I have always been interested in the history of
numbers 34 and 36 Albury St,
in particular the connection between these properties with Lord Nelson and Lady
Hamilton These interesting articles appeared in Australian Hobart newspaper
"The Mercury" on Friday 1st January 1932
America
has eyes on the old home of Nelson, at Deptford, London,
and unless the building can be scheduled as an ancient monument or funds are
forth-coming to have it, the mansion will go over the Atlantic.
It is No. 34 Albury Street, tucked away in a mean neighbourhood, and it is full
of memories to the hero (says the "Sunday Dispatch"). The front door
chain is a portion of an anchor chain taken from the Victory by Nelson when the
ship was home for refitting a few years before the Battle of Trafalgar. The
back door was taken from another of Nelson's ships, the Bellerophon, which he
commanded at the Nile. It served as a hatch
aboard the ship, and Nelson fitted a couple of massive hinges. The hatch
handles are still employed to open the door. The oak staircase has been smothered with thick paint since Nelson's day, but its beauty may still be seen
in places where the paint has been rubbed away. The front door knocker is that
which Lady Hamilton must have often raised when she called on Lord Nelson at
this wonderful old house. Over the doorways is a carving attributed to Grindling
Gibbons. Many of the tenement houses which now compose the street have similar
carvings over their doors. Offers from Americans have resulted from an
advertisement inserted in a New York
newspaper. It was headed, "Nelson’s Old Home for Sale" and it offered the house as a
whole or in parts. No price was named, and buyers were asked to get into touch
with the vendors at Albury Street.
The vendors are the Committee of the Deptford
Babies Hospital,
which occupies the house and another adjoining it.
NELSON'S COTTAGE
CHAIN ON THE FRONT DOOR.
An old cottage has just come into tho news again. Perhaps ilt is the most romantic cottage in England after Anne Hathaway's. It has a splendid present as well as a past. It is one of a pair of cottages believed to be over 300 years old, and today the house is the Deptford and Greenwich Babies Hospital. But there are touches about the hospital which are like no other hospital. The kitchen door is a cabin door and the front door chain is from Nelson's Victory. Long ago in Deptford's heyday, Lord Nelson rented one of these cottages, says the "Children's Newspaper." Deptford has known both Nelson and Drake. Where Nelson used to live there are now 20 babies. But unluckily there are scores of sick babies outside the hospital waiting to come in. The hospital stands in one of the most crowded parts of London, and 20 beds are not enough. Princess Alice, one of the voluntary workers maintaining the hospital, is asking for help. They would be sorry to leave Nelson's cottage, yet 300-year-old cottages do not make ideal hospitals, and certainly 20 beds are not enough for the demand upon them.
HMS Bellerophon.
America has eyes on the old home of Nelson, at Deptford, London, and unless the building can be scheduled as an ancient monument or funds are forth-coming to have it, the mansion will go over the Atlantic. It is No. 34 Albury Street, tucked away in a mean neighbourhood, and it is full of memories to the hero (says the "Sunday Dispatch"). The front door chain is a portion of an anchor chain taken from the Victory by Nelson when the ship was home for refitting a few years before the Battle of Trafalgar. The back door was taken from another of Nelson's ships, the Bellerophon, which he commanded at the Nile. It served as a hatch aboard the ship, and Nelson fitted a couple of massive hinges. The hatch handles are still employed to open the door. The oak staircase has been smothered with thick paint since Nelson's day, but its beauty may still be seen in places where the paint has been rubbed away. The front door knocker is that which Lady Hamilton must have often raised when she called on Lord Nelson at this wonderful old house. Over the doorways is a carving attributed to Grindling Gibbons. Many of the tenement houses which now compose the street have similar carvings over their doors. Offers from Americans have resulted from an advertisement inserted in a New York newspaper. It was headed, "Nelson’s Old Home for Sale" and it offered the house as a whole or in parts. No price was named, and buyers were asked to get into touch with the vendors at Albury Street. The vendors are the Committee of the Deptford Babies Hospital, which occupies the house and another adjoining it.
NELSON'S COTTAGE
CHAIN ON THE FRONT DOOR.
An old cottage has just come into tho news again. Perhaps ilt is the most romantic cottage in England after Anne Hathaway's. It has a splendid present as well as a past. It is one of a pair of cottages believed to be over 300 years old, and today the house is the Deptford and Greenwich Babies Hospital. But there are touches about the hospital which are like no other hospital. The kitchen door is a cabin door and the front door chain is from Nelson's Victory. Long ago in Deptford's heyday, Lord Nelson rented one of these cottages, says the "Children's Newspaper." Deptford has known both Nelson and Drake. Where Nelson used to live there are now 20 babies. But unluckily there are scores of sick babies outside the hospital waiting to come in. The hospital stands in one of the most crowded parts of London, and 20 beds are not enough. Princess Alice, one of the voluntary workers maintaining the hospital, is asking for help. They would be sorry to leave Nelson's cottage, yet 300-year-old cottages do not make ideal hospitals, and certainly 20 beds are not enough for the demand upon them.
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| HMS Bellerophon. |
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