence, and turn our Calamities to your own Advantage, by a due Thankfulness to Providence for the Blessings you enjoy under your well-formed and excellent Constitution.[10] 

The next two works signed by John Cooke again clearly link him with Devon but there is a period of two years before they appear: C S Gilbert´s An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall published [Plymouth] Dock by J Congdon in 1817 included a simple chart of Falmouth Harbour (23) and other engravings; and two simpler plans illustrating the Substance of a Statement and depicted a Rail Road from the Forest of Dartmoor to the Plymouth Lime-Quarries. This latter work was published in London, by Harding in 1819 (24) and presented by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt who was instrumental in the construction of the prisoner-of-war camp, popularly known as Dartmoor Prison. Both maps are signed by John Cooke Stonehouse, Plymo.

 

Fig. 27: Dedication to Hugh Percy in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.


The Historical Survey of Cornwall was published in two volumes and besides the chart of the harbour was richly illustrated with 25 pages of heraldic arms (Fig. 28). Charles Sandoe Gilbert (1760–1831) was born in the parish of Kenwyn, near Truro, 1760. He became an itinerant vendor of medicines in Cornwall and Devonshire, where his universal remedies were well received and brought him considerable wealth. He later opened shops at Plymouth and Devonport.

 

 

 

Fig. 28: One of 25 sheets of heraldic arms in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.

Gilbert acquired information which led him to believe that he might claim descent from the Gilberts of Compton Castle, Devonshire, and began to study antiquities and heraldry. In his journeys through Cornwall (and those of his agents) he collected a vast amount of information. The first volume of An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall appeared in 1817. This was richly supported by the then 2nd Duke of Northumberland, Lieutenant General Hugh Percy (1742-1817). The dedicatory panel in the first volume is a showcase of Cooke´s abilities (Fig. 27). Hugh Percy´s death postponed the publishing of the second volume, which came out in 1820, with assistance from the 3rd Duke, also Hugh Percy (1785-1847). It is judged by some to be one of the best and most useful of the books on Cornwall. The work cost double the estimate, and in 1825 Gilbert was made a bankrupt. He moved to London opening a chemist's shop in the Strand where he died, 30 May 1831, and was buried in the churchyard of the Savoy.

  

Fig. 29. Map title panel, dedication to John Wodehouse in Gilbert´s History of Cornwall.

 

A large chart of Falmouth Harbour accompanies the work (a copy of one drawn in the reign of King Charles II) and this is signed below the rather intriguing title panel by Cooke (Fig. 29). In addition to the map, Cooke´s signature appears under the arms of the Duke of Northumberland accompanying the dedication in Book 1, and also at the bottom of two Plates (17 and 19) of the 25 pages of heraldic arms in Book 2[11]. Although this second volume was not published until 1820, John Congdon´s imprint with date appears on several of these 25 pages, inferring the arms were ready in 1817.

Although the numerous arms are fairly simple pieces of engraving, the coat of arms above the dedication is a very accomplished piece of engraving and is one of the most ornate pieces that Cooke is known to have executed.

The two volumes are illustrated with a variety of different engravings and woodcuts with portraits of nobles, usually relatives of a sponsor, and views of residences. The frontispiece portrait is of Anthony Payne, an ancestor of George Granville Leveson Gower to whom it is dedicated (and who financed it). Other illustrations include a title page vignette of Treryn Castle signed by J Rickard of Exeter, and woodcuts both within the text and as plates, e.g. the Cheesewring or Cromlechs, engraved by Walker of Newcastle. There are attractive views of properties such as that of Pentillie Castle, home of John Tillie Coryton Esq., this being one of several signed by J C Stadler.

Thomas Tyrwhitt was a colourful figure. Born in Essex, he attended Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford but had a long relationship with Dartmoor. He became private secretary to the Prince of Wales where he probably came into contact with Dartmoor as part of the lands of the Duchy of Cornwall. He became MP for Okehampton in 1796 (until 1802) and bought a farm, which he named Tor Royal, and grew high quality flax. He had several roads built across Dartmoor at this time as well as the hamlet of Prince´s Town, named in honour of his previous employer. He laid the foundation stone of the prisoner-of-war prison buildings on March 20th 1806 and first French and later, American, prisoners-of-war were housed there. That year he became MP for Plymouth. Knighted in 1812 he was forced to amend his plans when the prison emptied. In order to encourage the continued use of the buildings as well as provide better connections to his personal village he invested much energy proposing the construction of a railway from Plymouth to Princetown[12]. The plan drawn for the proposals showed the Line of intended rail road as laid from prison of war to Plymouth Harbour and lime rocks at Catwater.

The railway design consisted of an inclined plane, nine feet broad, bounded on each side by grooved slips of iron, which were fitted to receive the car or wagon passing over them. Tyrwhitt´s report is in fact an advertisement for parliamentary permission and summarises all the advantages such a rail road could bring referring specifically to the plan: The accompanying plan of the line of road is by one of the gentlemen employed on that magnificent work, the Plymouth Breakwater, who has taken the levels with all possible accuracy, and, on the execution of the measure, will be permitted to dedicate his leisure hours to the superintendence of the undertaking (p.27). Reference is made to the plan again under Benefits: The plan, annexed to this pamphlet, is founded on actual surveys, taken by a gentleman, whose skill has been manifested in various important works, and whose capability of performing whatever he undertakes is guaranteed by his long experience. These two comments are certainly not about John Cooke, but refer to Mr William Stuart[13] who was superintendent of the Plymouth breakwater project at that time, an undertaking that clearly impressed Cooke.

Fig. 30. Plate 13 from Synopsis of Geography, 1812.

Notes to Napoleon and Cooke´s first Plymouth engravings 

[1] A copy is held at the WDRO

[2] Alfred John Dunkin in a letter to Notes & Queries, July 16, 1870.

[3] A number of engravings, all apparently taken from the same pencil sketch, are extant. Another print was sold by Forum Auctions of London in 2016. An unknown author sent a letter to his uncle enclosing a similar sketch in August 1815; a photocopy of which is held at NMM, but the original is illustrated at https://www.earsathome.com/letters. This was discovered by Eunice Shanahan at a fair.

[4] Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte by M de Bourrienne (his private secretary) in 4 volumes; London; Richard Bentley; 1836.

[5] Narrative of the Surrender of Buonaparte; Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland; London; Henry Colborn; 1826.

[6] Image is on-line: Courtesy of the British Library. This engraving is one of two at the British Library; the second was used by William Kirk Dickson in his reissue of the history of Captain Maitland and Napoleon´s Surrender; published by William Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1904.

[7] Flindell´s Western Luminary; Vol. II, Issue 45; January 1814.

[8] White´s History of Devonshire; 1850.

[9] It was being offered by Lackington & Allen at 6s as early as 13th May 1794 in the Manchester Mercury.

[10] Ann Thomas; Adolphus de Biron. A Novel; published by the author; Plymouth; (1794). For a discussion of the literature of the time, see also M O Grenby; The Anti-Jacobin Novel; Cambridge Press; 2004.

[11] These pages of heraldic arms are badly cut and many copies seen lack Cooke´s imprint but Plate 17 has been seen on a copy posted on-line by the Wellcome Library and Plates 17 and 19 on the Yale copy, also online. Although planned to be published in two volumes with the arms in Vol. II, it was often bound as 3 books. Nevertheless, some copies do have Vols II and III combined despite the Directions to the Binder in Vol. III; hence, the 25 Plates are nearly always in Vol. II.

[12] Cooke´s Guide to Plymouth Sound and Breakwater (27) has a transverse section plan which also notes that: the first rail was laid to the Plymouth & Dartmoor Rail Road by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, August 12th, 1819.

[13] Stuart´s name crops up on Cooke´s final breakwater plan.



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