NELSON & BRONTE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER TO THE ADMIRALTY ABOUT HI...

Hammer

£4,400

NELSON & BRONTE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER TO THE ADMIRALTY ABOUT HIS PAY AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF; Fine 6 Jan. 1802 Autograph Entire Letter signed "Nelson & Bronte" sent from Merton to a Junior Clerk ("William Pearce") at the Admiralty in London with an autograph address-sheet initialled "N&B" at lower left, having a London handstruck "2[d]" charge and mainly fine "Lowr. Tooting/Unpaid/Penny P[oft]" on the front, plus a very fine red oval "7 o'Clock.JA.6/1802 NT." datestamp (closed tear) on the reverse. A significant letter to the authorities complaining that he had not been given the "Table Money" due to him:- “Merton [Surrey], Jany. 6th 1801 [error for 1802]. My Dear Sir, Many thanks for your kind letter; I dare say you are right, but you have forgot to say that Table Money is ordered me for my present Command. My Commission as Commander in Chief [Nelson's underlining] is still in force and is dated July 24th 1801. Pray, was not Sir Hyde Parker paid till he struck his flag at Yarmouth. If there is any mistake, I trust to your goodness to rectify it, and humbly[?] Dear Sir, your much obliged, Nelson & Bronte.” An intriguing letter from Nelson, with the Nelson & Bronte signature that he adopted from late 1800, showing that in 1802 he was still unhappy with the Navy's allowances due to him as Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet from August to December 1799; it was written in the brief period of uneasy peace between England and France, while he was enjoying a relatively normal domestic on-shore life in Merton with Emma Hamilton and their young daughter Horatia (born in January 1801). Fine and rare Autograph letter with postal markings. Cross Reference: NAVAL, AUTOGRAPHS, LONDON POSTAL HISTORY