| Description | Mr Boulton has been prevented by serious illness from carrying out his promise to Her Majesty respecting the Trafalgar Medal. Requests Mr De Luc to apprise the Queen and Princesses of the reasons. 6 gilt, 6 bronze and 6 white metal medals have now been despatched to Mr De Luc to present to the Queen.
‘Mr Boulton wishes me to observe to you that from the impaired state of his health he conceives it necessary for him to yield to the entreaties of his friends & decline all the cares of business, & in this view he considers that he has now finished his medallic career, unless he should direct a kind of monumental one of himself, of which, however, it is to be hoped there will not be any immediate occasion; for though I have thought it proper, in obedience to Mr Boulton’s desire, to touch this melancholy chord, I am happy to think that it may be in my power to remove the impression it must have on those friendly feelings which you & your affectionate Daughter have so long entertained for the “Father of Soho”… as the painful state of Mr Boulton’s habitual complaint have been considerably mitigated by certain judicious chirurgical operations lately performed by the skilful hand of Mr Freer, Surgeon of Birmingham…’ |