‘I will be a hero, and,
confiding in providence, I will brave every danger’
Horatio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk on 29th
September 1758. The son of the Rev. Edmund Nelson and Catherine
Suckling.
Confident, eager and fascinated by
the sea, his Naval career began in 1771 at the tender age
of 12. Horatio’s
first Naval post was as midshipman onboard the ‘HMS Raisonable’,
commanded by Captain Maurice Suckling , who was Horatio’s
Uncle.
A lieutenant in 1777 and promoted to
captain in 1779, Horatio served during the American War of
Independence and by the time he was 20, he had taken ships
to the Arctic, the East Indies and the Caribbean. It
was here that he met and married Frances Nisbet, a widow
with a young son.
On the outbreak of the French Revolutionary
War, Nelson was appointed a Captain in the Mediterranean
Fleet. During
action he lost the sight in his right eye and in 1797 lost
his right arm in battle and was sent home to recuperate for
a short while.
He returned to action in the Mediterranean
the following year. Here,
he followed Napoleon’s fleet to Egypt, where he destroyed
it at the Battle of the Nile, ending Napoleon’s ambitions
of conquest in the East. Nelson was awarded the peerage of
Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe as a result of
this tremendous victory.
After the battle, Nelson was based
at Naples where he began an affair with Emma, the wife of
Sir William Hamilton, the British Ambassador. He returned
to England in 1800, to a hero’s
welcome.
Although he was popular with his people, his adulterous
relationship with Lady Hamilton, who had accompanied him home,
scandalised society. This led to a separation
from his wife Fanny, who later begged him for a reconciliation – but
it was never to happen.
Nelson remained deeply attached to Emma for the rest of his
life and she bore him a daughter, Horatia in 1801. Nelson wrote
to Emma, after the birth of their child -
My affection is , if possible, stronger
than ever for you, and I trust it will keep increasing as
long as we both live’. |
