The Emperor, the Collector and the Library:
the Dawson Napoleonic Collection at The Morrab Library
2021 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821). The Morrab Library is fortunate to hold an extraordinary collection relating to the iconic French Emperor and military leader. Described as a ‘series of portraits, battle-pieces, views, plans, maps etc., illustrative of the life of the First Napoleon and his contemporaries’, the series of over 3,000 individual items is arranged and mounted in 12 large volumes.
Accumulated and prepared by Thomas Dawson (1811-1889), each volume bears his coat of arms and a modified quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – “Eyes shall not look upon his like again”.
The collection provides a fascinating insight into Napoleon‘s rise and fall, the French Revolution, the struggle with Britain and the allies, and the Restoration of the Monarchy in France, and this exhibition showcases just a few highlights from it.
Click to enlarge the images below and read their captions.
Who was Thomas Dawson?
Thomas Dawson was a man of independent means descended from family in Lancashire. Educated at Cambridge, he read for the bar at Lincoln's Inn, was called in 1839, but appeared not to have practised. Married with three daughters he lost his wife, later gave up his house in Upper Norwood and lived for many years at his Clubs or on his yacht. There is no record of his ever visiting the library and it is doubtful whether he even visited Penzance.
How did the collection get here?
Dawson gifted his collection to Morrab Library between 1869 and 1879. Little correspondence or any detailed listing of his donations were retained, but we do know that their acquisition was fortuitous. Dawson mentioned in correspondence that it was through his acquaintance with Mr. W. Bolitho Jr. that the collection was originally gifted to the Natural History Society, which shared premises with the Penzance Library in 1869. Mr Bolitho was a member of both societies and Dawson writes that he first heard of the Natural History Society through this acquaintance, and ‘having such a high regard for him [Bolitho], I was only too pleased that his favourite Society should have the offer of my Collections.’ (Portrait of Dawson, attributed to circle of H.W. Pickersgill, RA).
However, in 1869, the Society was in decline and its Officers handed over Dawson's gift to the Penzance Library. In 1874, Dawson was granted Honorary membership to the library and he wrote ‘I consider the gift of my collection to your Society will always be a subject of thankfulness and gratification to myself, because it has been properly appreciated’.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, shortly after the island’s cessation to France from the Genoese. From the age of 9, he was educated in France, and in 1785, at just 16, he graduated from the Military Academy. He had quite an uneventful start to his career. During the early years of the French Revolution which began in 1792, Napoleon was mostly on leave from the military and home in Corsica, where he became affiliated with the Jacobins, a pro-democracy political group.
Meanwhile in Paris, Louis XVI was deposed and his family executed by guillotine. This poignant print depicts Louis being taken from his family to his death in January 1793. His wife, Marie-Antoinette followed him to the same fate later that year.
Napoleon started to rise through the ranks in the French Army, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy in 1796. He had met Rose de Beauharnais (known to us as Josephine) in 1785, however, they did not marry until 9th March 1796, just two days before he left for his Italian campaign. Josephine was the widow of General Alexandre de Beauharnais (guillotined during the Reign of Terror), the mother of two children, and a patron of the arts.
Wins for Napoleon at the Battles of Arcole in 1796 and Rivoli in 1797 enhanced Napoleon's status further.This dramatic image shows Napoleon on his way to another victory at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798, when Cairo fell to the French. “Soldiers”, said Napoleon “from the summit of yonder pyramids forty ages behold you”.
However, Napoleon's success did not last much longer. In August 1798, the Battle of the Nile was fought on the water between Napoleon's French naval forces and Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson’s British Royal Navy. The French were decisively beaten and this print depicts the British Victory in Aboukir Bay.
By 1800 Napoleon had regrouped and was leading his second Italian campaign. This iconic image is a copy of an original painting by the celebrated French artist Jacque-Louis David. Napoleon commissioned David to commemorate his daring crossing of the Alps - but although he had actually crossed the Alps on a mule, he requested that he be portrayed "calm upon a fiery steed". Interestingly, David's close association with the Committee of Public Safety during the Terror resulted in his signing the death warrant of Josephine’s first husband, who then went on to marry Napoleon.
In December 1801, Napoleon escaped an assassination attempt. According to Napoleon himself, “I offered myself to the Chamber of Five Hundred, alone, unarmed, my head uncovered…. Instantly the daggers which menaced the deputies were raised against their defender. Twenty assassins rushed upon me, aiming at my breast. The grenadiers of the Legislative Body, whom I had left at the door of the chamber, hastily interposed between the assassins and myself. One of these brave grenadiers…received a thrust from a dagger, which pierced his clothes. They carried me off.”
As a means of consolidating his power, and to reduce the risk of more assassination attempts and threats to his position, Napoleon, already a consul as voted for by the people of France, declared France an Empire and himself the Emperor. He wanted to be consecrated by the Pope himself, so that his coronation should be even more impressive than that of the previous kings of France. Pope Pius VII agreed to come to Paris, and the ceremony, which seemed outrageous to factions both royalist and pro-Revolution, took place in Notre-Dame on December 2, 1804. At the last moment, Napoleon took the crown from the Pope and set it on his own head himself.
Josephine’s failure to produce an heir caused Napoleon to repudiate their marriage in 1809. In 1810 he married Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I.
The birth of a son, titled the King of Rome, the following year in March 1811, seemed to assure the future of the empire, which was now at its largest. It was also surrounded by a ring of vassal states ruled over by the emperor’s relatives while other territories were closely bound to the empire by treaties. Even Austria seemed bound to France by Napoleon’s marriage to Marie-Louise.
Napoleon was unable to conquer Russia in 1812, and this emboldened other states to fight back. By January 1814 France was being attacked on all its frontiers. The Treaty of Chaumont of 1814 saw Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Britain vow to unite and work together to overthrow Napoleon. No longer in awe of the emperor, Parisian authorities began negotiating with the allies, and with Louis XVIII, the brother of the executed King. When Napoleon heard the news that Paris had capitulated, he abdicated his reign on April 6, 1814.
The allies granted him the island of Elba as a sovereign principality, an annual income of two million francs to be provided by France, and a guard of 400 volunteers. He also retained the title of Emperor. After unsuccessfully trying to poison himself, Napoleon spoke his farewell to his “Old Guard,” and after a hazardous journey, during which he narrowly escaped assassination again, he arrived at Elba on May 4.
Napoleon kept a close watch on developments in Europe from his exile. He knew that some of his enemies were keen to banish him to an even more remote location. He also believed that Austria was preventing his wife and son from joining him (unaware she had taken a lover and had no desire to go to Elba). The French government had also refused to pay his allowance, so that he was in danger of facing poverty. Napoleon acted, returning to France,and arrived in Cannes on March 1, 1815 with a detachment of his guard, and won over peasants and soldiers en-route to Paris. A hero to many (but not all) again, he sought to consolidate his leadership through military victories.
On 18 June 1815, Napoleon's luck ran out. The Battle Of Waterloo, under the leadership of the Duke of Wellington, and with the assistance of the Prussian army, saw the French defeated after a savage battle and Napoleon was forced to surrender.
Dawson’s collection captures a multitude of material from this famous Battle, and not just from the view of Napoleon. Images, posters, newspaper cuttings, and battle maps also depict the heroics of the Duke of Wellington and the British Army.
But for Napoleon, back in Paris, it was over. He was forced to abdicate and did so on June 22, 1815. The Allies’ decision to banish him to the remote island in the Atlantic called St Helena, did not sit well with him, and he protested eloquently: “I appeal to history!”
Napoleon lived a quiet life on St Helena until 1821, when he fell ill and died on 5th May at the age of 51.
To this day, Napoleon Bonaparte remains a polarising figure, and through Thomas Dawson’s extensive collection, we are able to glimpse in pictures the dramatic rise and fall of this extraordinary French character.