Charlecote Park Tour of the Property The Ebony Bedroom The Four-poster bed Since May 2010 I have been able to answer some of the questions I had posed in the first version of this information sheet. Here is the revised version. For many years I told visitors that the Ebony Bed had come from the Lancaster State bedroom at Fonthill Abbey where it was thought Admiral Lord Nelson had slept in it (later modified to might have slept in it). As the years have gone by I have become more uncertain about the origin of this bed. Horatio Nelson was certainly invited to Fonthill for Christmas 1800 . Emma Hamilton and Nelson were also invited. Beckford hoped to persuade Nelson to put forward Sir William Hamilton for a peerage which, if granted, would eventually come down to Beckford (whose mother was Maria Hamilton). Nelson described the scheme as 'dirty' and a 'rub-off'. None of the guests were able to sleep at Fonthill Abbey as it was damaged by the first collapse of the tower the previous May which had also damaged the kitchens. The party on arrival supped at the Mansion House, Salisbury and returned to sleep at nearby Fonthill Splendens, only dining at Fonthill Abbey during a grand reception for Nelson on the final night (Dec 24th). Beckford had a bed made for Nelson with a specifically naval theme having six large gilt anchors. This bed can now be found at the Greenwich Maritime Museum. So our bed was certainly not the one Nelson slept in. I thought I would trace the origin of the Nelson rumour by looking at old guide books to see when it was first mentioned. That proved fruitless as there is no mention of the bed in any guidebook prior to the 1996 edition. It seems the rumour originated with Alice F-L. I had previously been confused by two different descriptions of an ebony bed in the State Bedchamber and questioned if there were two sales. Indeed there were and the first description belonged to a bed in an 1801 catalogue. This cannot have been our bed A further confusion was that the Charlecote file index states the bed was purchased in 1832, the 1996 guidebook says 1837, but both dates are a decade after the Fonthill sale. Did the bed come from Fonthill Abbey at all? This can now also be explained. In Clive Wainwrights 'The Romantic Interior', he states that although the bed appeared in the 1823 catalogue it did not enter the sale. Instead, it travelled to Bath with Beckford and was eventually sold through English, a Bath auctioneer, to George H Lucy. The Bill of sale stated a bed and hangings and was dated 1837. Inspection of the headboard and footboard of the bed shows a remarkable similarity to the East Indian settee in the Drawing room (Wainwright describes them as Indo-Portuguese). However they do not fit the frame lending a rather ungainly appearance to the bed. It is an early example of recycling. The bed, posts and hangings came with the bed but the cornice was made for Charlecote and the carving matches that on the door surrounds. The cornice and bed posts are not ebony but are probably ebonised Oak. Wainwright states the bedpost made for Beckford were ebony but these are not mentioned in the sale document so presumably did not travel to Charlecote.   May 2010 updated October 2010 Len Mullenger is a Sunday volunteer guide. Any comments are welcome and can be sent to len@musicweb-international.com Return to Index page