LOWE HUDSON: (1769-1844) Lot n° 1544

LOWE HUDSON: (1769-1844) Anglo-Irish soldier and colonial administrator who served as Governor of Saint Helena 1816-21 where he was the 'gaoler' of Emperor Napoleon. D.S., H: Lowe, M: General, two pages, folio, Marseille, 14th July 1815. The manuscript document represents a set of accounts, being the ´Return of 200 days Bat, Baggage & Forage money for the Royal Marine Battalion attached to the force under the command of Major General Sir Hudson Lowe from the 13th February to 31st August 1815´, listing the various relevant amounts of each allowance for one Major, three Captains, six Subalterns, one Adjutant, one Quarter-Master, one Assistant Surgeon and two absent Captains, all of whom are listed by name to the second page, totalling 311.5.0 Pounds Sterling. Signed by Lowe at the foot with an autograph minute indicating his approval of the document, and countersigned by Major Charles Pratt. Some light age wear and a few small tears to the edges, and with a thin strip of staining to the edge of the second page, evidently caused by previous mounting. About VG Lowe served as Quartermaster-General of the army in the Netherlands from 1814-15 and was about to take part in the Belgian campaign when he was offered the command of the British troops at Genoa; however while still in the south of France he received (on 1st August 1815, shortly after signing the present document) news of his appointment to the position of custodian of Napoleon, Emperor of the French, who had surrendered to HMS Bellerophon, off Rochefort.