Posted on 11/18/2004 3:23:34 PM PST by ijcr
On the wall of the Church of St Mary, Fishguard in Wales, There resides a tablet set into the wall, as follows:
"In Memory of Jemima Nicholas of this Town who boldly marched to meet the French Invaders who landed on our shores in February, 1797. She died in Main Street July 1832. Aged 82 years. At the date of the Invasion she was 47 years old, and lived 35 years after the event. Erected by subscription collected at the Centenary Banquet July 6, 1897."
William Cuthill wrote “The annals of history record the name of Hastings as the site of the last invasion of Britain by French, well Norman, forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful invasion. However, little is information about the French invasion of Fishguard, which took place in southwest Wales in 1797.
In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte was busy conquering in central Europe. In his absence the newly formed French revolutionary government, the Directory, appears to have devised a 'cunning plan' that involved the poor country folk of Britain rallying to the support of their French liberators. Obviously the Directory had recently taken delivery of some newly liberated Brandy!
The French invasion force comprising some 1400 troops set sail from Camaret on February 18, 1797. The man entrusted by the Directory to implement their 'cunning plan' was an Irish-American septuagenarian, Colonel William Tate.
As Napoleon had apparently reserved the cream of the Republican army for duties elsewhere in Europe, Colonel Tate's force comprised of a ragtag collection of soldiers including many newly released jailbirds.
Tate's orders were to land near Bristol, England's second largest city, and destroy it, then to cross over into Wales and march north onto Chester and Liverpool. From the outset however all did not proceed as detailed in the 'cunning plan'.
Wind conditions made it impossible for the four French warships to land anywhere near Bristol, so Tate moved to 'cunning plan' B, and set a course for Cardigan Bay in southwest Wales.
The local soldiers, the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, were away, doing some training, so a mounted messenger was sent to them to hurry back.
So Jemima Nicholas called all the local women and girls together. They were told to dress up in their Welsh dress, with big black hats , red shawls, and black skirts, and, after arming themselves with pitchforks, axes, hoes, and other farm tools, they were to line the cliffs in the fading daylight to help the small British force there until Lord Cawdor could get back to Fishguard with his soldiers to oppose the invaders.
The French troops had already landed, and they were stealing everything that they could find.
Their General intended to go up to attack the City of Bristol, and to then go on to attack London. The French thought that the Welsh women were British soldiers and, when the Yeomanry Battalion arrived in force, the French surrendered as prisoners of war.
Armed with her pitchfork, Jemima captured 14 French soldiers herself and she put them into the Fishguard jail.”
On the windy cold beaches of Fishguard ended another glorious chapter in French military history; however it had a dramatic and significant impact on a global scale.
During this time while Britain was at war with France and the French armies under General Bonaparte were running all over Europe.
Cuthill adds “The Bank of England took fright at the Fishguard invasion, because a similar invasion by the French might happen again in England, and be more successful.
The war expenses had almost used up the supply of gold. The Bank of England gold coin was the Guinea which was worth twenty one shillings.
So the Bank of England decided not to use gold coins any more, and it printed paper Bank notes instead for One Pound, and Two Pounds. These paper notes were printed on special watermarked paper, so they could not be copied.”
During Cuthill's research of his own family he discovered that they were transported to Australia for passing forged banknotes.
And another instance of a great French military "victory".
thanks for the post! i love history! i love making fun of French! win-win baby!
ping
Some lazy history here. Napoleon would have had nothing to do with planning this invasion. In 1797, he was still just a general, commanding the Army of Italy.
I believe that Cuthill stated that "In his absence the newly formed French revolutionary government, the "Directory", appears to have devised a 'cunning plan' that involved the poor country folk of Britain rallying to the support of their French liberators."
By 1795, the government of France had passed into the hands of the five-man Directory.The Directory muddled on until 1799.
Throughout this time,France was still at war with the rest of Europe. And because of the war, leadership began to pass into the hands of generals.
One of these generals would seize control of the government in November 1799. And on December 2, 1804, this general, Napoleon Bonaparte, would declare himself Emperor of the French -- the new Augustus Caesar.
Historically the story is accurate.
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