French sailors imprisoned during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) received a daily ration of half a pound of beef or mutton on the bone. To earn money, and to pass the time, prisoners sometimes used the bones to make articles for sale, including models of the fighting ships on which they had served. A large number of these models survive. The example at Winchester belonged to William Finch (1784-1827), a naval officer, and it passed into the hands of his great nephew, the Revd William Finch, who joined the school as a Commoner in 1844, and in whose memory it was given.

The model was probably made on one of the prison ships in Southampton Harbour and it dates from the last few years of the Napoleonic Wars. It is not a model of any specific vessel, and combines features taken from French and British warships, though the lifeboats hanging in the rigging would not have been found on any naval ships of the period. The gun ports are spring-loaded and operated by pulling a cord at the stern.

 

Literature: R. Foster, Winchester College Treasury: a guide to the collection (Winchester, 2016), p. 22

Provenance: William Finch RN (1784-1827), thence by descent to his great nephew, the Revd Robert Finch (1829-1910), in whose memory it was given to the school at the beginning of the 20th century

Location: Treasury, Gallery 1