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Seizure of the English College, Douai, and Imprisonment at Doullens, 1793–4. A Contemporary Narrative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

H. Chadwick
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Extract

The original of this narrative, kindly lent me by Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, to whom I make full and grateful acknowledgement, is a manuscript booklet of 41 pages, about 9 in. by 5 ½ in. The author, it seems clear. was Lewis Clifford, who with his twin brother Arthur was in the school year 1792/3 in the class of Poetry. These two boys were grandsons of the 3rd Baron: their father. the Hon. Thomas Clifford, of Tixall, Staffordshire, the youngest son, was married to Barbara. a daughter and co-heiress of the 5th and last Lord Aston of Forfar. She it was who inherited Tixall and at her marriage brought that estate into the Clifford family. The twins, aged 17 “le cinq du mois ventose de l’an troisieme” (23 February, 1795), after their release from Doullens reached London on the following March 3rd. and after a month or so at home spent the summer term—April to August—at Stonyhurst. Arthur then rejoined some of his former fellow prisoners at St. Edmund’s, Old Hall. Of Lewis one knows only that he died unmarried in 1806. For Arthur’s subsequent literary work. see the Dictionary of National Biography.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , October 1965 , pp. 147 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1965

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References

Notes

1. Ward, Bernard: History of St. Edmund's College (1893), 312 Google Scholar. In his later work Dawn of the Catholic Revival in England (1909) he quotes two short passages — presumably from a slightly differing copy — and attributes the authorship conjointly to the two brothers. Evidence for this is lacking; and the last paragraph of the narrative certainly suggests one, not two authors. It is likely that one or other of them kept some sort of a diary.

1a. Topographical and Historical Description of the Parish of Tixall, by Sir Clifford, Thomas, Bt., and Clifford, Arthur, Esq. (Paris, 1817), 162.Google Scholar

2. Birt, Norbert O.S.B., History of Downside School (1902), 121.Google Scholar

3. To “pack up one's awls” was a phrase in use in the 18th century (e.g. by Fielding) and is “still a common phrase in Scotland”. It perhaps originated in a pun. (O.E.D.)

4. “Centinel” is one of the several variant forms of the more usual “sentinel”. Cf. Spanish “centinela”. (O.E.D.)

5. “School” is the old name for “class” or “class-room”.

6. 8 waggons, according to Hodgson, who also (Catholic Magazine, I, 97) tells us that although “beds” (mattresses?) could not be taken, they were allowed blankets, sheets and pillows. Later in this narrative Clifford refers to two blankets apiece.

7. The Benedictines it was whose forethought provided the materials for Mass, first celebrated on November 1st, feast of All Saints.

8. May 15th, says Hodgson.

9. Hodgson explains that the Douaians, assembled on the terrace or “ter-rass(e)”, all answered “No” when questioned as to their knowledge of some Frenchmen's escapes, but refused to answer questions about their knowledge of or connivance in the escapes of their own companions (Cath. Mag. I, 339). Their refusal of course provided the answer to the question.

10. About October 20 (1794).