The first ever biographies of Napoleon were written not in French but in English, the only serious biographies of the Consul and later Emperor were written in the same language and during his lifetime. During both of his abdications and exiles, ‘Boney’ was frequently the subject of book, newspaper articles, etc. The exile on St Helena was to provide for the springboard for an obsession in the English-language world that lasts to this day. My talk will discuss this little-known, British part in the telling of the Napoleon story.
Peter Hicks is an historian of the Napoleonic period and International Affairs manager at the Fondation Napoléon, Paris. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Bath (UK) (2008-2018) and is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution, Florida State University, USA. He also is Chargé de cours at the Institut Catholic des Etudes Supérieures (ICES) La Roche sur Yon. His recent books include – (ed.), Emmanuel de Las Cases, Le Mémorial de Sainte Hélène: Le manuscript retrouvé, critical edition, with presentation and commentary with Thierry Lentz, François Houdecek and Chantal Prevot, Perrin 2017, (ed.) La bataille de Waterloo : symbole de victoire, de défaite et lieu de mémoire/Battle of Waterloo : Introductions to the Lectures and After-Thoughts – in English, (Les éditions de la Belle alliance, 2015) and The Napoleonic Empire and the New European Political Culture, with Michael Broers and Agustin Guimera, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). His current publication projects include: joint-editor of volume 3 of Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars, (CUP 2020), a selection of British witnesses to Napoleon on St Helena (Perrin 2021). He also a musician. Recent Napoleonic projects include the creation, organization and performance of a week-long Festival of Napoleonic and Georgian music on the island of St Helena (May 2019) (concerts, recital, singing day) and a concert of Napoleonic music, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, 24 May 2018 (choir, soloists and orchestra). His upcoming Napoleonic musical projects include: a Napoleonic recital (piano and voice), Lucca, Italy, August 2021 (covid permitting, but it is open air…), and the creation, organization and  conducting of two concerts of famous and rare Napoleonic music, Hôtel des Invalides, October 2021 (choir, soloists and orchestra).