Page 12 - KBHA Bulletin 16

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The incarceration caused a 70% increase in the Island’s population (King’s Troops and

their families) (Table 1), expanded trade flows from the Cape, and in turn stimulated the
Cape’s economy. “During these years … the greater part of the provisions needed at St.

Helena were drawn from South Africa ...” (Theal, 1927: 302). “The banishment of
Napoleon to St. Helena stimulated Cape trade between 1816 and 1821 …” (Immelman,

1955: 71.) Only paddy rice from India, and some wheaten flour and salted meat for the
garrison from Britain, fell outside the Cape’s remit of supply.

Table 1: Population of St. Helena by Classes 1814 – 1821. (Kitching, 1937: Appendix 1.)

1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821
White inhabitants 694 738 746 821 611 664 708 712
Slaves 1200 1255 1218 1540 1165 1165 1095 1147
Free Blacks 420 447 489 500 482 619 613 626
Company’s Civil Establishment 42 38 33 - - - 17 22
Company Troops 891 850 745 820 702 745 698 868
King’s Troops - - 1536 1475 1338 1536 1483 660
Families of King’s Troops - - 335 352 338 413 424 180
Families of Company’s Troops - - - - 185 203 204 300
Chinese 247 280 293 618 524 591 481 488
Lascars - 15 19 24 24 36 33 29
Company’s Slaves 93 98 97 - 86 85 61 44
Slaves to Company’s Troops - - - - 8 8
Slaves to King’s Troops - - - - 5 4 - 13

TOTALS 3587 3721 5511 6150 5468 6061 5817 5097

The nature and scale of the Cape trade during and after the incarceration years have been

examined in detail by Arkin (1960, 1964, 1965) and the following account draws mainly
from his work. Transportation of the supplies was divided among three agencies: the

EIC’s Cape Agency took responsibility for shipping the garrison’s provisions (and some
of the civilian needs) and this absorbed two-thirds of the Cape supplies, the Agency’s

Victualler at Simon’s Town saw to the naval squadron’s needs which took up the
remaining third, while private contractors (many of them Cape merchants) looked after

the requirements of Napoleon’s household.

These arrangements did not always run smoothly because of a shortage of readily

available ships to move the sudden increase in stores, the restrictions on using only
Company or Navy ships, and the seasonal use of Table Bay (summer) and Simon’s Bay