Nelson & His World

This is the time of year that journalists compete with each other to say something silly. Here is one recent effort:

'Horatio Nelson was left-handed' - written by a proud left-handed journalist.

I'm sure others can do better...

Tony: I am sure you are familiar with '1066 and all that' by Sellar and Yeatman, a humorous (and not untruthful) resumé of the jumbled and inaccurate 'history' that most of us remember. Chapter 47 is headed 'Nelson' and continues:

Napoleon ought never to be confused with Nelson, in spite of their hats being so alike; they can most easily be distinguished from one another by the fact that Nelson always stood with his arm like this , while Napoleon always stood with his arm like that.

Nelson was one of England's most naval officers, and despised weak commands. At one battle when he was told that his Admiral-in-Chief had ordered him to cease fire, he put the telephone under his blind arm and exclaimed in disgust, 'Kiss me, Hardy!'

By this and other intrepid manoevres the French were utterly driven from the seas.'

There was a bill proposed in Parliament recently concerning the teaching of history. The following is from a speech by Andrew Rosindell MP:

The following findings from surveys conducted over the last few years offer some alarming insights into this matter. [the teaching of history]. It was found that 70 per cent. of 11 to 18-year-olds did not know that Nelson's flagship at the battle of Trafalgar was called HMS Victory. More than 20 per cent. of 16 to 24-year-olds thought that Britain had, at one stage, been conquered by the Germans, the Americans or the Spanish. Several children mistook Sir Winston Churchill for the first man to walk on the moon. He also joins King Richard the Lionheart and Florence Nightingale as being mistaken regularly by our youth as a creation of fiction.

Well, I suppose there is no arguing with the fact that Nelson was left-handed, and those 20% of 16 to 24 year olds could be considered to be partly right :
Britain was once conquered by the Germans – they were known as Saxons; the Americans have infiltrated and taken over the country with McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Starbucks – not to mention their ubiquitous (but useful) jeans; and the Spanish would seem to have won over the population of the UK, with holidays to the Costa Packet and the Costa Mucho!

Talking of the Spanish, here's one hot off the press today:

Perhaps he felt a bit paranoid when he got home after Santa Cruz?

Clearly there was nothing wrong with his eyesight! (Or did he use the telephone?) There probably is a hill near Cricket St Thomas (Lord Bridport's home) in Somerset where you can just about see both the Bristol and English Channels. Anna, this is your neck of the woods - is there (or was there) a watchtower on it?

The comment on the picture shown in the link below says that Nelson's mother was dead when he went to sea, so he is saying goodbye to his grandmother. But didn't she die a week after his mother?


http://www.artmagick.com/pictures/pictu ... t-farewell

Anna,

Ah, but perhaps he left for sea on one of the days in between the two events?

Don't think so: he was nine when his mother and grandmother died, then went to school for a few years before he joined the navy.

Of course, the picture was painted towards the end of the nineteenth century, only one of many fanciful pictures of his life and death. I have a stevengraph (an embroidered picture) of Nelson dying on the deck, in full uniform, that looks rather like a rugby scrum:

http://cgi.cafr.ebay.ca/Stevengraph-DEA ... 286.c0.m14

And there are others of him in the grounds of Merton with Emma while Horatia plays happily.

http://www.bemyastrologer.com/nelson_and_emma.jpg

All part of the legend, of course.

Tony: re: the watchtower at Cricket St Thomas - I believe you can see the Bristol Channel from the top - not sure about both Channels; though at some points on the Quantock Hills not far from Cr. St T,. you can see both the Bristol and English channels if the air is clear. (I can see the Bristol Channel from the top of Draycott Steeps at the back of our house -the best view in Somerset.)

Anna,

Apologies, yes your right! His grandmother, Ann Suckling, died on 5th January 1768, some three years before he went to sea.

As I suspected, it was probably a case of 19th cent. artistic licence.

Where is the watchtower? There appears to be a golf club on top of the hill, and the church is lower down.

Perhaps these pictures are supposed to relate to the few days they had at the end of August 1805.

Tony:

not sure where the watch tower is at Cricket St Thomas - I've never actually been there. Ian got the information from somebody in the pub! I promise to check my sources more thoroughly in future.

Yes, the time frame for happy meetings with Horatia at Merton was a narrow one. Visits pre Sir William's death were carefully managed, I think, to co-incide with his absences in town, so the picture I posted very probably is an imaginative reconstruction of the short times they had together after Sir W's death, including the end of August 1805.

I have a piece of music, a song entitled 'The Mother's Blessing', that belonged to Lady Hamilton. It was entered at Stationers' Hall in 1805, so I like to imagine Emma playing it during 'the 25 days' as Nelson dandled Horatia on his knee. The music is by Michael Kelly, a friend of both Nelson and Emma, who visited Merton. He wrote a very lively and amusing memoir, still available in a lovely Folio Society edition.

If anyone would like a photocopy or picture of the music, send me a PM.

Anna,

Just thought you'd like to know that the picture of Nelson, Emma and Horatia appeared as a colour centrespread in the Nelson Dispatch a few issues back.

Thanks for that, Kester. Must have been before I joined the Society. Still waiting for the July issue of the ND....

Anna,

Me too. The Baltic packet hasn't docked yet!

Another journalstic 'blooper' here! Who'll spot it first? No prizes, I'm afraid.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/photo_galle ... _1_3812183

Trafalgar was fought 9 years after the Nile making that 1807, in fact a badly written article. And i see that Hollywood actor Warren Beatty was serving as surgeon, he is most definitely wearing well.