François Husson

François Husson was a French prisoner of war in Brecon from 1st November 1806 until his death on 27th April 1810. He was 48 years old when he died. He was born in Chambley, a small rural village in France near Metz. Husson was unmarried, but descendants of his family still lived there in the 1990s. Aged 18, François Husson joined the French Navy in 1781. He had reached the rank of Captain in the 4th Marine Regiment by the time of his capture in 1806.

Britain and France had been at war when Husson joined the navy. His capture came as part of renewed conflict with the Revolutionary French Republic from 1793, and then Napoleon until 1815. Husson was aboard the French ship, Le President, a 44-gun frigate with 330 men on board. After a chase lasting 17 hours, the ship was taken by Sir Thomas Louis’ British naval squadron on 28th September just off the coast of Brittany. Husson was moved to Forton Prison near Portsmouth along with 67 other French prisoners of war.

Between 1803 and 1814, 122,440 French prisoners of war are believed to have been held in Britain; 10,000 of whom were calculated to have died, and 17,000 sent home during the period 1803-1814. Prisoners of war were held in British prisons, on hulks (old ships used to hold prisoners) or, if they were officers, they might be paroled. There were 6 locations in Wales where prisoners were paroled: Brecon, Abergavenny, Llanfyllin, Montgomery, Newtown and Welshpool.

Husson was paroled on 1st November 1806, after only four days at Forton Prison. Along with 12 other prisoners he was moved to Brecon. In total, 86 prisoners of war were believed to have lived in Brecon between 1806 and 1812. Little is known about their experiences here but they may have all lived together in the older houses in the town. There were conditions to the prisoners’ parole. They were not allowed to walk further than a mile from the town but not through fields or cross roads. They also had a curfew by which time they had to return home: 5pm in the Winter months (October-March) and 8pm in the Summer Months (April-September). Parolees were granted allowances from the government, but these were rarely enough to live on, so they often relied on charitable donations from local people.

The reasons behind Husson’s death are unknown, but he was the only prisoner of war to die in Brecon. He would not have the means to pay for his own gravestone, so it is likely that some local residents erected it. It may have been the Williams family, who are said to have befriended Husson. It is clear that whoever was responsible respected and cared for Husson. The inscription on the gravestone reads:

By Foreign Hands his Humble grave Adorn’d
By Strangers Honour’d and by Strangers Mourn’d

There are 14 different stories on the trail. You can explore them in any order. Just point your phone camera at the QR code when you spot the Cathedral logo. You can download the trail map here.