With stonework salvaged from the old village manor house, Wicken Rectory was built between 1695 and 1701, and during an incumbency from 1909 until 1928 would be the home of the Reverend Hugh Nelson-Ward, the grandson of Horatia, the illegitimate daughter of Admiral Lord Nelson. In great secrecy Horatia had been born at 23, Piccadily, in January, 1801, and in the early days of the following month her mother, Lady Hamilton, took her to a Mrs. Gibson, ‘a lady without a husband’, in Little Titchfield Street. There, in return for a sum of money, Lady Hamilton asked Mrs. Gibson to look after the child, and with this agreed Lady Hamilton then drove swiftly away in a waiting Hackney carriage. In time Horatia would marry Philip Ward, a Norfolk clergyman, and although a ‘large and sturdy’ family would be the result, more sturdy would be the sensitivities of other members of the family, since for many years the true parentage of Horatia would cause them acute embarrassment.
Horatia’s eldest son became the rector of Radstock, in Somerset, and there his son, Hugh, the future rector of Wicken, was born in 1863. Hugh was aged 18 when Horatia died, and throughout his life he would always deny the true lineage of the family. In fact this was quite in keeping with the policy of his grandmother, for when she had written to Disraeli on behalf of Hugh’s brother, Philip, (seeking a position for him as a naval cadet), it had been as ‘the adopted Daughter of the late Admiral Lord Nelson.’ Even after her death ‘the Adopted Daughter’ would be inscribed on her tombstone, but a later redress was made by replacing ‘Adopted’ with ‘Beloved.’ Then following the death of Hugh’s father in 1888 his obituary in the Times included the entry ‘whether she was his natural daughter by Emma Lady Hamilton, or the daughter of Lady Hamilton by one of her other admirers, and his adopted child.’ However, this so provoked Hugh that he made the swift reply ‘she certainly did not owe her being to Lady Hamilton.’
Before attending Salisbury Theological College, Hugh had begun his education at King’s School, Bruton, and Brasenose College, Oxford, and as his first curacy he remained at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, from 1890 until 1893. Following later appointments he then became rector of Wicken in 1909, and at the rectory he kept a large collection of Nelsonia, including a death mask that no one but himself was allowed to touch. Some of the memorabilia had descended through the family via Horatia, but many of the other items Hugh had purchased at auction. A lifelong bachelor, the Reverend retired in 1928 and, taking his collection of relics with him, moved to 32, Marlborough Buildings, Bath. Here few would be aware that he had taken holy orders, and indeed he did little to make the reality known, shunning clerical dress and preferring to be simply known as Mr. Nelson-Ward. As for his collection of Nelsonia, this he presented to the National Maritime Museum where, in 1939, a special gallery for their display was opened. During the early years of World War Two the Reverend’s Georgian home at Marlborough Buildings was severely damaged by enemy action, and in consequence, (especially in view of his failing health), he decided to obtain a valuation of his extensive collection of furniture, silver, Old English porcelain and pictures. Primarily this was for the purpose of apportioning family legacies, and no less than three days were needed to complete the task. Yet despite an improvement in his health he nevertheless decided to give up his lonely home at Marlborough Buildings, and move to a private nursing home and guest house at 7, The Circus. Duly selecting a few possessions to take with him, he decided to auction the rest, and the impending sale aroused such interest that in November, 1942 even Queen Mary came especially from Badminton to view the items. She duly purchased a coloured Chinese Lowestoft tea and coffee service, at a sum exactly twice the amount that the Reverend had paid to a local dealer some years before! At the age of 90, the Reverend Hugh Nelson-Ward died on Saturday, March 21st, 1953, and with his funeral held at Bath Abbey, he lies buried in the Abbey Cemetery.