The 1805 Club to follow in Nelson’s footsteps at Monmouth

Press release: Saturday 3rd June 2006

Members of The 1805 Club, the only organisation that conserves and maintains monuments and memorials to Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy of the Georgian era, will be paying a special visit to Monmouth this week.

Forty Club members will be following in the footsteps of Lord Nelson, Lord William and Lady Emma Hamilton, who visited Monmouth in the summer of 1802. But for this particular visit being held over the weekend of June 10 and 11, the members will be meeting a descendent of Nelson and Lady Hamilton.

Mrs Anna Tribe JP, OBE, the great, great, great grand-daughter of Nelson and Lady Hamilton, who is the Club’s Vice-President, will be the guest speaker at the club dinner being held at Blades Restaurant, the Riverside Hotel in Monmouth on Saturday June 10. She will talk about what happened to the family following Nelson’s death.

Members will also visit Monmouth’s Nelson Museum where the Club will make a presentation to its director, Andrew Helme. The itinerary also includes the Nelson Gardens before members continue to The Kymin to see the Naval Temple, built to honour Britain’s Naval heroes including Nelson, and the Round House.

Last port of call will be Hereford to view the recently restored Nelson Monument, erected to commemorate victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Peter Warwick, Chairman of The 1805 Club, explained: “We offer a very diverse programme of events for our members that reflect all aspects of Nelson’s life and highlight the numerous monuments built in his honour throughout the country.”

“Monmouth is particularly special to the Club and its members because Nelson left such an enormous impression on the townsfolk when he arrived in the town with the Hamiltons during their tour of South Wales and the Midlands in July and August 1802.”

The Club, a charitable organisation, has just welcomed its 500th member following the tremendous interest stimulated last year by the commemorations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The visit to Monmouth is part of its continuing programme of cultural and historical events for members and their guests. Its other primary aim is to promote research into the Royal Navy of the Georgian period, especially Lord Nelson.