Navy Medics Appeal For Help To Secure Nelsonian Relic's Future

Royal Navy medics are appealing to the public to help raise the money needed to save a key Nelsonian medical relic for future generations to enjoy.

The medicine cabinet was used by Sir William Beatty, HMS Victory’s surgeon at Trafalgar and the man who tended to Nelson when he was mortally wounded.

The important relic prompted a crowdfunding campaign when it emerged for sale by Hampshire antiques dealer Charles Wallrock for £16,000.

Royal Navy medics hope that by acquiring the small cabinet it would serve as a fitting tribute, not only to Beatty and his colleagues but also, to the men and women risking their own health in the current ongoing struggle against COVID-19.

Mr Wallrock, who hails from a naval family, has promised to give medics a chance to raise the money by holding the chest until January 28.

If the £16,000 can be reached it will be donated to the Haslar Heritage Group which will put the relic on display for the public at a new museum planned at the former hospital site in Gosport.

Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Jo Laird stressed the importance of adding the chest to the display.

"When we saw the cabinet it struck us as such an important artifact that we ought to try and buy it for the new museum planned for the Haslar site," she said.

"Beatty is a hugely important figure in the history of naval medicine and surgery and to have something connected with him and Nelson would be wonderful.

"We set up a crowdfunding page and the response has been amazing, but we still need to raise more money to secure it."

Created in 1803, the portable cabinet would have contained a variety of tinctures from laudanum to cures for venereal disease.

Sir William Beatty, the chest’s owner, treated scores of casualties on 21 October 1805 but was unable to save the admiral.

Cover image: The medicine cabinet used by Sir William Beatty (Picture: Royal Navy).