Special points of interest: Chairman’s Dispatch 2 From the Quarterdeck 4 News from Council 5 Forthcoming Events 10 Notes & Queries 22 Feature Story contd 23 Ditty Bag 32 Collectors’ Corner 34 Book Notes 40 In the Auction Rooms 43 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: AGM/ Isaacson Lecture 4 Sardinian Adm Desgeneys 5 Profile: Bill White 6 1805 Educational Programme 8 New CO for HMS Victory 12 HMS Victory Preservation Trust 13 NMM Shonibare Appeal 14 NMRN Gets funds for Exhibitions 15 Roddam Letters 16 Nelson on HMS Victoria? 17 Nelsoniana: A Collectors’ Reference Shelf 18 The Anne S. K. Brown Collection 29 Royal Museums Greenwich 30 Balchin’s Victory Recovery 32 The Pearson Silver Box 34 Victory Main Topsail Swatch 36 Nock 7-Barrel Volley Gun 37 HMS Nelson Ship Portrait 38 THE KEDGE ANCHOR NEWSLETTER OF THE 1805 CLUB Issue No. 33 March 2012 The KEDGE ANCHOR is the newsletter of The 1805 Club. It is published three times a year (in March, July and November) and is distributed free to members. For information about the newsletter contact the North American editors: Randy and Dana Mafit at 1980 Sunrise Blvd., Eugene, Oregon 97405, USA, phone +1 541343-1894, email: randym1805@aol.com ; or the UK editor Ken Flemming, 15 Southlands Drive, Leyland, Preston Lancs PR26 7SJ, UK , phone +44 (0)1772 433970, email: kenflemming@sky.com. UK Edition POCKET TREASURES 18TH CENTURY ENGLISH NAVAL ENAMEL BOXES S ome years ago I received a small catalogue for a forthcoming auction of English enamel patch boxes—a collectible with which I was then unfamiliar. Illustrated with colour photographs, The Peter Snell Collection of Naval Enamels (Bonhams) consisted of nineteen Bilston enamel boxes commemorating events at sea between 1789 and the death of Nelson at Trafalgar. Nelson was the most celebrated subject, but there were also boxes commemorating Howe at the ‘Glorious First of June, 1794’ and Duncan at ‘Camperdowne’ (sic) in 1797. One also celebrated the short-lived ‘Peace of Amiens’ in 1803. The boxes were colourful and attractive (if unsophisticated) and quite enticing; so began an avid interest. I began to read and study about these pocket treasures. A number of years later, through the auspices of Colin White, I had the very great pleasure of an appointment at at the National Maritime Museum with Senior Curator Rina Prentice to view the extensive collection of naval enamel boxes held at Greenwich. I hope that this lead article and two-page centrefold will convey the great charm of these eye-catching objects. RBM « « « « « « » » » » » » Emma Hamilton biographer Kate Williams, in her excellent essay ‘Nelson and Women’ (Admiral lord Nelson: Context and Legacy. Palgrave MacMillan, 2005) recounts: The Battle of the Nile produced, in Carola Oman’s words, a ‘shower of souvenirs’ for Nelson’s eager public. Manufacturers targeted female consumers with Nelson fans, ribbons, rings, charms for charm bracelets, earrings, brooches, enamelled boxes for storing beauty ‘patches’, jewellery boxes, muslins, bags, and shawls… A piece of Nelson jewellery or a Nelson fan became an important badge of loyalty and status at social gatherings across England. Thus are enumerated a few of the objects, including “enameled boxes”, that are still sought after by Nelson and naval collectors today. Antique dealer Taylor B.. Williams (Harbert, Michigan) offers one of the best and most concise introductions to English enamels; his overview follows. - Continued on page 23 -
THE CHAIRMAN’S DISPATCH! Of Wooden Walls In his ‘Sketch of my Life’ Lord Nelson writes that he ‘was sent to the high school at Norwich and afterwards removed to North Walsham’. This is the only direct reference he makes to his short period of school learning. The rest of his education began ‘on the disturbance with Spain relative to the Falkland Islands’ when he ‘went to sea with my uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling in the Raisonable of 64 guns. At the age of 12 the wooden world of the Royal Navy became his classroom from where he ‘graduated’ to become Britain’s greatest naval hero. He would have been on the threshold of starting his school days about 250 years ago. A significant part of them would be spent at Paston School at North Walsham. In contrast to the conventional grammar education at Norwich ‘high school’, Paston was a progressive institution with a liberal and arts-based curriculum, which furnished the young Nelson with a love of Shakespeare and an ability to write, as described by Colin White, with ‘an exhilarating stream of consciousness that vividly captures his impulsive and eager way of speaking.’ Paston was a fortunate beginning but the patronage, watchful eye and wisdom of his maternal uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, was also unconventional. Rather than arranging for his protégé to serve with him, as was typical of ‘interest’, he arranged for the teenage Nelson to undergo as wide a variety of experience as possible, including a spell in the merchant navy, time in small boats in the Thames, an expedition to the Arctic and two years in a crack frigate. Suckling ensured that he was not ‘lost’ with so many others in the environment of a large battleship. This wide range of activity fostered Nelson’s individuality and free-thinking spirit. Boys and girls of a similar age today are very unlikely to experience such an education! However, there is one thing that is the same: the fertile, imaginative and enquiring minds of young people and the desire of teachers to give scope to their endeavor and abilities. In addition to its conservation activities The 1805 Club exists ‘to advance the education of the public by promoting and engaging in original research into, and the publication and dissemination of knowledge of, the sea services of the Georgian period’. The Club’s publications, notably the annual Trafalgar Chronicle and the Kedge Anchor newsletter, together with its international conference activities, go a long way to achieve this objective. Nevertheless, for many years we have also sought to develop an imaginative and sustainable educational strategy that reaches a young audience. This is now taking shape, which is why this issue of the Kedge Anchor focuses on the work we are doing in this field. Under the splendid guidance of Council member Dianne Smith the Club has embarked on an ambitious project, which is original yet founded on proven techniques. The aim has been to develop innovative, interactive and dynamic teaching resources that will engage children between the ages of 7 and 13 (Key Stage 2 and 3), the very age span of Nelson’s formative naval years! These resources are both internet and school based. The full details are in Dianne’s article but I should like to highlight the success of the first in-school pilot delivered on 21 January as part of the West Sussex Gifted and Talented programme. Working alongside Jerome Monahan, an independent tutor who has designed The Wooden World Workshop: Nelson and the Georgian Navy for The 1805 Club, we spent a whole day with a group of children drawn from nine different schools. It was a fantastic experience and one clearly enjoyed by all of the students, the majority of whom rated the workshop as ‘excellent’. As Jerome writes in his post workshop report, ‘The fact that the feedback was so positive from a group covering such an age range is extremely encouraging and suggests what we were offering was both accessible but also sufficiently stretching for all. All declared they had both learnt a great deal and found certain activities challenging which is as it should be’. The workshop is based on a structured framework, or script, carefully prepared beforehand, but the emphasis is on the students themselves who have to do most of the work. For instance at one point they were invited to listen to a portion of the soundtrack from the film Master and Commander, in which Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams is used to accompany a scene in which a sailor falls overboard and has to be abandoned in immense seas off Cape Horn. The joy was that when students were then asked to create pieces of prose and poetry based upon their impressions of the soundtrack alone, they created some staggeringly good work. The following is an example by participant Tom Daly of St Wilfrids R C School:
The sea, O, the sea Magical and elegant to some yet, Dull and life-shattering to others Oh, it sounds victorious Makes you feel a winner, Or terrible it may be And makes you quiver. The sea, O, the sea A glistening light for eternity How wonderful the sea can be Or is it just horrible A realm of horror It might be the brightest pearl Or just a murky swirl. Equally exciting was the desire for more information about Nelson and his death, the ships, weapons, and crew (‘because I found it really interesting’), the Battle of Trafalgar, who the French and Spanish were that Nelson fought against and how much Nelson’s tactics helped advance sea battles. The next step is to arrange three more similar workshops in other regions, which will give the Club credibility to apply for specific funding to roll out a host of Wooden Walls whole class-mixed ability workshops across the country. This is where the website development also comes in, since it will soon include an animation of Nelson’s life and be a shop window for the work of the students attending The Wooden World workshops. The educational programme as a whole is being dedicated as a memorial to the 1805 Club’s first President, Lily McCarthy. This year’s Members’ Day and Annual General Meeting takes place on Saturday, 5 May. Anthony Cross, after ten years dedicated and superb service as co-editor of the Trafalgar Chronicle, is stepping down from the Council. He has been a splendid editor and officer and we shall naturally miss him. However, he intends to continue to give his active support to the Club, most notably by writing for the Chronicle rather than editing it. We offer him a huge thank you and at the same time recognize the enormous contribution made by Huw Lewis-Jones who will continue as Editor. We can all look forward to another stunning edition of the Trafalgar Chronicle later this year. We have had fewer events during the past twelve months, which is highlighted by the exceptional number we managed to arrange in 2010! However, the future is bright as we plan a range of events to add to our flagships: The Members’ Day on Saturday, 5 May at Greenwich and The Trafalgar Dinner on Saturday, 20 October, again at historic Newhouse. In the immediate pipeline are special visits to The Old Admiralty, Whitehall, The House of Lords and Commons, the home of Earl Howe at Penn House, Amersham, a Study Day in partnership with The World Monuments Fund at St Paul’s Cathedral in September, and a joint event with the Royal Navy at Dartmouth Royal Naval College, including a lecture on Naval Leadership by Michael Duffy. The various dates will be announced soonest. With all good wishes, Peter Warwick REMINDER / FINAL NOTICE 2012 MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS DUE Membership subscription renewals for 2012 were due on January 1st. Your continued membership in the 1805 Club is very important to us—your participation and subscription support a variety of club activities including monument conservation/restoration, the organization and staging of commemorative events, and the publication of the Trafalgar Chronicle, the Kedge Anchor and other publications. We encourage you to renew your membership and hope that you continue to find it worthwhile. Again this year, we are inviting those of you who would like to make an additional contribution to the conservation work of the club (above and beyond your annual subscription) to include it with your dues. If you wish to donate for this purpose you should tick the appropriate box on the renewal form. You may designate any amount and your donation will be duly recorded. It may be listed on a conservation project in the future, unless you would prefer anonymity. The annual subscription is £35.00, with cheques made payable to “The 1805 Club.” For North American and Caribbean members the annual subscription is $70.00US (if paid before January 1st). After January 1st members need to send $70.00 + $30.00 conversion/draft fee for a total of $100.00.
www.1805club.orgRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTYyMzU=