HMS VICTORY | Fragment of flag believed to have flown at the Battle of Trafalgar

[NELSON, HORATIO LORD--BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR] 

Fragments of flag believed to have flown on HMS Victory

comprising two pieces of hand-woven woollen bunting, one red and one white, each c.110 x 90mm

[with:] Robert Southey. The Life of Nelson ... in two volumes. John Murray, 1813. Volume 2 only, 8vo, contemporary half calf on marbled boards, inscribed on front pastedown ("...part of the Victory [en]sign torn to pieces over Nelson's Grave & presented to my uncle W H Lunn [?] by one of the crew of that ship. E.T. Stainbank..."), and with a similar inscription on p.272 (where the fragments were previously mounted), with armorial bookplate of E.T. Stainbank

The St George's Ensign and Union Jacks that had flown from HMS Victory at Trafalgar were intended to be folded and placed on Nelson's coffin at the culmination of his state funeral at St Paul's Cathedral on 9 January 1806. However, the 48 sailors and marines who formed part of the funeral procession tore numerous fragments off the flags and kept them as mementoes. Similar fragments are found in the National Maritime Museum and elsewhere, and others have appeared at auction in recent years (e.g. Bonhams, 28 September 2004, lot 117; Sotheby's, 17 December 2009, lot 9); Sotheby's, 10 December 2018, lot 6), whilst a much larger piece was also sold in these rooms (17 January 2018, lot 116, £297,000).

E.T. Stainbank, early owner of this fragment, may be Edward Taggart Stainbank (1797-1833), master of the merchant ship Mansfield, son of Christopher Stainbank (1773-1860) of Peckham. 

PROVENANCE:

E.T. Stainbank, bookplate and inscription; auction sale at Wallis and Wallis, (longstanding specialist Militaria auctioneers), clipped lot description taped down on front free endpapers, auction house tag loosely inserted