HORATIO, VISCOUNT NELSON (1758-1805)
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HORATIO, VISCOUNT NELSON (1758-1805)

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HORATIO, VISCOUNT NELSON (1758-1805)

Autograph letter signed ('Nelson') to Mrs William Suckling ('My Dear Madam'), Palermo, 22 August 1799, one page, 4to (even browning), integral address leaf, framed and glazed in a substantial hinged oak double frame described as of 'oak from HMS "Victory" in which he fell' (crack to glass on verso), 475 x 400mm.

THE DEATH OF NELSON'S UNCLE WILLIAM SUCKLING AND NELSON'S ELEVATION AS DUKE OF BRONTE. Nelson offers condolences -- 'I can easily conceive the great affliction you must have suffered in losing two Friends so justly dear to you. My Dear Uncle God only knows with what disinterested affection I loved him ... If you & Mr Hume will Sign a power of attorney and send it out to me I shall Sign it ... but in this and all other matters which can add to your comfort I am at your disposal'. A postscript adds the good news that 'His Sicilian Majesty has Created me Duke of Bronte and has annexed an Estate of 3000 Pounds Sterling a Year, both Title & Estate at my disposal together with a magnificient Diamond Hilted Sword'.

Nelson's uncle William (1730-1798), the Comptroller of Customs whose house in Kentish Town had been a frequent base for Nelson, and who had offered support in particular during his nephew's years in the West Indies, had died on 15 December 1798, appointing Nelson co-executor together with Mr Hume, and leaving him £100. William Suckling had kept a mistress for some years, marrying Miss Rumsey of Hampstead only in the mid 1780s. The second death referred to is presumably that of Nelson's own younger brother, Revd Suckling Nelson.