Walter Burke ( purser ) Walter Burke ( 1736 - 12 September 1815 ) was a purser in the Royal Navy . He is best known for serving aboard at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 , and was present at the death of Lord Nelson in the cockpit of the " Victory " . Family and early life . Burke was born in Limerick , Ireland . He was a relation of the politician Edmund Burke . He joined the navy , due to having a family member already enlisted . He had at least three sons in the navy . One son , Henry Burke , rose to the rank of commander and captained the 16 - gun brig - sloop from June 1802 . In August 1803 he retook the East Indiaman " Lord Nelson " , which had been captured by the privateer " Bellone " several days previously . Henry Burke , and a younger brother , were lost with the rest of " Seagull " s complement when she disappeared at sea in the English Channel in February 1805 . Another son , Walter Burke , rose to the rank of lieutenant . He was mortally wounded during the boarding the French ship " Chevrette " in July 1801 , and died in hospital . At Trafalgar . Burke was the oldest sailor recorded at the Battle of Trafalgar , at the age of 69 . He worked as the purser on board the " Victory " . The artist Arthur William Devis depicted Burke in his 1807 painting , " The Death of Nelson , 21 October 1805 " . The picture shows many of the officers present at the moment of Nelson ' s death . Portrayed are Revd . Dr Alexander Scott , Nelson ' s chaplain , rubbing his chest to help relieve the pain . Nelson ’ s steward , William Chevailler , looks towards Dr William Beatty , " Victory " s surgeon , who feels Nelson ’ s pulse and is about to pronounce him dead . Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy stands to the right of the painting - though Hardy was not actually present at the moment of death . Midshipman Edward Collingwood and Lieutenant John Yule ( rear left and left ) , gesture towards a pile of captured enemy flags being brought in by a seaman . Gaetano Spedillo , Nelson ’ s Italian valet , stands in right profile in front of Collingwood , holding a glass from which Nelson took his last sips of water . " Victory " s carpenter , Mr Bunce , stands on the far right of the painting above Lieutenant George Miller Bligh , the dazed and wounded figure seated far right . Seated to the right of Bligh is Assistant Surgeon Neil Smith . Burke is shown kneeling to the right of Nelson , visible under Hardy ' s arm , partly obscured by Spedillo . He is supporting Nelson by propping up his pillow . Later life . Burke survived the battle and lived 10 years more before dying at the age of 79 in 1815 . He had retired from the navy to live at Wouldham , where he owned both ' Purser Place ' and ' Burke House ' . Both were dismantled , and their materials moved to Maresfield in East Sussex , where a new house called ' Purser Place ' was built in 1937 . Two large shell cases which stood at his gate of Burke House are claimed to be relics of HMS " Victory " . They were moved to beneath the west window of Wouldham All Saints Church . His headstone in Wouldham Church reads : Sacred to the Memory of Walter Burke , Esq , of this Parish , who died on the 12th September 1815 in the 70th year of his age . He was Purser on His Majesty ' s Ship Victory in the glorious Battle of Trafalgar , and in his arms the immortal Nelson died . Memorials . Two roads in the Medway area have been named after him . References . city