The Chamberlain Worcester butter tub from the Nelson Service, circa 1802-04

Footnotes

During a brief pause in the wars with France in the summer of 1802, Nelson embarked on a tour of Wales and the West Country, accompanied by Emma and Sir William Hamilton and the Rev William Nelson (Horatio's brother). On Sunday 26 August they arrived in Worcester where they received a rapturous welcome. The local newspaper reported...

"...On Monday morning his Lordship and friends, preceded by a band of music, and attended by Mr Weaver, of the Hop-Pole Inn, and Messrs Chamberlain, visited the china factory of the latter, over the door of which was thrown a triumphal arch of laurel, ornamented with an elegant blue flag, with an appropriate inscription thereon. For more than an hour his lordship viewed with the minutest attention every department of this highly improved work, so much the object of general curiosity; and on inspection of the superb assortment of china at the shop in High Street, honoured Messrs Chamberlain by declaring that, although possessed of the finest porcelain the courts of Dresden and Naples could afford, he had seen none equal to the productions of their manufactory, in testimony of which he left a very large order for china, to be decorated with his arms, insignia &c. Sir William and Lady Hamilton also favoured the proprietors with liberal purchases."

R.W.Binns, Worcester's Art Director published a very different account in 1865. James Plant had been a young china painter at the factory in 1802 and he remembered Nelson's visit half a century before. Plant recalled the moment the distinguished visitors arrived in the painting department. "and then," said Plant, "a very battered looking gentleman made his appearance- he had lost an arm and an eye- leaning on his left and only arm was the beautiful Lady Hamilton, evidently pleased at the interest excited by her companion; and then, amongst the general company following after, came a very infirm old gentleman- this was Sir William Hamilton." James Plant was an apprentice or junior painter in 1802. During more than forty years at Chamberlains he specialised in heraldic decoration, and so he may well have been one of the team that worked on the Nelson service.

Nelson placed a large order for a breakfast, dinner and dessert service to be decorated in the Fine Old Japan pattern, number 240. The factory order book survives in the Museum of Royal Worcester. The entry for August 27 1802 is in the name of 'Rt. Honble Lord Nelson, No. 23, Pickadilly, opposite the green Park (sic)'. Lord Nelson's name has been crossed out and replaced with 'Duke of Bronte'. The order describes a Breakfast service of 150 pieces, the component parts listed in detail. Nelson's taste was flamboyant and he chose one of the most sumptuous and expensive patterns. Nelson requested the addition of his arms and insignia, to be finely painted on every piece. Most pieces bear only crests and coronets, while the two teapots were decorated with Nelson's complete insignia. The individual crests were costed at between one shilling and two shillings and sixpence each.

The order for the breakfast set was followed in far less detail with '1 Complete dinner service.' and '1 Complete dessert service, with ice pails.' The fact that the dinner and dessert sets were not listed in the same detail as the breakfast set suggests that during this initial visit to the factory Nelson was unwilling to commit to such lavish expenditure. Indeed, the dinner and dessert services were never completed and it is likely the specimen plate sold by Bonhams on 18 October 2017, lot 13, and the example in the museum at Worcester are the only two pieces that were created.

Work on the breakfast set probably commenced in September 1802 and it took around two years to produce 150 pieces. The set was delivered to Nelson and Emma's house at Merton for it appears in the inventory of Nelson's China and Plate compiled following his death at Trafalgar. Designated the 'Horatia Set', the components listed in 1805 match precisely the original Chamberlain factory order, but it now contained just '1 butter cooler, cover and stand'. The second butter tub must either not have been delivered, or it had been broken by Emma or one of her staff or guests. One cup, one saucer and a sugar box had also been broken. The present lot is truly unique, therefore—the only butter tub from Nelson's breakfast set.

The set had not been paid for at the time of Nelson's death and in January 1806, only a week after Nelson's state funeral, Chamberlains submitted a final account for the porcelain. The bill from Chamberlains for the breakfast service totalled 120 pounds 10 shillings and sixpence and they eventually received payment from Nelson's estate. The factory account books are reproduced here with thanks to the Museum of Royal Worcester.

Although the Merton Inventory lists the china as belonging to Lady Hamilton, and despite Emma's protests, the contents of their Merton home were inherited by Nelson's brother (who had accompanied Nelson and Emma on their visit to Worcester). Much of the porcelain passed to Nelson's niece, Charlotte, Duchess of Bronte. She married Samuel Hood, Baron Bridport. On his death in 1868 the china passed to his son, Alexander Nelson, Viscount Bridport. What remained of the Horatia Set was sold in Lord Bridport's sale at Christies in July 1895.

The present owner of the butter tub remembers that her mother was given it by a neighbour who was a 'Mrs Nelson'. This was possibly Mrs Nelson-Ward who had married the grandson of Horatia—Nelson and Emma's daughter after whom the set had been named. The rest of the Nelson-Ward collection of Nelson memorabilia was bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in 1946 and this included from the Horatia Service the dish for warm muffins, on which the butter from this tub would have been spread.