{"id":365,"date":"2016-11-15T14:35:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T14:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=365"},"modified":"2018-05-10T08:32:55","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T08:32:55","slug":"the-napoleonic-invasion-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2016\/11\/15\/the-napoleonic-invasion-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Napoleonic Invasion Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a coastal town, Poole has always been vulnerable to attack by sea – from the Roman invasion, through the burning of the town by the Spanish in 1405, right up to the Second World War.<\/p>\n

‘All my thoughts are directed towards England’ <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In the early months of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), the whole country was on high alert. Napoleon’s forces were massing in France, with a flotilla of gunboats and barges poised for an assault on England. The looming threat of French invasion was particularly acute along the south coast. Records in the Poole Borough Archive illustrate the nation and town’s preparations for war.<\/p>\n

The collection includes general war plans, ‘A plan and proposals for rendering the body of the people instrumental to the general defence, in case of invasion: Dorsetshire’<\/em>, providing various counter-invasion strategies. Forms were provided to record supplies, force of arms, the names of skilled individuals and other resources, including numbers of livestock, waggons, millers, bakers and boat owners and individuals aged 15-60 years willing to bear arms or act as pioneers, labourers or guides.<\/p>\n

Men were pressed into service or encouraged to become ‘Sea Fencibles’ or join the voluntary infantry. Parade roll calls, attendance and enrolment lists in the Borough collection provide the names of a number of these men, including those of the 3rd<\/span><\/sup> Company Dorset (Poole) Voluntary Infantry.<\/p>\n

Census of the ‘capable’<\/h2>\n

The intention to involve the entire population in the country’s defence is striking. In Poole, a census was taken of men, women and children, with each individual classified in terms of their ability to contribute to the war effort. Although not including males of military age, the census provides sections for ‘female capables’, ‘both sexes incapable’ and ‘male capables aged under 17 and above 55’. Numerous additional ‘Returns’ of inhabitants were put together, some listing men serving or willing to serve in the army or militia, others listing men and women by name and recording the number of weapons and implements in their possession (including pikes, pitchforks, shovels, saws, swords and pistols).<\/p>\n

Fortunately, despite costly and lengthy preparations, Napoleon abandoned plans for the invasion of England in 1805. The records survive as a fascinating insight into what might have been.<\/p>\n