NELSON, Horatio, Viscount Nelson.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Copy of the last will and testament of Horatio Nelson. Signed by Nelson ("Horatio Nelson") and attested before he sailed for the Mediterranean and the Battle of the Nile. It is not published by Nicolas in his exemplary edition of the Despatches and Letters (1844-6) nor mentioned by Roger Knight in his acclaimed biography. It remains a little-known document; we believe it is one of only two copies.Nelson made this will one week before leaving London for Spithead, where he hoisted his flag on board HMS Vanguard. Between May and August, he played cat-and-mouse with the French fleet, pursuing them across the Mediterranean, until, on 1 August 1798, they were sighted at Aboukir Bay, just north of Alexandria. His victory at the Battle of the Nile "at a stroke … restored Britain's supremacy in the Mediterranean, which it held for the rest of the wars against France. It trapped Bonaparte and his army in the East for fifteen months and exposed the French colonies to recapture" (Knight, p. 302).During the autumn and winter of 1798, while the Vanguard was moored at Naples, Nelson would fall under the spell of the captivating Emma Hamilton. Alex Patterson, formerly of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, describes the present will as "the last time you see a real loving link to [Nelson's wife] Frances because after that, by 1800, they're in effect estranged and separated" (BBC, 6 July 2013). In fact, Nelson added a codicil on 25 May 1799, while on board Vanguard, leaving to Emma "two gold box

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