Premier auction house Sotheby's to sell Lord Nelson's watch
09 Aug '05
8 min read
Whatever the date of purchase, it is certain that Nelson owned the watch by 1802, when he was seen using it to time the steam presses at Matthew Boulton's famous Mint, near Birmingham, as they churned out thousands of coins. More movingly still, further scratch marks on the movement indicate that Nelson had the watch overhauled during his final brief period of leave in England in August 1805. Weeks later he, and his watch, departed on their fateful last mission together.
“After Trafalgar, the watch was inherited by Nelson's heir, his brother William Nelson, the 1st Earl Nelson. In the short inventory of Nelson's personal belongings removed from Victory when she reached London in December 1805 - with the admiral's embalmed body still on board - the chronometer is listed as "No.7 A gold watch".
At Earl Nelson's death in 1835, the watch - together with Nelson's medals, swords and other effects - passed to the earl's sole surviving child, his daughter Charlotte (1787-1873). As a child, Charlotte Nelson had been a great favourite of Nelson's and, in particular, of his mistress Emma Lady Hamilton to whom she was a constant companion, almost a ward, in the years before Trafalgar.
"How proud I am to have the approbation of my most glorious, victorious, virtuous uncle" Charlotte wrote to her mother from Merton Place, the house that Emma and Nelson shared together near London, "and my future life in every act and instance shall be to do honour to thenear relationship, which I have the happiness to bear towards him. May God Almighty spare his precious life."
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