The letters to Davison from Lady Frances H. Nelson numbered DAV/2/1-72 cover the period 1798-1806. Those from 1798-1799 display the usual preoccupations of an eighteenth century naval wife. Lacking letters from Nelson, Frances relied on snippets of information from others. The letters between November 1800 and July 1801 paint a vivid picture of the breakdown of the marriage and how Frances experienced being an abandoned wife. They also provide evidence of how Nelson’s own family was riven apart by the split. The intimate letters came to an abrupt end at the end of 1801 when Davison was told by Nelson to return a letter from Frances with the inscription ‘Opened by mistake by Lord Nelson but not read’, which made clear that Davison had been playing a double game. Her letters to Davison from thereafter are formal and all to do with business. See item and file level records for more details.