A crowdfunding effort has been launched by Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Jo Laird to try and buy the medicine cabinet that belonged to Lord Nelson’s surgeon Sir William Beatty.
The wooden apothecary case caused quite a splash when it emerged for sale here on Wick Antiques and on the antique marketplace 2Covet.
Members of the Royal Medical Service want to raise enough money so they can secure it for the planned visitor centre and museum at the former Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire.
Here is our very own Charles Wallrock With the Medicine Cabinet That Belonged to Sir William Beatty, Nelson’s Surgeon at Trafalgar.
The cabinet is dated 1803 and would most likely have been at Trafalgar two years later – a battle that saw Nelson’s navy defeat the combined fleets of France and Spain.
The Medicine Cabinet That Belonged to William Beatty, Nelson’s Surgeon on Hms Victory.
Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Jo Laird is leading the campaign to raise the money.
SURGEON LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JO LAIRD
She said: “When we saw the cabinet it struck us as such an important artefact that we ought to try and buy it for the new museum planned for the Haslar site.
“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.
“If we manage to raise more than the cost we’ll invest the money in a display case for the cabinet.”
Read the full story here and donate to the cause via Crowdfunder
Wick Antiques was established by Charles Wallrock in the early 1980s. Having grown up in the Antiques world Charles developed an extensive wealth of knowledge.
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