Rare document that illuminates Lord Nelson's love affair set to fetch £15,000 at Edinburgh auction

It illuminates the steamy and very public affair enjoyed by one of Britain’s most famous naval heroes under the heat of Mediterranean sun.

Now, a rare document signed by Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, his lover and her husband is expected to fetch around £15,000 when it comes up for auction in Edinburgh next week.

This single sheet of heavily autographed paper, which is more than 220 years old, was signed on the on the wedding day of a British couple, William Compton and Anne Bottalin, who married in a lavish ceremony aboard Lord Nelson's ship, HMS Foudroyant, in the Bay of Naples in July 1799.

At the time, Nelson was a household name in Britain following his victory at the Battle of the Nile against the French Navy in 1798.

Lady Emma Hamilton and Lord Horatio Nelson enjoyed a very public love affair with the relationship illuminated by a rare document which will come up for auction in Edinburgh next week. PIC: Picryl.

After arriving in Naples, he had an affair with former courtesan, Lady Emma Hamilton, the wife of the British Ambassador in the city, with the pair openly flaunting their relationship. Nelson was married to his wife, Fanny, at the time and Lady Emma gave later gave birth to the naval leader’s only son, Horatia.

The document signed at the wedding includes several names, including Nelson, Lady Emma and her husband, Sir William Hamilton, all who partied in the bay as the French fleet entered the Mediterranean, leaving the British fleet dangerously exposed.

Dominic Somerville-Brown, Lyon & Turnbull’s Rare Books, Manuscripts and Maps specialist, said the unique document carried a “remarkable grouping” of signatures.

He added: “It is especially rare to get those of Nelson and Lady Hamilton on the same piece of paper.

Lyon & Turnbull Specialist Dominic Somerville-Brown with the rare manuscript signed by Lord Nelson, his lover and his lover's husband. PIC: Stewart Attwood.

"This document is unique in British naval history, recording as it does a moment of sublime unreality in the career of Lord Nelson. Newly ennobled as victor of the Nile, he saw fit to host an ostentatious society wedding onboard his ship while the French fleet entered the Mediterranean, threatening to defeat the scattered allied forces and relieve the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt.

"Nelson refused three direct orders from his superior, Admiral Keith, to cruise to Minorca to help repel a combined Franco-Spanish assault. His refusal to obey Keith has been viewed by historians as leaving British forces dangerously exposed, although he escaped with little more than a light reproof from the Admiralty and was appointed acting commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean a month later.

"Heavy criticism was directed at his personal conduct, with his brother officers reportedly appalled to see what they viewed as his "enslavement" at the hands of Lady Emma. We know of no other such document, bearing the signatures of such a spectacular array of characters in the Nelson story, ever coming to market."

The document records the wedding of William Compton and Anne Bottalin, who hailed from Nelson's native Norfolk.

According to accounts, Nelson and Lady Emma flaunted their relationship in plain sight of their friends and family, which included his stepson, Josiah Nisbet, whose naval career had been sponsored by Nelson.

The two enjoyed a good friendship, and it was Nisbet who rescued Nelson at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797 and applied a tourniquet to his right arm, which was later amputated. Nisbet was also at the wedding, with his name appearing on the certificate.