THIS model guillotine is carved out of bone.
It was made during the Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815) by a French prisoner-of-war.
Thousands of French soldiers and sailors were brought to Britain after being captured.
Many of the prisoners had been skilled craftsmen before being conscripted to fight for Napoleon.
To improve their living conditions, prisoners sold handmade objects.
This intricate model of a guillotine is probably made from sheep bone and has been carefully carved.
The tools and materials available to prisoners were extremely basic which makes this model, which includes moving parts, even more remarkable.
This example may have been made in Wilton Gaol, Taunton.
A newspaper article written in the 1950s notes that ‘Taunton Prison’ was a centre for the production of bone models.
The guillotine was on display at the ‘Waterloo Lives’ exhibition at the Museum of Somerset.
The exhibition was developed in partnership with the National Army Museum, London and ran until earlier this month.
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