Mrs Thomasine Goulty’s Nelson memorial ring

Mrs Thomasine Goulty’s Nelson memorial ring

This ring was made for Mrs Thomasine Goulty. Her name appears at No. 31 in the ‘List of Persons to whom mourning rings were sent agreeable to directions of Rt. Hon,ble Earl Nelson and J Haslewood Esq and Executor to late Ld Visc, Nelson of Bronté.’ (British Library Add. Mss 34988). It has suffered some damage to the plaque. 1805.

Provenance:

Mrs Thomasine Goulty Mrs Thomasine Cleeve Mrs Eliza Radcliffe Thence by descent Mrs Thomasine Goulty (1732-1821) nee Nelson was the daughter of the Revd. Edmund Nelson, Rector of Hilborough. She was baptised on the 4th September 1732 and married John Goulty, a prosperous cordwainer, in 1757. On her death, aged 88 in Norwich, she bequeathed ‘the ring Lord Nelson to my granddaughter Thomasine Cleeve’. This was presumably because her own son, John Goulty, as the admiral’s cousin, also owned a ring. Thomasine had married Charles Cleeve from Fakenham, Norfolk, in 1810 and she, in turn, gave the ring to her sister Eliza, the wife of Charles Radcliffe. It then continued through the family. We are indebted to Martyn Downer for his research into this piece.

Credit: Martyn Downer