War against Napoleon

Leaders

Horatio, Viscount Nelson

Introduction | Napoleon | George III | Prince Regent

Pitt the Younger | Wellington | Nelson

Born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk in 1758, Horatio Nelson was the great-great nephew of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister. His father was rector of Burnham Thorpe and Nelson one of three sons.

Building a reputation
At the age of 12, he joined his first ship, the Raisonnable, which had been captured from the French. The captain was his uncle, Maurice Suckling, who looked after the rather feeble child. Much prone to sea-sickness, by the age of 21 Nelson had sailed to the West Indies and the Arctic, but was sent home suffering from malaria.

During the next decade, Nelson commanded four ships. In 1787, he married Frances Nisbet, a widow who understood neither his professional zeal nor his attachment to north Norfolk. After a spell of unemployment, he was recalled in January 1793, and took command of the Agamemnon, which was the ship he loved most. His wife remained childless. In 1794, Nelson lost the sight of his right eye because of a wound during the Corsican campaign at Calvi. Two years later, he became rear admiral and got the Order of Bath because of his role in the battle of St Vincent. In 1797, at Santa Cruz, he lost his right arm. By now, he had a reputation for inspiring adoration from his men, his uninhibited, warm personality going hand in hand with superb seamanship.

Triumphs and Emma
On 1 August 1798, Nelson stopped Napoleon from consolidating his conquests in Egypt by annihilating the French fleet in the battle of the Nile. He received a head wound, was made 'Baron Nelson of the Nile' and started an affair – which scandalised the English establishment – with Emma Hamilton, wife of the British ambassador in Naples. On 2 April 1801, Nelson disobeyed orders and won the battle of Copenhagen.

For his exploits, he became a British hero, articulating the national will to resist Napoleon. He had a strong sense of his destiny and a flair for self-dramatisation – he referred to himself in the third person, wrote imaginative letters, and kept a coffin for himself aboard ship. He was obsessed by fame, medals and honours – and Emma Hamilton.

Victory and death
Despite being notoriously insubordinate, Nelson was an instinctive conservative, hating the French not because they were foreigners but because they were revolutionaries. He was killed on board the Victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 after defeating the combined French and Spanish fleets.

Despite Nelson's attempt to make her a 'bequest to the nation' in his will, Lady Hamilton was abandoned by state and society. She moved to France, where she died in poverty. Their daughter Horatia was taken in by Nelson's sister and eventually married a cleric. Nelson is now rated Britain's most brilliant naval commander.

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