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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 boxes set with diamonds", and requesting that Sir William Hamilton accept "fifty guineas to purchase a ring, which I beg he will wear for the sake of his sincere friend" (cited in Morrison, p. 47). The beneficiaries are Nelson's wife, Fanny (1761-1831), his eldest sibling, Maurice (d. 1801), and Josiah Nisbet (1780-1830), named here as his son-in-law but in fact his stepson, the only child of Fanny's first marriage. The single beneficiary who was not a member of Nelson's family is Francis, or Frank, Lepee (fl. 1785-95), to whom he leaves £50. Lepee was probably born in Norfolk and "was a servant to Nelson during the American Revolutionary War, on shore and in the 1780s" (Knight, p. 650). An epileptic, Lepee appears to have descended into drunkenness and mental instability and Nelson finally had to let him go in 1795. At some point the will was cancelled by the excision of Nelson's signature and seal. This was standard practice, referred to in law as animo revocandi or "intention to revoke". The will has been published, by the Navy Records Society in 1958. That transcription is from the copy held among the Nelson Papers at Monmouth Museum, which appears to retain Nelson's signature and seal. Nelson made a final will on 10 May 1803, the original of which is in the National Archives at Kew, and there is a signed duplicate in the National Maritime Museum. Provenance: John Gribbel of Philadelphia (1858-1936), businessman, industrialist, and philanthropist; his sale at Parke Bernet. New York, 16-17 April 1945 ($70), when it was described as being "gauze-preserved" and "cancelled by the cutting off of one of Lord Nelson's signatures"; Bentley's Fine Art Auctioneers, Cranbrook, Kent, in July 2013 (£18,755). Roger Knight, The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson, 2006; The Hamilton & Nelson papers: The Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed by Alfred Morrison, Vol. II, 1894; Nelson's Letters to His Wife and other documents 1785-1831, Vol. C, 1958. Single sheet (320 x 218 mm), 31 lines in a secretarial hand on recto only; laid paper, Britannia watermark. Sometime laid down on gauze and cancelled by the excision of Nelson's seal and signature. In very good condition.
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