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Description
The weathered patina on the square dial of this London-made sundial testifies to steady service at the Caribbean island of Nevis. The original owners, members of the British Woolward family, acquired it for a sugar plantation. The plantation house was newly built in 1778 and named for Dr. Josiah Nisbet who married Frances Woolward, the orphaned daughter of the planter. Dr. Josiah and Frances Nisbet left Nevis for England, but she returned as a widow with a young son in 1781. Frances Nisbet was then courted by the youthful British Naval officer, Horatio Nelson, and they wed in 1787. She relocated permanently to England, and subsequent nineteenth-century ownership of the plantation needs further research. The sundial likely remained fixed in its outdoor location until 1967.