Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount 1758-1805
English admiral

He was born in Burnham Thorpe rectory, Norfolk. He entered the navy in 1770, made a voyage to the West Indies, and served in the arctic expedition of 1773, and afterwards in the East Indies. As lieutenant of the Lowestoft frigate (1777) he went to Jamaica, and in 1779 was posted to the Hinchingbrook frigate. In 1780 he commanded the naval force in the expedition against San Juan. In 1781 he commissioned the Albemarle and joined the squadron under Samuel, 1st Viscount Hood in the USA. In 1784 he was appointed to the frigate Boreas for service in the West Indies, where he enforced the Navigation Act against the USA. Here he married a widow, Mrs Frances Nisbet (1761-1831), and in 1787 retired with her to Burnham Thorpe for five years. At the outbreak of the French Revolution (1792-1802) he commanded the Agamemnon and accompanied Lord Hood to the Mediterranean. When Toulon was given up to the Allies Nelson was ordered to Naples, where he first met Emma Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador. In 1794 he commanded the naval brigade at the reduction of Bastia and of Calvi, where he lost his right eye. In 1796 he inflicted a signal defeat with John Jervis (Lord Saint Vincent) on the Spanish fleet off Cape St Vincent. Promoted to rear admiral, he was sent with an inadequate squadron to seize a richly-laden Spanish ship at Santa Cruz, where he lost his right arm. In 1798, commanding the Vanguard, he defeated the French fleet by his victory at the Battle of the Nile, off Aboukir Bay. He returned in triumph to Naples, to a hero's welcome from Emma Hamilton, who became his mistress. Nelson was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile, parliament voted him a pension of �2,000 a year, the East India Company awarded him �10,000 and the King of Naples conferred on him the title of Duke of Bronte, in Sicily. He resigned his command and went back to England with the Hamiltons, where Emma gave birth to a daughter, Horatia, and Nelson separated from his wife. In 1801 he was promoted to vice-admiral, and appointed second in command of the expedition to the Baltic, under Sir Hyde Parker (1739-1807). In the face of Parker's irresolution, Nelson disregarded orders and engaged in the Battle of Copenhagen, which he won decisively. In 1803, on the resumption of the war, he was made commander in the Mediterranean. In 1805 he won his greatest victory against the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. He directed the engagement from the Victory, but was mortally wounded. His body was brought home and buried in St Paul's Cathedral.

Bibliography: Robert Southey, The Life of Nelson (1813)