There is a really nice Georgian house overlooking English Harbour which we have been admiring from a distance when a few days ago we discovered it is owned by the Antigua Heritage Board and that visits could be arranged. They don’t seem to advertise the trips and the nice lady who took us round, whilst being careful what she said implied they like it that way. They certainly won’t be letting the cruise tour groups round if she can help it. Gill and I were the only visitors on Tuesday and they only open two days a week.
The house is called Clarence House and was built for the Duke of Clarence who became King Willian IV, he was in the Navy and was stationed in Antigua during his early career.
He was not expected to become king and the house here was built for him to be governor of the Leeward Islands but he never took up the post as after a few royal deaths he surpisingly became king. Clarence House in London was also built for him.
This Clarence House was the Governor's House until independence, in 1960 it was upgraded (an inside loo was added) for the honeymoon of Princess Margaret however the constant harassment by paparazzi, forced the newly married couple to flee after one night to Barbuda for the remainder of their honeymoon.
During the 1990’s the house was ruined by hurricanes and was purchased by the Parks Department in 2004 when a British sailing enthusiast, Sir Peter Harrison, paid for it to be restored on condition that the labour used should be local, it should be open to the public but that he had full use of the house for his birthday party each year. Seems like a fair deal, he died in 2021.
The house looks wonderful and is in a beautiful location (the banner picture is the view from the house) but surprisingly it only has two bedrooms, a study and a living room. The kitchen was in a separate building to reduce the chance of fires. They are very proud of the furniture most of which has been made by local carpenters who normally work on the interiors of superyachts.
The rest of the pictures in this blog entry are of the buildings in Nelsons Dockyard where we are staying.
The Duke of Clarence as Prince William joined the Navy at 13 as a midshipman and was under Nelsons command in Antigua. Nelson regarded him as a fairly good officer but made sure he kept in with him so as to be well regarded by the royal family.
It was Nelson’s first posting as a Captain, when he arrived in Antigua in 1784 he found a relaxed state of affairs with a great deal of indiscipline and drunkenness (he did not drink).
The West Indies Sugar Trade was a huge money spinner for the English and Nelsons job was to protect the trade against pirates and the French as well as preventing any trade with America which, having recently become independent, was barred from trading with the English. Both the local commander and the Governor were turning a blind eye to this as the local merchants were making good profits so they were none to pleased with this new rather keen upstart of a Captain who was trying to make a name for himself by telling the Admiralty back in London what was going on and of course having a member of the royal family on board to back him up.
Because he was unpopular he spent most of his time on board his ship (most Captains lived in more comfort ashore).
He did find time to marry a plantation owners daughter called Fanny Woodward. She was a widow and had a son, Nelson seems to have married her for the money, her father promised a huge dowry but once married no money seems to have been forthcoming. Prince William gave the bride away at the wedding, not sure why her father did not do the deed. Nelson and Fanny were certainly never very close and once Emma Hamilton appeared in his life Nelson ignored her.
So in summary in the three years Nelson was here he was very unpopular and he became locked into an unsuccessful marriage.
Despite this the Dockyard is now called Nelsons Dockyard, a bit of rebranding to try and pull in the tourists who flock here in their hundreds on the days cruise ships visit the island.
We see that as everyone in the UK is now infected with covid we don't have to be tested before coming home next week. I was rather hoping all flights would be banned and we would have to stay a bit longer.