Francois Guidon's gravestone in Ashburton churchyard, 1903, Ashburton

Photograph of Francois Guidon's gravestone in Ashburton churchyard, 1903, Ashburton

Between 1803 and 1814, it is estimated that 122,440 prisoners of war were brought to Britain. Dartmoor Prison was constructed between 1806 and 1809 to house the men that were being held in prison hulks moored at Plymouth Dock. The first prisoners arrived at Dartmoor on 22nd May 1809 and the prison was full by the end of that year. It soon became overcrowded, especially when American prisoners captured in the War of 1812 were also sent to Dartmoor, and at times the prison population numbered more than 6000 men. Living conditions were appalling and it is thought that more than 1,200 Frenchmen and 271 Americans died at Dartmoor and are buried in a graveyard at the rear of the prison.

Unlike their men, captured officers lived in relative comfort. Allowed parole, the officers were stationed at private houses in small country towns around Britain, were given an allowance to live on and enjoyed a reasonable amount of freedom. Francois Guidon, whose headstone is shown in this photograph taken in 1903, would seem to be one of these officers. He was likely to have been a prisoner at Dartmoor Prison and boarded out on-licence in lodgings in Ashburton. Sadly, he died while he was on parole and was buried in Ashburton churchyard in 1815. A note on a handwritten survey record of gravestones in Ashburton churchyard made in the 1970s states that the willow by Francois Guidon's grave is said to be from a twig from St Helena.

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