Lisa Chaplin | Lord Camelford – Real Life is Truly Stranger than Fiction…

I remember the one criticism that stood out among others for my first romance was that it was ‘unbelievable’ (I got the story from my university readers – all based on real life). But my friend Gabrielle said, “You haven’t done your job as an author if you don’t make the reader suspend disbelief.” It was a lesson that stayed with me. Never again would I have that complaint from reviewers or readers. Then in researching THE TIDE WATCHERS, I met a real-life character who, two hundred years after his death, taught me to “never say never”. Thomas Pitt, the 2nd Baron Camelford, was nicknamed “The Mad Baron”. Nephew and cousin to the British Prime Ministers Pitt the Elder and Pitt the Younger, he was sent away to school in Bern, Switzerland, at the tender age of seven. He called these his happiest years, which says a great deal about his home life. By fourteen he’d talked his father into buying him a naval commission. By age sixteen he’d become a hero, helping repair a crippled ship to the point that they made it to port in Cape Town, South Africa. By twenty he’d become a murderer and madman, stripped of his commission. He only avoided being hanged through his title. By twenty-nine he’d tried to kill Napoleon twice, had caned a man half to death on the street, had been locked up twice and escaped, and forced a duel on his best friend. Even after his death his body and his will, and surviving letters, caused havoc for Britain. How did a hero fall so far, so fast? And what happened to Lord Camelford’s body? Thomas Pitt must have been a lonely child. Being sent to another country at age seven, not even returning for summer or Christmas holidays, would have had a profound impact on the boy. He counted his teacher as his closest friend during this time, and spent many hours alone at his favorite place, on a hill outside Bern, overlooking the lake. His father imbued him with a strong sense of superiority. The Pitts, Earls of Chatham, movers and shakers in the political arena, Barons of Camelford, moved in the highest echelons of society. The boy’s personal pride and arrogance did not sit well in the harsh atmosphere that was the 18th century British navy. His position ensured a rapid rise through the ranks, but believing only God and the King outranked the Pitt family, when a mere lieutenant refused his order, he shot the man through the heart. Escaping hanging through his title and family influence (and hush money) taught him to believe in his omnipotence. When a Captain disciplined him for insubordination, he did not forget. When he’d left the navy, he stalked the man on the street and caned him half to death. Again, the Pitts came to his rescue – but when the newspapers’ caricatures of him caused his nickname “The Mad Baron”, the public ridicule haunted him. The best way to become a hero again was simple: he’d assassinate Napoleon and restore the French monarchy. In April 1802 he was caught in Calais and deported. In October 1802 Camelford was arrested again in France, this time imprisoned in the notorious “Temple” prison in Paris. Four months later the French released him, finding him “tedious”. Within weeks of his return to England he was in trouble again. Escaping family house arrest, he began “boxing the Watch” – beating up officers of the law, paying them so they didn’t complain. He forced duels on men, and investigated this admiral or that lord. If he couldn’t kill Napoleon, he would unmask those in French pay. The papers published more caricatures, laughing at his attempts to be a hero like his cousin, Pitt. Then a woman made herself known to him, flirting, inviting him to her home. They became lovers. Weeks later, she told him that his closest friend, a Captain Best (her former lover), had been ridiculing him in public. Camelford forced a quarrel on Best in a coffee house, and refused to apologize even though Best, a crack shot, assured him he’d never said a negative word about Camelford. The night before the duel, Camelford sent a letter to the king, asking him to absolve Best of murder. He also sent letters to many known spies, the contents of which remain unknown. He was killed the next day. His last words forgave Best. Even after his death, the mad baron caused trouble. His will, with its bizarre request to be buried between two trees on a hill in Switzerland drew unwanted attention to a new British conspiracy. His brother-in-law said the war made it impossible to send Camelford’s body to Bern…but Lord Grenville was a spy. Camelford’s body was put in a fisherman’s casket (why?) in a church in London, and remained unburied for years…then it disappeared. Where did Lord Camelford’s body go? What did he write to those spies? How did the Prince of Wales become involved? The answers to these questions are in BLIND WINTER, the sequel to THE TIDE WATCHERS. But as Camelford’s life – and death – proved, life truly is stranger than fiction!

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About Lisa Chaplin

Lisa Chaplin has published twenty contemporary romances under a pseudonym, but the publication of The Tide Watchers marks her mainstream debut. Lisa, her husband, and their three children currently reside in her home country of Australia. Twitter | Facebook |

About THE TIDE WATCHERS

In the tradition of Jennifer Robson, comes this compelling debut that weaves the fascinating story of a young woman who must risk her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon’s invasion of Great Britain in the winter of 1803. Though the daughter of an English baronet, Lisbeth has defied convention by eloping to France with her new husband. But when he breaks her heart by abandoning her, she has nowhere to turn and must work in a local tavern. Her only hope for the future is to be reunited with her young son who is being raised by her mother-in law. A seasoned spy known by his operatives as Tidewatcher, Duncan apprenticed under Lisbeth’s father and pledged to watch over his mentor’s only daughter while he searches the Channel region for evidence that Bonaparte has built a fleet to invade Britain. But unpredictable Lisbeth challenges his lifelong habit of distance. Eccentric, brilliant American inventor Robert Fulton is working on David Bushnell’s “turtle”—the first fully submersible ship—when he creates brand-new torpedo technology, which he plans to sell to the French Navy. But when his relationship with Bonaparte sours, he accepts Tidewatcher’s help to relocate to the French side of the Channel, but he refuses to share his invention. With an entire army encamped in the region, blocking off all access, Tidewatcher must get that submersible, along with someone who knows how to use it, to uncover Bonaparte’s great secret. When Lisbeth is asked to pose as a housekeeper and charm Fulton so she can learn to use the submersible before the invasion fleet sails, she will be forced to sacrifice herself for her country—but is she willing to sacrifice her heart when she’s already lost it to another…? A fast-paced, deeply-researched, and richly imagined novel, THE TIDE WATCHERS explores a long-hidden, chapter of Bonaparte’s history.