Briars, St Helena

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Briars, St Helena is the location of the small Pavilion in which Napoleon stayed for the first few weeks of his captivity on St Helena. The pavilion was in the garden of William Balcombe, an English merchant who became a purveyor to Napoleon. Because of his and his family's closeness to Napoleon, Balcombe attracted the suspicion of Governor Hudson Lowe, and in 1818 he decided to leave the island and return to England. In 1959 the Pavilion was offered to the French Government by a descendant of William Balcombe, Dame Mabel Brookes, and became the third of the French properties on the island.

[edit] See also

• Longwood House

[edit] References

• Abell, Lucia Elizabeth Balcombe, To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St. Helena. Welwyn Garden City, UK: Ravenhall, 2005. ISBN# 1905043031.

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