Lots of fascinating info about this prison here: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/portchester-castle/history-and-stories/portchester-castle-and-prisoners-of-war/
Most of the prisoners held at Portchester were French, but there were also many Dutch and Spanish prisoners. Other nationalities included Americans, Danes, Germans and Italians, and Lascars from south-east Asia (Malays). This cosmopolitan mix reflected both the global nature of the war and the international make-up of some national armies. The prisoners also included soldiers’ wives and families, as well as passengers and crew from civilian ships captured by Britain.
(note: The caption to this image on that page says that this is a picture of the prison’s Keep, so these prisoners were probably meant to be Dutch as evidenced by the following)
Different nationalities tended to be kept apart within the castle to avoid conflict. During the 1790s, for example, French prisoners were held in prison blocks in the outer bailey. Spanish prisoners were housed in Assheton’s Tower (at the north-east corner of the inner bailey) and Dutch prisoners in the keep. A report by prison inspectors made in about 1796 noted that
the Dutch prisoners … have conducted themselves with the utmost propriety, remarkable for cleanliness, consequently healthy, and never been guilty of selling their clothes, or other irregularities in common amongst the French.
(ofc the British would say that, lel)
Of course the genius Brit describing this scenario didn’t really take into account that there would be +10 times as many French prisoners as Dutch, living in much more crowded conditions. Making cleanliness and orderly conduct much more difficult to maintain.
Yeah another consideration is that there were many different regional differences among the French. i.e. people from Brittany were very different from those around Paris or those from Occitanie. In the same way you’d have conflict among nationalities if you threw them all together, they probably had conflict within the French group.
Brits: “You might be our enemies, but we respect you.”
French: “What about us?”
Brits: “What ABOUT you, frog? 🤢”
