A volunteer working as part of a team cleaning and cataloguing books in the library of National Trust’s Dudmaston Hall near Bridgnorth has discovered an unexpected treasure.
Volunteer Elizabeth Dewer alerted staff when she found a letter glued into a book about Lord Nelson which appeared to have been written by the famous Admiral himself.
Verification of the handwriting, by comparing it with other letters already in the Hall’s collection, confirmed that it was scribed by Horatio in 1798.
Engagement and Conservation Assistant, Rhiannon Bramer, said “The letter adds to the collection of Nelson letters we have at the Hall, which was amassed by the Reverend Francis Laing, Great Great Grandfather of the last owner Lady Labouchere, whilst he was secretary to the Governor of Malta in the late 18th century. It is always exciting to find something we previously didn’t know was there and in such good condition too.”
The letter will be on display at Dudmaston Sunday to Thursday, until the family rooms close on the 30 September.
UPDATE:
The letter, was found in a book belonging to the current resident family Mark and Elfrida Hamilton-Russell, it is written in ink and matches other letters from the same year written by Nelson and held in Dudmaston collection.
When investigating whom the letter was addressed to, a Thomas Lloyd of London, it has become apparent a letter which claims to be the original was put up for auction by a descendant of the Lloyd family in Shrewsbury last year. Further investigation will now take place to try and ascertain if this is an early copy.
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