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{{Short description|Residence of Napoleon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Briars Pavilion (16477116332).jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|Briars Pavilion<br />{{coord|15|56|36.5|S|5|42|35.0|W}}]]
'''Briars''' is the small pavilion in which [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]] stayed for the first few weeks of his [[Napoleon I's exile to St. Helena|exile]] on [[Saint Helena]] in late 1815 before being moved to [[Longwood House]].

The pavilion was in the garden of [[William Balcombe]], an English merchant who became a purveyor to Napoleon. His 14-year-old daughter [[Betsy Balcombe|Elizabeth Lucia ("Betsy") Balcombe]] was the only family member who spoke [[French language|French]], and she became the family translator. Because of his family's closeness to Napoleon, Balcombe attracted the suspicion of Governor [[Hudson Lowe]], and in 1818 he was forced to leave the island and return to England.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Balcombe|first1=Betsy|title=To Befriend an Emperor : Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena|date=2005|publisher=Ravenhall Books|location=Welwyn Garden City|isbn=1905043031}}</ref> The Briars was then used as the home for the admiral assigned to St Helena.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Benhamou|first1=Albert|title=Inside Longwood - Key Habitations in St. Helena|url=http://www.inside-longwood.com/inside-longwood-places-habitations.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927042637/http://www.inside-longwood.com/inside-longwood-places-habitations.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=27 September 2012|website=www.inside-longwood.com|access-date=26 November 2016}}</ref>

==History==
By coincidence, the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] also stayed in The Briars, in 1805, on his return from a tour of duty in India. He wrote to the admiral commanding the garrison on 3 April 1816, "You may tell Bony that I find his apartments at the [[Élysée Palace|Elysée-Bourbon]] very convenient and that I hope he likes mine at the Balcombes."<ref name=te/> In 1827 the [[East India Company]] bought the property for £6,000 and used it for making silk and growing mulberry trees. In 1959 the Pavilion was purchased by Dame [[Mabel Brookes]], a great granddaughter of [[William Balcombe]], and donated to the French government, which appointed her as [[knight|Chevalier]] de la [[Légion d'honneur]] in 1960 in recognition of her generous gesture.<ref name=te>{{cite book|last1=Unwin|first1=Brian|title=Terrible Exile: The Last Days of Napoleon on St Helena|date=2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris|location=London|page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KA-MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |access-date=14 May 2020|isbn=9781848852877}}</ref> It became the third of the French properties on the island, together with his former tomb in Sane Valley and [[Longwood House]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Longwood House|url=http://sainthelenaisland.info/longwoodhouse.htm|website=sainthelenaisland.info|access-date=26 November 2016}}</ref>

Later, Balcombe was offered a post in Australia and established a new estate called "The Briars" in the [[Carwoola, New South Wales|Carwoola]] area of [[New South Wales]]. On this new estate, it is believed that he was responsible for introducing two plants to Australia, the [[Rosa rubiginosa|Sweet Briar]] (''Rosa rubiginosa'') and the [[Salix babylonica|Weeping Willow]] (''Salix babylonica''). The willow grew nearby Napoleon's grave on St Helena and Balcombe is reported to have taken cuttings from these trees.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Radcliffe and the Surrounding Area|url=http://www.carwoola.org.au/carwoola_history|website=www.carwoola.org.au|access-date=26 November 2016|archive-date=10 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110192543/http://www.carwoola.org.au/carwoola_history|url-status=dead}}</ref>

William's youngest son, Alexander Beatson Balcombe, named his pastoral run and homestead in [[Mount Martha, Victoria|Mount Martha]] "[[The Briars (Mt Martha)|The Briars]]" (the run was previously known as Chen Chen Gurruck, or Tichingorourke).<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/balcombe-alexander-beatson-2922|title='Balcombe, Alexander Beatson (1811–1877)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Thomson|first=Kathleen|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|location=Canberra}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Activities/The-Briars/The-Briars-Historic-Homestead-Gardens|title=The Briars Historic Homestead & Gardens|access-date=2017-09-25|language=en-AU}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[French domains of St Helena]]
*[[Alarm Forest]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Geography of Saint Helena]]
[[Category:Palaces and residences of Napoleon]]
[[Category:French government properties on Saint Helena]]

Briars, Saint Helena - Revision history

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