MARTYN DOWNER

Nelson's Purse

In 2001, whilst on routine valuation work for Sotheby's, Martyn was shown a diamond brooch designed as an anchor and mounted with Lord Nelson's initials: H and N. The owners told him that they were descendants of Alexander Davison, Nelson's prize agent and his principal “man of business”. And yet in the biographies of the admiral that Martyn then consulted, Davison appeared as no more than a recurring “footnote” to the well worn story, remaining otherwise a shadowy figure. Intrigued, Martyn asked for the owners' help in researching the background to their brooch. Remembering that they had a trunk belonging to their ancestor hidden away in their attics, the owners invited Martyn to visit them at home. To his utter astonishment the trunk - which was locked with a key with Davison's name on it - held hundreds of letters and documents relating to the most intimate areas of Nelson's life. There were the admiral's account books, his prize business papers and, most startling of all, dozens of letters addressed to Davison by Nelson's estranged wife Fanny and by his mistress Emma Lady Hamilton.

Elsewhere in the house was an extraordinary collection of relics and artefacts, all carefully preserved by Alexander Davison as mementoes of his friendship with Nelson. These included swords, medals, porcelain and, incredibly, the green silk purse carried by Nelson at the time of his death during the battle of Trafalgar. The purse still held the gold guineas that Nelson placed in it on that fateful morning.

Alexander Davison's lost collection of Lord Nelson's papers and treasures was auctioned by Martyn at Sotheby's on 21 October 2002, “Trafalgar Day”. Amid unprecedented media attention, the collection fetched over £2 million - more than twice the expected sum.

Part detective story, part adventure story, part biography, part love story: Nelson's Purse tells the story of Martyn's discovery and places Nelson's newly discovered papers and artefacts within the context of Nelson's life. The hitherto hidden depths of the relationship between Nelson and Davison are explored; shedding new light on the admiral's famous life and revealing, for the first time, his fascination with freemasonry. The book offers a domestic, intimate, “off duty” view of Nelson as his fame grew. It gives a vivid account, for instance, of the admiral's desertion of his wife for his mistress told through the eyes of a man who was, uniquely, confidant to both women whilst also acting as their go-between to Nelson. Nelson's Purse is also the first full account of Davison's own extraordinary and colourful life: from his humble beginnings in rural England to his attainment of staggering wealth and ultimately to his imprisonment and his humiliating end. It is a story spanning continents: from the life of a merchant in post-conquest Quebec - where Davison and Nelson first met - to the elegant drawing rooms of London during the Napoleonic war. It is a story populated by dukes and princes; artists, merchants and servants. Above all it is the story of Nelson told by the three people who loved him most: his wife, his mistress and his best friend.