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Lot 39

"His Majesty's intentions to advance Lord Nelson to an earldom"
Nelson - The Posthumous Earldom

18 October 2005, 14:00 BST
Oxford

£300 - £500

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"His Majesty's intentions to advance Lord Nelson to an earldom"
Nelson - The Posthumous Earldom

Autograph letter signed by Nelson's solicitor William Haslewood, to his partner Frederick Booth, announcing that William Nelson is to be advanced to an earldom ("...I have great pleasure in mentioning to you that the information You received respecting Lord Nelson is not correct. His lordship has this instant received a very handsome letter from Mr Pitt communicating His Majesty's intentions to advance Lord Nelson to an earldom under the title of Earl Nelson 'of Trafalgar (or, as Mr Pitt spells it, Tresalgar) - with the same remainders as in the present barony. - His Majesty means, likewise, to apply to Parliament for an adequate provision to accompany the title. Lord Nelson does not think it right to make any visits or calls until after the funeral. But he has expressed a hope that Sir Evan Nepean & others of his friends will call upon him here..."), 3 pages, 4to, integral address, mourning seal, Fitzroy Square, "Saturday night eleven o'clock" [9 November 1805]

Footnotes

Nelson's brother is created Earl Nelson of Trafalgar. On 9 November 1805 (which fell upon a Saturday), four days after the news of Trafalgar reached London, the London Gazette announced: "His Majesty has been pleased to grant to the Reverend William Nelson, DD, now Lord Nelson, brother and heir to the late Lord Viscount Nelson, who, after a series of transcendent and heroic services, fell gloriously on the 21st of October last, in the moment of brilliant, and decisive Victory, the Dignity of a Viscount and Earl of the United Kingdom, by the names, stiles, and titles of Viscount Merton and Earl Nelson, of Trafalgar, and of Merton" (Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters, vii, p.304). It was of course a more exalted title than anything conferred on Nelson himself. William Haslewood, the writer of this letter, was a partner in Messrs Booth & Haslewood, and is described by Nicolas as "Nelson's intimate friend and executor", a duty he shared with the newly-ennobled brother (vii, p.xvi).

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