NELSON (HORATIO)

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte") to Mr Fellowes, earnestly promising to do all he can to relieve his distress but regrets he can not help him financially Merton, 31 October (franked 1 November) 1802

Footnotes

Provenance:
Bonhams, Nelson & The Royal Navy 1750-1815, 5 July 2005, lot 125
Private collection, UK

'BETTER TIMES MAY COME ROUND': NELSON OFFERS HELP TO HIS FORMER SECRETARY.

This letter is to John Bourdon Fellowes who had served as Nelson's purser and secretary throughout his time on the Agamemnon. Nelson held him in high regard, and secured for him a lieutenancy (see White, New Letters, p.164). A year earlier Nelson wrote to St Vincent: "I have been much distressed at finding that Mr Thomas Fellowes, who served with me as Purser during the whole time I commanded the Agamemnon, has not only lost his appointment of Purser to His Majesty's Ship Superb, owing to an arrest for debt, but is involved, with a wife and family, in the most abject misery, without the slightest means of support for them, or for himself... speaking from my own knowledge, I can safely say that Mr Fellowes is a man of strictly honest principles, and I believe his distresses to be chiefly owing to the want of integrity, or the negligence, of those who were entrusted with his concerns in the Ship, at those periods when he was absent on duty"; and he told Captain Berry: "I would lend him money, but in truth I have it not" (26 November and 26 January 1801).

Nelson writes from Merton Place, the country estate purchased for him by the Hamiltons, fresh from a triumphant progress throughout England and South Wales in the summer of 1802. The lavish lifestyle he enjoyed with Emma Hamilton at his 'dear dear Merton' and a generous settlement paid to his wife took a toll on his finances, and he often complained that his financial situation did not reflect his fame and success. He was in considerable debt and was forced to borrow money from his friend Alexander Davidson and his brother-in-law George Matcham, admitting here that he "is not in a position to lend money" and asking Fellowes to apply to his naval agent, Marsh & Creed, for help.

The letter is not published by Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters, or White, New Letters.