Nelson & His World

As you know iam researching the rotherham cannons,and the walker family.
Trying to find out whether or not nelson actually visited rotherham,to inspect the cannons etc.
The walker family certainly had a lot of prestigous houses that he could have stopped in.

I've checked in Roger Knight's 'The Pursuit of Victory' which is perhaps the most detailed biography of Nelson but, sadly, there is no mention of Rotherham. As you know, Nelson spent 27 of his 35 years in the Navy at sea, so he spent a very small part of his adult life in England. He convalesced in Bath after losing his arm, visited Wales and the Midlands in 1801 and seems to have spent the rest of his periods in England in London and the south east.

Thats a pity,I had hoped that given what rotherham was making that he might have.
When the cannons were test fired,it attracted quite a few heads of state from here and abroad.
I learned recently a local author wrote some very good descriptions of the test firings,still not tracked anything down on this yet.

I had a quick look at the British Library Integrated catalogue to see if I could find anything that might have been written by a local author about the test firings.

No luck; but I did find a listing of 'Minutes relating to Messrs Samuel Walker & Co., Rotherham, Iron Founders and Steel Refiners 1741-1829.' (Shelf Marks 7053.260000 2 DSC & YA 1997.b.5323)

These cover the period you are interested in and might have something of interest if you can access them.

I know this might seem a bit obvious, but have you asked the Librarian at your local library if their reference section has anything of interest? There are often local newspapers dating back to the period that might yield something useful.

Definately something I will have to chase up at our local library.I think a bit of sciving from work is in order.
Nice piece of information,cheers