Three locks of Admiral Lord Nelson’s hair to be sold at auction

Three locks of Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson’s hair are expected to fetch more than £2,000 when they are sold at auction later this month.

Keys Auctioneers and Valuers of Aylsham in Norfolk said the rare items were part of a Nelson collection belonging to the late historian Ron Fiske.

Nelson was a British naval commander famed for his victories over the French during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Trafalgar where he was killed in action in 1805.

Mr Fiske, who died in 2018, was an inaugural member of the Nelson Society and served as its chairman for nine years.

The locks are kept in paper packets, with the first packet inscribed in ink ‘The hair of Horatio Lord Nelson, given me by Horatia, 22 May 1818’.

The second packet, which contains two locks, says ‘The great Lord Nelson hair cut off when he left off tying his hair’.

The pre-sale estimate of the three locks of hair is £2,000 to £3,000.

David Broom, of Keys, said: “Despite some recent controversy about historical figures, interest in Nelson remains very high.

“He was perhaps Norfolk’s most famous son, so it’s appropriate that these items are going under the hammer in his home county, but we expect interest from throughout the UK and overseas.”

Other Nelson-related items will be auctioned as part of the Summer Fine Sale on July 29 and July 30, including medals from campaigns when Nelson led the fleet and a porcelain cup and saucer which may have belonged to him.