A British collector spent four decades gathering Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson’s letters, naval documents and manuscripts​;​ the archive, including letters to Emma Hamilton, is now up for auction at Sotheby’s for an estimated £4 million to £6 million

Rare letters and documents belonging to Navy commander Vice-Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson are up for auction at Sotheby’s as part of a collection of 415 historical documents, manuscripts and letters. The lot also includes notes Nelson wrote to his lover, Emma Hamilton. Sotheby’s expects the auction to fetch between £4 million and £6 million. The auction house opened bidding on Wednesday, the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, and bidding runs until 18 November.Clive Richards, CBE (1937–2021), a venture capitalist and philanthropist with strong roots in Herefordshire, collected these rare letters and manuscripts. All proceeds from the auction will go to the Clive Richards Foundation, which supports education, healthcare, heritage and the arts, the auction house said.

A rare collection built over four decades

Pic credit: Sotheby’s

The lot contains 415 documents, manuscripts and letters. The historic collection comprises the Nelson Papers (217 items), Hamilton Papers (136 items), Battle Papers (46 items) and Nelson Family Papers (19 items), according to Sotheby’s. It took Richards more than 40 years to gather these rare letters.Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s book and manuscript specialist, told the Press Association that while the auction house often sells individual letters by Nelson or Emma Hamilton, selling an entire collection of this size is far rarer. This is “the greatest collection of its kind in private hands”, she said.“We’re really privileged to be presenting here the Clive Richards collection of letters and documents relating to Admiral Nelson, one of the towering figures of British history. What we have here is a wonderful collection of hundreds of letters covering every aspect of Nelson’s life and career, and of those closest to him, and those who served alongside him,” Heaton said.“Nelson is such a widely loved and respected figure. There are so many aspects to him that it’s pretty hard to pin him down to just one personal location.”

Nelson Papers

The core of the archive is the Nelson Papers, which include 168 letters written by Nelson himself. The documents cover major moments of the Napoleonic Wars, including Bastia, Cape St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar. Some letters were written after he lost the sight of one eye. Others were written after his right arm was amputated and show him learning to write with his left hand. The collection also holds Nelson’s handwritten reports on the battles of the Nile and Copenhagen, along with his battle plans for Trafalgar.

Letters to Emma Hamilton

The lot includes 24 letters to Hamilton, which offer a rare glimpse into their relationship. They were married to other people when the affair began, but they were unapologetic about it. In one letter dated January 1800 and written at sea, Nelson describes a dream he had about Hamilton: “Last night I did nothing but dream of you.” In the letter, he recounted how she embraced him and whispered, “I love nothing but you, my Nelson.” He also wrote about kissing her “fervently” afterwards. “We enjoy’d the height of love,” he wrote.The sale also includes the Nelson Family Papers, which trace the wider history of his relatives through letters exchanged between them. Dominic Sandbrook, co-host of the podcast The Rest Is History, says the collection is rich and exciting for anyone interested in Nelson, the Royal Navy or the Napoleonic Wars.“For anybody interested in Nelson, the Royal Navy, the Napoleonic Wars or British history generally, this is an extraordinarily rich and exciting collection. Indeed, some of these letters and documents, such as Nelson’s handwritten reports on the battles of the Nile and Copenhagen, or his battle plans for Trafalgar, rank alongside the most sacred texts of our national history,” Sandbrook said.“Stirring and touching by turns, these are truly wonderful things. If only I had made better decisions when I was young and gone into AI development instead of writing history books, I would be throwing every last penny at this myself.”Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, aged 47. Monuments across Britain honour him, the best known being Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. When the bidding closes next month, the lucky buyer will own the papers of a man who spent much of his life at sea, writing letters when he was not fighting.