British escaper’s stolen Napoleonic uniform and journal go on display in London
A handwritten manuscript detailing the daring escape of a British prisoner of Napoleon’s troops – with the flamboyant French uniform in which he disguised himself as he fled – have gone on display at the National Maritime Museum in London after being carefully preserved for more than two centuries by the prisoner’s descendants.The “rare and very special” uniform, including its tall and exuberantly feathered hat, was worn in August 1809 by the 19-year-old naval midshipman Charles Hare as he escaped a military prison in what is now western Germany and travelled by coach, river boat, ship and on foot back to his home in Lincolnshire, accompanied by his pet dog.The green and silver uniform and feathered hat are thought to be the only surviving example of a French customs officer’s uniform from the Napoleonic wars, when Britain and other European powers were fighting France.But what makes them particularly special, according to the museum, is Hare’s breathless and highly entertaining first-person account of his perilous escapade.“It’s almost unique to have them both,” said Katherine Gazzard, the museum’s curator of art.
“Uniforms are really interesting, because in some ways they are designed to be de-personalised items that make one person look like another, but at the same time they are deeply personal objects.[As museums], we need additional things to put people back into these outfits, and that’s exactly what we have with the narrative.”Hare’s story is certainly remarkable.The son of a naval officer from Fillingham in Lincolnshire, he had joined the navy in 1801 aged just 11 – as was common for aspiring officers at the time – and by 13 was already a French prisoner of war after his ship was captured in the Channel.Six years later, he was still being held in a military fortress in Saarlouis in present-day Germany when he persuaded a member of the (notoriously corruptible) French customs force to provide him with forged papers and a uniform, and arrange a carriage and driver to enable his escape.
Hare writes: “As soon as I reached the end of the Town, I fully felt the imprudence of my conduct.Alarm seized me, lest this driver should betray me to the police.If taken in a military habit, bearing arms or false papers, instant death awaits me by the decrees of Bonaparte; the violation of which I fully knew.”Happily, his driver was equally open to persuasion, and with periodic stops “to refresh my ‘compagnon de voyage’ with a ‘Bouteill de Vin’ which he more frequently needed than suited my perilous situation”, Hare made it to Mainz, where he and the unnamed English terrier were able to join a boat heading downstream on the Rhine.Though Hare spoke excellent French, there followed a fraught journey involving a drunken wedding party, a thunderstorm and frequent inquiries from other French officers.
“Whenever an unpleasant question was addressed to me … by inquisitive people,” Hare writes, “I figured not to hear them and kept continually caressing and noticing my Dog; which strategem never failed to succeed from the extreme politeness of a Frenchman seeming more interested with my dog than with his intruding conversation,”After making it back home, Hare swiftly returned to the navy, later settling in Canada, where his remarkable archive remained until his descendants contacted the museum,The handwritten manuscript, though unsigned, is dated 1832 and has the name of Hare’s son George on the front, who would have been seven at the time,“I think it’s quite unlikely that little George Hare is writing out that narrative,” said Gazzard,“It’s much more likely that Charles, who was [then] a merchant captain and often away for long periods, had written out the story and given it to his son as a record of his adventures, and you can imagine young George Hare reading it as a bedtime story when his dad is away at sea.
” The collection is on display at the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich,
More than 20 foods recalled over peanut fears, says UK watchdog
More than 20 dips and seasonings, including Domino’s Pizza’s BBQ dip, have been recalled over fears that may they contain undeclared peanuts, the food watchdog has said.The Food Standards Authority (FSA) has called on consumers to return a range of dips, curry powders and seasonings produced by the company FGS Ingredients over concerns that they may contain the allergen when it was not listed on their labels.The products include Domino’s BBQ Dip but also a number of seasonings and curry powders with the Favourit and Dunnes Store labels, as well as some Westmorland Family Butchery sausages and burgers.It is the second recall of items from the Leicester-based company in recent weeks: 70 of its products were recalled in September over concerns that those containing mustard could also include undeclared nuts.FGS said following the recall that it had carried out additional testing and had “not detected any presence of peanut content or residue”, but advised retailers to remove products from sale containing the mustard ingredients
Volkswagen fined £5.4m for mistreating customers; UK interest rates ‘to fall to 2.75%’ next year – as it happened
German carmaker Volkswagen’s financial services arm has been fined by UK competition regulators for mistreating customers in financial difficulties.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited £5,397,600 for failing to treat its over 100,000 customers in financial difficulty fairly.VWFS has agreed to pay over £21.5m in redress to around 110,000 customers who may have suffered harm because of its failings.VWFS is one of the UK’s largest motor finance providers, and provides a range of products to help customers buy several well-known motor brands, including Volkswagen, Skoda and Porsche
VW fined £5.4m for mistreating vulnerable UK car finance customers
Volkswagen has been forced to pay customers £21.5m in compensation on top of a fine of £5.4m for failing to treat struggling customers fairly, including repossessing vehicles from people who had attempted suicide or were caring for sick relatives.The UK financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said 110,000 customers had suffered detriment because of the unfair actions of Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS), which is wholly owned by the German carmaker.The vast majority of new cars in the UK are bought using some form of finance, and much of it is offered through “captive” companies owned by carmakers
France warns US buyer of Sanofi division of penalties for shifting production abroad
The French government has warned a US private equity firm buying the consumer healthcare arm of the drugmaker Sanofi that it faces penalties of more than €100m if it does not keep production and jobs in France.Sanofi is splitting off Opella, which makes the paracetamol brand Doliprane, the laxative Dulcolax and other over-the-counter medicines and vitamins. However, news of talks with the New York-based Clayton, Dubilier & Rice on 11 October prompted fears about French jobs and the loss of control to a foreign company.On Monday, Sanofi announced that it had entered exclusive negotiations with CD&R for the sale of a 50% stake in the consumer business, valuing it at €16bn. However, France’s state-owned investment bank, Bpifrance, will also take a 2% stake and a seat on Opella’s board
Serial returners send back £6.6bn of online purchases a year in UK, report finds
Shoppers with a habit of returning goods bought online to retailers will send back £1,400 of products each this year, totalling £6.6bn, a UK report has found.Serial returners account for 11% of shoppers, but are on course to account for almost a quarter of the £27bn forecast returns this year, according to the report by the return logistics company ZigZag and the research company Retail Economics.Serial and slow returners, who are considered to be more impulsive shoppers, often making returns out of buyer’s remorse, account for almost half of total returns.The increase in online sales in recent years has become a costly headache for retailers, while delays in goods being returned can also make it difficult for them to manage stock levels
Qantas ordered to pay $170,000 to three workers illegally sacked at start of pandemic
Qantas is facing a hefty compensation bill expected to exceed $100m as it braces for the fallout of its decision to illegally sack almost 1,700 baggage handlers in 2020.Justice Michael Lee ruled on Monday that three test cases should receive $30,000, $40,000 and $100,000. They suffered varying amounts of “non-economic loss”, the court ruled, which refers to hardship and distress caused by the airline.Many workers will also be able to claim economic losses, linked to lost wages.Lee ordered Qantas and the Transport Workers’ Union into mediation using the test-case amounts to inform a total payout, with the parties due to report back early next month
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