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Lot 209

Frances Lady Nelson

5 July 2005, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £480 inc. premium

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Frances Lady Nelson

"List of Lord Nelsons Servants (given by the Countess Nelson) to receive Mourning from the Lord Chamberlains Office in order to attend his Lordship's Funeral/31st Dec.r JB&Sn [?]", the list overleaf, written in a secretary's hand, comprising the Merton steward, gardener and under-gardener, "Chevalier", "Gaetano the Italian", "Second Man", two footmen, coachman and postillion; together with the signature and conclusion of an autograph letter by Lady Nelson, one page, 4to, 31 December 1805

Footnotes

Neither Nelson's estranged wife nor Emma attended the funeral, although Fanny was represented: "The coach most remarked in the procession by The Times was 'the private chariot of the deceased lord - empty - the blinds drawn up - the coachman and footman in deep mourning [as per this list], with bouquets of cypress.' The Times was mistaken. The carriage was Frances Lady Nelson's. She and Garter king of arms had silently arranged that it should take its place with the mourning coaches, and it carried his family arms and hers. It was the last gesture of a constant wife" (Terry Coleman, Nelson: The Man and the Legend, 2001, p.334). "Chevalier" and "Gaetano the Italian", who feature on this list, were Nelson's two principal servants, his steward William Chevalier and his valet Gaetano Spedillo (or Spedilo). It was they who carried Nelson's luggage on the last journey from Merton to the Victory, and were, with Dr Scott and Walter Burke, in constant attendance upon their master in the ship's cockpit as he lay dying.

Additional information

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