This copper plaque mounted on lacquered pine, was made to mark the 100 year anniversary of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's final and greatest victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
By the time this centenary was celebrated in 1905, Nelson's flagship HMS VICTORY was already being preserved at Portsmouth Naval Yard as both a national treasure and as the flagship for the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, a title she retains to this day as the oldest commissioned warship in the world. The title is largely ceremonial; to preserve the ship, launched in 1765, she is in permanent dry dock.
In 1903, VICTORY was accidentally rammed at Portsmouth, requiring extensive repairs to prepare for the Trafalgar centenary celebrations in 1905. As a result, some of her over 4,000 sheets of copper hull sheeting were recycled into souvenirs for the centenary celebrations. Markings on this plaque reveal that this was one such artifact.
The plaque has a large anchor, with rope medallion containing an image of the HMS VICTORY at sea, and is marked for King Edward VII, the reigning monarch at the time. The plaque reads:
elson's Victory
Presented by the British & Foreign Sailor's Society.
Containing Victory Copper from the Lords of Admiralty.
England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty
October 21, 1805 - October 21, 1905
Centenary Memento, ERVII
