Nelson & His World

The 250th anniversary of Nelson's birth was marked at Exeter yesterday by the unveiling of the Sidmouth Papers at a reception at the Guildhall in Exeter. The Sidmouth Papers total some 9,000 papers and 50 volumes, comprising letters written to and from Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, in correspondence with prominent political figures of the time including Nelson, William Wilberforce and George III. The letters include Addington's time as Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804, and the Nelson correspondence includes Copenhagen, the Channel command (& plans for Nelson to remain after the peace preliminaries), the descent of Nelson's Barony, his pension, the resumption of the war, and much more.

The Sidmouth Papers have been returned to Devon Record Office with the help of a £1.6 million award from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The market value of the collection had been estimated at over £3m, but part of the value was offered in lieu of inheritance tax. The contents are catalogued in 'A2A - Access to Archives' (ref 152M) http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/