James McCabe

Sotheby, London, 5th October 2005, Lot 184

On 20 August 1805 Nelson struck his flag at Portsmouth and went home to Merton Place, the house in Surrey he shared with his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton. He had been at sea in HMS Victory since May 1803 and arrived home tired, anxious and frustrated that the enemy had eluded him after a frantic transatlantic pursuit. His reception in England was rapturous.

He was mobbed in the streets and the great and the simply curious, including royal princes, beat a path to Merton Place which Emma, finally secure in her role as the hero’s consort, had filled with Nelson’s family. The evenings passed in happy dinner parties: the domestic turmoil that had overshadowed his last leave now no more than a distant memory. Yet the threat of the massing enemy fleet remained unresolved and by day Nelson was locked in conference at the admiralty and with ministers. On 2 September word reached London that the French and Spanish fleets had combined at Cádiz. Nelson’s inevitable recall swiftly followed. At dawn on 14 September, after an emotional farewell from Merton, he arrived back at Portsmouth. A few hours later he was pulled out to Victory to begin his final, fateful mission.

The presentation of such an extraordinary watch to Nelson by the officers of Victory would have been intended to mark the end of their exceptionally long and arduous tour of duty together and, with hindsight, its date acquires a deeper resonance. Inscribed 20 August 1805, the day Nelson struck his flag and briefly returned to domestic peace, it also fell at the precise moment he was about to resume command for what his officers understood would be a major and potentially decisive campaign against the combined fleets. The gift therefore carried a double significance: both a token of gratitude for past leadership and a gesture of loyalty and confidence on the eve of their most perilous enterprise.

The watch may well have been commissioned in advance of his return to shore and largely completed by that time, with the inscription added to anchor it to this significant date. Although the exact moment of presentation is not recorded, the presence of the 20 August 1805 inscription firmly associates it with Nelson’s brief interlude at Merton between sea commands and before his final battle. If completed before Trafalgar. the absence of any reference to the watch in the inventories of his possessions on Victory suggests that it remained ashore. This would be entirely in keeping with its character: a piece of exceptional decorative richness and mechanical sophistication, designed to delight through its enamelled case and charming musical performance rather than serve as a practical or highly precise instrument of timekeeping in the demanding conditions of active service.

James McCabe

James McCabe, founder of the renowned London watchmaking family, was born around 1748 in Ireland, probably in Lurgan near Belfast. He was active in Belfast by about 1770, where early watches signed “James McCabe, Belfast” are recorded, before moving to London early in 1775. Establishing himself first in Bells Building, Fleet Street, he moved to 34 King Street, Cheapside. By 1788 he was at 8 King Street before later settling at 97 Cornhill, Royal Exchange. McCabe quickly gained a reputation for fine watchmaking, in 1781 he was admitted as an Honorary Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company, later serving as Senior Warden. He married Elizabeth Burn in 1779. By the 1790s the family had settled in Stoke Newington, while the business continued to flourish from Cornhill. McCabe died in 1811, leaving behind one of the most successful London watchmaking enterprises of his generation.

After his death the firm was carried on by his youngest son Robert McCabe, who inherited the business on his mother’s death in 1833 and operated from 32 Cornhill, Royal Exchange. Robert died in 1860, after which his eldest son, Robert Jeremy McCabe, maintained the traditional “James McCabe, Royal Exchange” signature until winding up the business in 1879/80. For just over a century, the McCabe family established itself as one of London’s most respected horological dynasties, producing a wide range of fine watches, clocks and marine chronometers. For a history of the life and work of the McCabe family see: P. E. Hackamack, James McCabe, Antiquarian Horology, No. 3, Vol. 10, Summer 1977, pp. 308-316.