Longwood House
Longwood House is a mansion on St. Helena, an island that is a British overseas territory. Napoleon Bonaparte, the former Emperor of the French, lived there from the 10th of December 1815. He died on the 5th of May 1821, still an exile on the island. This was the last roof he ever slept under. It was also a house that nobody involved seemed to think was good enough for him. This documentary asks why an emperor's final home fell so short. It asks how a building on a British island came to belong to France. And it asks what, if anything, of the original house still stands.
Before Napoleon, Longwood belonged to the East India Company, which used the property as a farm. It was later handed to the Deputy-Governor of the island as a country residence. In 1815 the property was converted so that it could house the exiled emperor.
Napoleon spent his first two months on St. Helena at The Briars, while Longwood was being made ready. The Briars was a separate property, and the Balcombe family's house stood there.
The conversion produced a home that even the British government eventually judged inadequate for a former emperor and his entourage.
In February 1818, Governor Sir Hudson Lowe wrote to Lord Bathurst with a proposal. He suggested moving Napoleon to Rosemary Hall, a house that had just become available. It stood in a more hospitable part of the island, sheltered from the winds and shaded. That was the kind of setting Napoleon himself had preferred.
Then came the revelations of General Gourgaud in London. They persuaded Lord Bathurst that Napoleon was safer at Longwood, where an escape would be harder to carry out. The move to Rosemary Hall never happened.
A replacement house was begun in October 1818, three years after Napoleon first arrived on the island. It was built nearby, and it was finished by the time of his death. Napoleon never occupied it.
Whatever its discomforts, Longwood is where Napoleon wrote his will. That document is preserved today in the French National Archives.
Following Napoleon's death, Longwood House reverted to the East India Company and later to the Crown. For years it served agricultural purposes. Reports of its neglect eventually reached Napoleon III.
From 1854, Napoleon III negotiated with the British government to have the property transferred to France. In 1858 the French government bought Longwood, together with the Valley of the Tomb, for a sum of £7,100.
Since that purchase, both properties have belonged to the French Foreign Ministry. A French government representative lives on the island and manages them.
A third property joined them in 1959. Dame Mabel Brookes gave The Briars to the French government.
The house had survived neglect and a change of nation, but a very small enemy was waiting in the 1940s.
In the 1940s, the depredations of termites led the French government to consider demolishing Longwood House. The threat was serious enough that demolition was on the table.
New Longwood, the house the British had built for Napoleon but never seen him occupy, was demolished at that time. So was the Balcombe family's house at The Briars. Longwood House itself was saved.
Recent French curators have restored it. Yet the stone steps at the front are the only part of the original fabric to survive.
The land around the house would also change hands again, through gifts made in the twenty-first century.
In 2006, Michel Dancoisne-Martineau donated the heart-shaped Waterfall Valley to the Saint Helena National Trust. Two years later, in 2008, he donated the land surrounding the pavilion at The Briars to the French republic.
Today Longwood House is a museum owned by the French government. A non-profit company, Saint Helena Napoleonic Heritage Ltd, administers it.
The island has only two museums. Longwood is one of them, and the Museum of Saint Helena is the other.
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Common questions
What is Longwood House on Saint Helena?
Longwood House is a mansion on the British overseas territory island of St. Helena. It was Napoleon Bonaparte's final residence and now operates as a museum.
When did Napoleon live at Longwood House?
Napoleon lived at Longwood House from the 10th of December 1815 until his death on the 5th of May 1821. He spent his first two months on the island at The Briars while Longwood was being made ready.
Why did Napoleon stay at Longwood House instead of Rosemary Hall?
In February 1818, Governor Sir Hudson Lowe proposed moving Napoleon to Rosemary Hall, which was more hospitable. The revelations of General Gourgaud in London convinced Lord Bathurst that Longwood was safer, since escape was harder from there.
Who owns Longwood House today?
The French government owns Longwood House. It bought the property in 1858 for £7,100, together with the Valley of the Tomb, and the French Foreign Ministry has held both since then.
How much of the original Longwood House survives?
The stone steps at the front are the only part of the original fabric to survive. Termite damage in the 1940s led the French government to consider demolishing the house, but it was saved and restored.
Who runs the Longwood House museum?
The non-profit company Saint Helena Napoleonic Heritage Ltd administers the museum. Longwood House is one of two museums on the island, the other being the Museum of Saint Helena.
All sources
6 references cited across the entry
- 1William Hazlitt, Life of Napoleon, volume 6 p.13. Grolier edition.
- 2Albert Benhamou, L'autre Sainte-Hélène: la captivité, la maladie, la mort, et les médecins autour de Napoléon, 2010, p.138, extract from the Lowe Papers