Pierre-Charles Villeneuve black plaque

This black commemorative plaque records: The Crown Inn. Admiral Villeneuve. Villeneuve was the French Commander-in-Chief defeated by Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. Over 4,000 French Officers and Seamen were taken prisoner and sent to England. Villeneuve and 200 of his Officers were billeted in Bishop's Waltham, on parole. Most were quartered in houses around the town but the Admiral was accommodated here at the Crown Inn. Villeneuve was allowed to attend Nelson's funeral in London and then, in early 1806, he was repatriated to France in exchange for four British Navy Captains. He died at Rennes in April 1806 from multiple stab wounds to the chest. The verdict was suicide but many believed Napoleon had him murdered for his disastrous defeat at Trafalgar.

Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve commanded the French fleet defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a decisive naval engagement that secured British naval supremacy for over a century. Villeneuve was held as a prisoner in England before his return to France where he died under mysterious circumstances, suspected either of suicide or assassination ordered by Napoleon due to his defeat.