| After the
Dockyard was closed down in 1889 all property of
the Navy was sold and became scattered among the
surrounding houses of the district. When
Governor Sir Reginald St.-Johnston started
rehabilitating the Dockyard about 1930, he bought
back some of the original furniture believed to
have once been in the Naval Officer's House. In
1963 the four-poster was noticed by Lady Campbell
(of London's English Harbour Repair Fund) to be
in very poor condition and she very kindly sent
it to London to be restored by Charles Howard
Decoration Ltd. Before being shipped back
to Antigua the restored bed was placed in the
Victoria & Albert Museum, where it was hoped
it would create further interest in the Friends
of English Harbour Society. Then it was shipped
out by Harrison line in early 1963 and placed as
a Dockyard Museum exhibit.
Had the bed really been
Nelson's? Experts believe it to be of
Regency style (c.1820), but this post dates
Nelson. Admirals never slept in Dockyards
anyway, especially Nelson, as he was being
hounded for arrest, so could not often come
ashore. The St. John's merchants were after him
for upsetting their trade with North America,
which had just become independent from Great
Britain, thus subject to the Navigation Act.
It is believed that Nelson could
never have used this bed, but for sure, it was
found in the Admiral's House so IT IS NELSON'S
BED BY LEGEND AND ALWAYS WILL BE!
Note* Nelson's Bed can
be viewed at The Dockyard
Museum.
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