Tay's post about the upside down decorations raised a smile, especially when placing a couple of images side by side for comparison.
Here's Sir William Beechey's portrait of Nelson again. The hat and the coat pictured are of interest:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... l%26sa%3DG
The Imperial Order of the Crescent is the right way up; and the dress hat looks to be in fairly good condition.
Fast forward to this image of Nelson's Trafalgar coat:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-sh ... dress-coat
... and things have quite literally turned topsy turvy. The Order of the Cresent has been sewn on upside down.
The hat painted by Beechey is of interest too. Apparently this was the Nile hat, which Nelson gave to Beechey. Here's a quote from
'Sir William Beechey' by W Roberts (published 1907):
Quote:
According to A. A. Watts, Beechey had the gratification of numbering Lord Nelson among his friends. His lordship stood godfather to one of Sir William's children, and at his particular request presented him with the hat he wore at the Battle of the Nile. He parted with it, he said, "as an old and tried friend, for he had worn it in many battles" (Cabinet of Modern Art, p. 102); this hat, with other relics, is still preserved in the Beechey family.
The hat that Nelson gave to Beechey still exists, and can be found on the Norfolk Museums & Archeology Service website (unfortunately the page doesn't say which museum the hat actually lives in if you want to go and see it.) If it is the Nile hat, the crown looks pretty well intact and unrestored.
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/defau ... .40.0100x2
Just an aside, but it had crossed my mind in the past (when scrutinising Nelson's Nile coat at the NMM from very close quarters) that other than some natural wear and tear, a spot or two of grease and a dusting of hair powder, there is little to indicate that the owner had commanded at the Battle of the Nile and been felled by a piece of langridge (?) to the forehead.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/nelson ... =4#content
A few moth holes, but not a speck of blood or battle fatigue. And when he gave it to her shortly afterwards, in return for artistic favours, Nelson told Anne Damer that he hadn't allowed it to be so much as brushed since the battle.
So, Nelson was definitely sporting at least one upside down order in 1805, although it might be a question whether the long-departed Tom Allen was responsible.
On becoming a Viscount in 1801, I recall Nelson requesting that Mrs. Cadogan adapt his peers robe. And having ordered four new sets of stars just prior to Trafalgar, the culprit may have been a later Mr or Mrs. Sew and Sew.
PS: some of the links above appear to be horrendously long. Is there an easy way to create shorter links?