Admiral Nelson’s teapot

ARTIST / MAKER: R & D Hennell (maker)
DATE: 1799-1802 (made)
PLACE: England (made)
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Silver, with wooden handle and ivory finial
COLLECTION NUMBER: 996

This silver teapot, engraved with the initial ‘N’, once belonged to Admiral Lord Nelson (1758-1805), the hero of the great British naval victory, the Battle of Trafalgar. After Nelson’s death the teapot, together with a collection of his personal possessions, passed to his sister Catherine ‘Kitty’ Matcham in whose family they remained until 2005. This type of teapot is known as a bachelor teapot because it would have contained the ideal amount of tea for one person. Made between 1795 and 1802, a period when Nelson commanded several important naval battles, this teapot may even have been used on board one of his ships.