Napoleonic Man-of-War

This model of a 90 gun man-of-war was made by French prisoners in the early years of the 19th century.   Napoleon would not exchange prisoners, so by 1811 the number of Frenchmen held in England had become great.  It was decided to parole French officers within the Royal Burghs of the south of Scotland and over 2,000 officers were sent to Dumfries, Lockerbie, Lochmaben and Sanquhar.   The local people were astonished by the frog and hedgehog hunting expeditions the Frenchmen undertook to supplement their rations.  George Hair of Dumfries reported how the first wage he earned as a boy was for, “gatherin paddocks (frogs) for the Frenchmen”.