sourced story
5 May 1821Peer-reviewed · 2 sourcesWell documented

Exile to Saint Helena and Napoleon's Death

Britain ships its defeated enemy to a remote Atlantic island, where he dies six years later

On the timeline · around 5 May 1821 · CollapseCollapseExile to Saint Helena and Napoleon's Death18171818181918201821

Quick facts

Location
Longwood House, Saint Helena
Date
5 May 1821
Age at death
51
Cause of death
Perforated stomach ulcer / gastric disease, per the 1821 autopsy

What happened

After surrendering to the British following Waterloo, Napoleon learned at Plymouth on 31 July 1815 that he would be exiled to Saint Helena, a remote British island in the South Atlantic, arriving there on 15 October 1815 after a nine-week voyage aboard HMS Northumberland. He spent his final six years first at a private home and then at Longwood House, a damp, poorly maintained property, attended by a small group of followers including General Bertrand. Napoleon died at Longwood at 5:49pm on 5 May 1821, aged 51; a French-led autopsy the next day, attended by British doctors, concluded he had died of a perforated stomach ulcer, a finding a 2021 bicentenary review in a peer-reviewed medical journal traces to gastric disease rather than the poisoning theories that later gained popular attention. He was buried at Saint Helena in an unmarked grave, since the British would not permit the name Napoleon on the tombstone, and his remains were returned to Paris in 1840 to lie beneath the dome of the Invalides.

Why it matters

Choosing a remote South Atlantic island rather than a European prison reflected the Allies' determination that Napoleon never repeat his escape from Elba, and it worked: he never left. His death closed the story that had opened with an artillery lieutenant's rise during the Revolution, and the transfer of his remains to Paris in 1840 turned him back into a French national symbol within a generation of his defeat.

How we know

Fondation Napoleon documents the voyage to Saint Helena, his arrival date, and the details of his death and autopsy at Longwood, while a peer-reviewed bicentenary report in a medical journal (PMC) confirms the gastric disease finding from the original 1821 autopsy.

Sources

See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.

Part of a timelineThe Napoleonic Wars23 events · How one artillery officer from Corsica remade Europe's map, then lost it all twiceView all →
Exile to Saint Helena and Napoleon's Death · The Napoleonic Wars · SourcedStory