Nelson, Viscount Horatio (1758-1805)

The collection consists of original and copy documents relating to Viscount Nelson and the fleet under his command. Although it spans his career from 1780 to his death in 1805, the bulk of the collection centres on 1798 - the year of the battle of Aboukir Bay - and the three years 1803-1805, during which Nelson commanded the Mediterranean Fleet. Included are several hundred official reports and surveys concerned with the manning, ordnance, stores, defects and sick lists of the ships under Nelson's overall command, plus reports on courts martial, prize money, prisoners, sailors' pay, etc. Also present are weekly reports by the chief physicians of the Fleet comparing health on various vessels and giving details of treatments proposed; letters to Nelson on issues such as inventions, requests for places, etc.; and a collection of bills. The papers carry the signatures of most of the senior officers under Nelson and are generally addressed to Nelson himself.

1780-1805

15 volumes volumes of bound manuscript material.

Purchased from Mr. Robson, London, May 1928

Horatio Nelson was born in 1758 in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, the son of the rector, and entered the Royal Navy in 1770. In the early part of his career he served in various stations, rising up the ranks with occasional periods on half-pay. By 1797 he had risen to Commander and his role in the Battle of St. Vincent in that year led to his promotion to Rear-Admiral. In 1798 he annihilated the French fleet at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. In 1801 he was promoted to Vice-Admiral, led the British attack on Copenhagen, and was made Viscount Nelson. In 1803 he was appointed to head the Mediterranean fleet, eventually coming into conflict with the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, in which he was killed in the course of the British victory.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

This material was previously held by the Rodney family.