NELSON'S NAVY – WOUND CERTIFICATES
Manuscript wound certificate, signed by Captain John Conn of HMS Dreadnought, certifying that James Whitworth, a Marine aged about twenty-six, 'was wounded onboard His Majesty's Ship the Dreadnought by receiving a Gun shot Wound occasioning the loss of his left Arm and also severely wounding him in the left Thigh and knee from which wounds he suffered much pain and distress on the twenty first of October in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Five, being then actually upon His Majestys Service in Action', submitted to 'the Worshipful the Governors of the Chest at Greenwich, for the relief of hurt and wounded Seamen in His Majesty's Service'; also signed by the ship's Lieutenant, Master, Surgeon, Purser, Boatswain, Gunner and Carpenter; with the subsequent docket: '1806 1 July: James Whitworth appeared & is found to have lost his left arm below the elbow & recover'd of a considerable Wound of the left thigh', for which he has been awarded £6-13s-4d per annum and an immediate grant of £3-6s-8d; annotated at the foot: 'NB There not being any Smart Tickets in the Agents Office at Gibraltar - Written Certificates are substituted', one page, on paper (rather than the more usual vellum, see annotation above), minor tears backed at the head, slight dust-staining, folio (295 x 200mm.), ,[Gibraltar], 7 February 1806; with another wound certificate signed by Edward Rotherham as Captain of the Dreadnought, for a wound ('of the little finger of the left hand') sustained by Able Seaman David Arthur on 7 August 1805, during the Dreadnought's cruise off Cadiz, dated 6 September 1806, both framed and glazed (unexamined out of frames) (2)
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Bonhams, Nelson & The Royal Navy 1750-1815, 5 July 2005, lot 195
Private collection UK

'BEING THEN ACTUALLY UPON HIS MAJESTYS SERVICE IN ACTION'

John Conn was, as a cousin by marriage, one of Nelson's protégés. He was with Nelson during his last days ashore, and took out Collingwood's flagship the Royal Sovereign to the fleet off Cadiz. He was then given command of the Dreadnought when Edward Rotherham transferred to the Royal Sovereign to serve as Collingwood's flag captain. As the annotation at the foot explains, this certificate is written on paper rather than the more usual vellum. The second certificate included in the lot is an example of a 'Smart Ticket', engraved on vellum with manuscript insertions.
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