Description:

Horatio Nelson ALS Sending Relative to France!

A 1p autograph letter signed by British Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) as "Nelson + Bronte" at center. (Nelson signed his name incorporating part of the honorific title, the Duke of Bronté, bestowed upon him by the Kingdom of Sicily in 1799.) Written at Merton Place, in Merton, Surrey, England, Nelson's home south of London, on June 5, 1802. On bifold paper with expected gentle folds. The inner pages are blank. Lightly pencil inscribed along the bottom edge of the last blank page with a former collector's notation. Else clean, crisp, and near fine. 7.375" x 9." Accompanied by a high-quality photocopy of the original transmittal envelope addressed to "His Excellency / Jackson Esqr: / His Majesty's Minister / at Paris." Ex-Matcham Family; ex-Sotheby's Trafalgar Sale, October 5, 2005.

In full:

"Merton June 5th: 1802

Sir,

I beg leave to introduce to your notice my Brother In Law Mr: George Matcham who is going to make a short tour in France any attentions your Excellency is pleased to shew him will very much oblige your most obedient servant

Nelson + Bronte

His Excellency
Jackson Esqr."

Admiral Nelson penned this letter during a two-year-long period of leave in England, 1801-1803. Flushed with success following the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801, and created a Viscount in May and a Baron in August, Nelson returned to England to oversee its defense against possible French invasion. Nelson purchased a 160-acre estate called Merton Place in the autumn of 1801; he would live at "dear, dear Merton" until the spring of 1803, and briefly in 1805 before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar that October. The summer of 1802, he traveled through England and Wales with his mistress Emma Hamilton and her husband Sir William Hamilton.

The subject of Nelson's letter, his brother-in-law George Matcham (1753-1833), had married younger sister Catherine Nelson (1767-1842) in 1787. Matcham had worked in the Indian civil service and was also an intrepid amateur explorer and traveler writer. Matcham journeyed through modern day Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Hungary in the early 1780s; some of his travelogues were later published. The Treaty of Amiens signed between Great Britain and France in March 1802 permitted British tourists like Matcham to once again explore the Continent.

Nelson's correspondent Francis James Jackson (1770-1814) was a career diplomat, serving in Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Denmark, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States between the 1780s and the 1810s. In 1802, Jackson was the Minister Plenipotentiary ad interim at Paris. The peace achieved by the Treaty of Amiens lasted only 14 months. In the offing was the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson would be fatally wounded on October 21, 1805.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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