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THE NELSON SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC

NEWSLETTER MAY 2006

PROGRAM OF EVENTS All Meetings begin at 7pm for a 7. 30 start.

July 10 — Cameo talks by Gwen Phillips “Norfolk” and Bob Woollett “Bronte Sicily” Venue — St Michaels Church Hall, Cnr. the Promenade & Gunbower Rd, Mt Pleasant, WA Sept 11 — Video “Trafalgar Fleet Review” produced by the British Admiralty NB, venue —Swan Cottage Homes, Bentley Oct 22 — Memorial Service, St Georges Cathedral, New Time 3 pm Nov 10 — Pickle Night Dinner Venue —St Michaels Church Hall, Cnr. the Promenade & Gunbower Rd, Mt Pleasant, WA Nov 27 — Richard Ireland “French Frigate Design” Venue — St Michaels Church Hall, Cnr. the Promenade & Gunbower Rd, Mt Pleasant, WA

Nelson Society of Australia. May, 2005

How many angels can dance on the head of a needle? Who named Australia? There's only one rational answer to the second question—Captain Matthew Flinders RN even though the name Australia had appeared in print several times before (e.g. attached to an imaginary southern land mass in a German book dated 1545). It had also been used in England on several occasions in the 17th and 18th centuries. Flinders Instructions from the Admiralty in 1801 directed him to 'proceed to the coast of New Holland for the purpose of making a complete examination and survey of the said coast'. Between 7th December 1801, the date of his landfall at Cape Leeuwin, W A, and 9th June 1803, the date of his return t o S y d n e y , c o m p l e t i n g h i s circumnavigation of the southern continent, he surveyed and charted the entire southern and eastern coasts, and the greater part of the north coast. He was unable to survey the west and north-west coasts due to the parlous state of his ship, Investigator, and the sickness sweeping his crew. In the process, he established beyond doubt that New Holland formed a single land mass and was not, as many thought, divided by a vast channel running from the Gulf of Carpentaria through to the Southern Ocean. Indeed, he men-tions an American captain, Williamson, who claimed to have sailed its entire length. He and George Bass had earlier been the first to circumnavigate and chart Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1798-99. Geographical names given by Flinders to coastal features are found in 5 states (I am not sure about NSW) and the Northern Territory - more than 130 in SA alone. Flinders' general chart of 1804, titled Australia or Terra Australis, was compiled during his detention at Ile de France (Mauritius) by the French Governor, General Charles Decaen, from December 1803 to June 1810. Although he contrived to send it to Sir Joseph Banks, its importance was not recognised and it seems to have been filed at the Admiralty, awaiting his return. It has recently been described as Australia's birth certificate. For the last four years of his life (1810-1814) Flinders worked tirelessly at writing his Voyage to Terra Australis (1814), and at revising the charts of his discoveries and preparing them for publication. His general chart of 1814 was retitled Terra Australis or Australia at Banks' insistence. However, it was the


name Australia that caught Governor Macquarie's attention in 1817, and from then on was increasingly used as the colony's name prior to being formally adopted seven years later. Flinders was explicit as to his personal preference. From 1804 on he repeatedly used the word Australia in his

correspondence. In his Introduction to Voyage to Terra Australis he wrote: 'Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth'. (i.e. Africa, America, Asia). No doubt he would rather have written 'Had I been permitted any innovation’. Geographical nomenclature is a discipline with its own recognised and formal processes, and is linked with cartography, geography history and linguistics, among others. As in other scientific endeavours, particular importance is placed on the name given by the first discoverer, investigator, etc.

Previous occurrences of the word Australia are mostly casual or circumstantial, and informal. In naming the continent Australia, Flinders exercised the customary naming rights in his capacity as first circumnavigator, and as the first Surveyor and cartographer to produce an accurate representation of the entire coastline (excepting the west coast, where he relied on earlier Dutch and French charts). He then formalised the process by incorporating the name Australia on his official chart, which in due course was adopted by the Admiralty and the British government, the sovereign power. Needless to say, none of the rival 'claimants' has comparable credentials. PS. Matthew Flinders is alone in history in circumnavigating, surveying, and naming an entire continent. America takes its name from Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), who claimed to be the first European to reach the mainland (of South America). The claim itself is doubtful, and in any case the Vikings had landed in North America (at L' Anse aux Meadows) ca. 1000 AD. Martin Waldseemuller first used the name in a map dated 1507. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, a Phoenician ship circumnavigated Africa (called Libya) in the fifth century BC, but no other details are given. Australia should acknowledge his position as the man who named Australia. Anthony Brown Former member, Geographical Names Advisory Committee, S.A.

THE MAN WHO NAMED AUSTRALIA Part of a Lecture given by Anthony Brown at The Nelson Society of Australia’s AGM on 20th March 2006.

Matthew Flinders

CONTENTS OF 50 YEAR TIME CAPSULE TO BE OPENED 2055 1. Flyer Jan 2001 advertising the foundation of a" Nelson Appreciation Society' 2. The Jan 06 Bicentenary edition of Society Newsletter 3. Letter from heads of the four organizations to their 2055 successors, attached to bottle No 200 of the Bicentenary vintage port 4. The Bowman Flag illuminated address. I 5. Program. St Pat's Basilica Haydn's "Nelson Mass" 6. The "Sword of Excellence" project. Presentation to RAN & Dedication photos. (Material: Ron Ingram supplying.) 7. Program 5 day time Lectures Oct 14-21 2005. The Nautical Museum Fremantle 8. Menu. W.A. Ret Naval Officers Assoc Trafalgar Luncheon 21 Oct 2005. 9. Menu. Royal Naval Association Bicentenary Dinner, with admission card 10. Top Tables seating plan at dinner. 11. Photos of pre dinner ceremonial presentation and at dinner. 12. Order of Service. The 5th Trafalgar Memorial Service, 23 Oct 2005. 13. Original of address by the Soc Chaplain Rev Tim Harrison at the Service. 14. Menu. Bicentenary 5th Pickle Night Supper. 15. Photo of Society constructed HMS Pickle model. 16. The New Trafalgar Dispatch. (presented by the Nelson Soc of UK) 17. Order of Service. Bicentenary of Nelson's funeral; and dedication of a 50 year time capsule. St Michael's Church, Mount Pleasant. (photos of this event) 18. Photo of Society Bicentenary Committee and Friends of the Nelson Society. 19. The Nelson Year Book 2005 20. History of the Association of WRENS & Gold wire badge of Association. 21. A cutting from "Navy News" of Bicentenary events being held. 22. "Melville Times" cutting of the Trafalgar Dinner 23. The 2005 Trafalgar time warp skit 24. Bicentenary Society Membership badge.


FINAL SEALING OF THE CAPSULE IN ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH YARD.

TO BE OPENED IN 2055 L to R. Nick Bell, holding the Bowman

Flag, Claudia Perkins, Graham Perkins and Mike Sargeant

HOISTING THE FLAGS OF VICTORY; 200 YEARS ON THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Wednesday. April 12. 2006 John Huxley

JUST AS they did exactly 200 years ago, Sydneysiders gathered on South Head yesterday to welcome news from afar and to celebrate a famous victory. It was on April in, 1806 - more than five months after the event - that the transport ship William Pitt sailed through the heads bringing news of the victory at Trafalgar, and of the death in battle of Lord Nelson. "Obviously there was sorrow over Nelson's death, but news of the victory set off huge celebrations across the city," said Peter Poland, president of the Woollahra History and Heritage Society. The victory over superior French and Spanish forces gave the British control of the seas and guaranteed the future of the infant colony as a secure outpost of the empire. Officers of the William Pitt, whose passengers included the future Blue Mountains explorer Gregory Blaxland, had picked up news of the battle from an American ship when it called in at Cape Town during its long voyage to Sydney. Yesterday the society commemorated its arrival with readings from journals and letters of the time at the South Head signal station. There was also a display of flags by a local vexillologist, John Vaughan. The Union Jack was flown as it would have been in 1806, but Mr Vaughan also hoisted a selection of other historic flags, including a code signals, announcing the arrival of a ship, the national colonial flag, which dates from the 1820s, the greater Sydney ensign and a replica of the famous Bowman flag. The original Bowman flag, now held in the Mitchell Library is thought to be the first designed in Australia. 1t is hand-painted on silk cut from Honor Bowman's wedding dress. Featuring an emu and kangaroo, and the Trafalgar motto "England expects every man will do his duty", it was flown by the Bowmans at their home near Richmond. "The early settlers were a very long way from home and very patriotic, "Mr Vaughan said..


TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF NELSON IN THE PHOTOS ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES!

1. This was painted by J Fairburn before or after Nelson’s death?_______________ 2. What European city did Nelson sit for the artist J H Schmidt? ________________ 3. The two gold medals were given to Nelson for which Battles? _______________ 4. In which year did R. Westall paint this picture?____________________________ 5. Who painted the original of this print?___________________________________ 6. What is the nationality of Nelson’s opponents? ___________________________ 7. What is the title of this picture (two words) by J Gillray ‘Nelson at_____________ 8. Who is the painter? 9. In what year was this painted by S de Coster/ 10. Nelson’s Agent owned a version of this portrait. Name him.?________________ 11. Nelson talking to his Captains before which Battle?_______________________ 12. How old was Nelson when this portrait by J F Rigaud was started?___________ 13. At which Battle did Nelson receive this head wound?______________________ 14. What is the name of the decoration on Nelson’s head?_____________________ 15. How old is the young Nelson?________________________________________ 16. Where was this portrait painted by L Guzzardi? __________________________ 17. Nelson loses his arm at which Island?__________________________________ 18. What is Nelson’s rank in this picture by R Westall?________________________


1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9


10 11 12

13 14 15

16 17 18

I suppose we think of Emma Hamilton, along with perhaps Cleopatra, Nell Gwynne, Helen of Troy and one or two others, as among the great Femme Fatales of history. We think of the grand courtesan whose evenings consisted of lively talk, of easy laughter, of warm confidential intimacy, and caressed deliciously at moments by a light breath of romance. For Lady Hamilton there may have been, indeed were, many occasions of such brittle caprice, but, for her, life neither started nor concluded in such Arcadian felicity. Far from it. So lets give her a closer look. She began life as Emy Lyon on 26 April 1765 on the Wirral Penisular near Liverpool. The house still stands, for it was solidly built doubling as blacksmith’s residence as well as his place of work. Henry Lyon was the blacksmith, and died within two months of Emy's birth. Mother and daughter then went across the river Dee to live with the maternal grandparents in Hawarden, North Wales. This town is more celebrated for being the spot were Gladstone, paradoxically in the context of our story a renowned pillar of propriety, whilst in the act of chopping down a tree was brought news of his elevation to British Prime Minister. Emma and Gladstone make strange bedfellows, so to speak, in an otherwise supremely forgettable place. One odd spin off of her upbringing on the Welsh Cheshire border was that for the rest of her life Emma had a marked north country accent. She had no formal education, and she herself said in later years that her education only started when she was 16, meaning, I take it, when she lost her virginity. At the age of 12 Emma was taken into service by a Mr Thomas, and here we have her first contact with medicine, for Thomas was a Chester surgeon. She did not last long and went to London where in 1779 she had, it is said, a somewhat different brush with things medical in the remarkable Temple of Health in Pall Mall. This place of deep pile carpets, mirrors on the ceiling, and new fangled electrical devices was given over to the stimulation of flagging libidos. For an up front fee of £50 a night in the 'Celestial Bed' and no questions asked, nor breakfast given, it was convincingly claimed that this embarrassing deficiency could be overcome. The establishment was run by a Dr James Graham who gave lectures which were turgid with sexual

innuendo and embellished by display of crutches and less savoury surgical aids which had been allegedly discarded by born again satyrs. Emma is said to have posed in diaphanous drapes as a Goddess of Health. That Emma was involved in this seedy arrangement is open to dispute, but what is known is that shortly after this she became the mistress of a Sir Harry Fetherstonehaugh and fell pregnant. What the young lady thought is lost to posterity, but she could have quoted Andrew Marvell, if she

had ever heard of him My love is of a birth as rare

As 'tis for object strange and high: It was begotten by despair

Upon impossibility.

I suppose young Sir Harry may just possibly have given Browning a thought and murmured to himself —

So I gave her eyes my own eyes to take, My hand sought hers as in earnest need,

And round she turned for my noble sake,

And gave me herself indeed.

But frankly I doubt it, if for no other reason that Robert Browning was not born until over thirty years later. The child was born in March 1782 with Emma, now calling herself

Emily Hart, not yet 17. Sir Harry abandoned mother and child which allowed her to take up with the Honourable Charles Grenville who became her first real protector. In the long run both he and Sir Harry proved to be what was then called a cad, the type of man choleric fathers horse whipped. The child, "little Emma", was fostered out and lived for many years in Manchester. She kept in touch with her mother and eventually went into a convent. A fitting climax to a life spent in Manchester. Grenville introduced Emily Hart into high society where Romney painted many pictures of her likeness. Numerous survive and from them we know that she had large violet eyes, a short oval face, indented upper lip and small chin. She had rather heavy hips and a full bosom, and later in life became obese. But her striking features were her flawless complexion, and, above all, her magnificent thick load of auburn hair. To bastardise Pope we could perhaps say:-

If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.

EMMA LADY HAMILTON A Medical View of Legendary Beauty and Romantic Scandal — Public lecture by Dr Jim Leavesley Aug 2005

Emma, Painted by Romney


She Nourish'd locks well conspir'd to deck With shining ringlets the smooth and iv'ry neck

Fair tresses Man's Imperial Race ensnare And beauty draws us with a single hair.

For a three quarter portrait of this classic beauty the matchless George Romney charged twenty guineas. Today such a picture would be worth $5 million or more, if you could lay your hands on one. About this time Emma had a bout of a recurring skin problem, and as nothing is known about her confinement, this is our first medical

problem. Intermittently during her life our heroine suffered from a rash mainly occurring on her elbows and knees. This is the classical site for psoriasis to manifest itself, and from her life-long history of recurrences, occurring especially at times of stress, of which she had many, that would seem to be the likely cause. It could, I dare say, have been a neurodermatitis. In any event she was recommended sea bathing and given an infusion of Peruvian Bark. This is from the Cinchona tree, source of quinine. It, like the sea water, was both applied externally and drunk. One is as bitter as the other is salty so it sounds as though the treatment was worse than the complaint, but at least she probably thought that she was being done good. Grenville ran into debt and in return for the clearing of these he offered his mistress, in the most tasteful way mark you, to another of her admirers, his uncle the British Minister in Naples, Sir William Hamilton. Thinking it was only a temporary expedient, and with some understandable ill grace, Emma transferred her allegiance, as though going from one football club to another. At the time Hamilton was 55 years old and had had a smouldering affection for the young beauty for a year or two. But when he eventually had her safely within his grasp he teased himself and it was 6 months before the eagerly awaited consummation took place. As John Betjeman had it in another context:-

She cast her blazing eyes on me And plucked a liquorice leaf;

I was her captive slave and she My red haired robber chief.

Oh love! for love I could not speak, It left me winded, wilted, weak

And held in brown arms strong and bare And wound with flaming ropes of hair.

But it might, of course, have been a case of "if youth knew, if age could." In any event he married her in London 5 years later. Emma entered wholeheartedly into the Court life of the

King and Queen of Naples, and indeed became such a confident of the Queen that a lesbian relationship between the two was bruited about. As Queen Maria Carolina bore 17 children by King Ferdinand there could not have been much time for such dalliance. In any case after a somewhat hesitant start Emma became very attached to Sir William, despite their 35 years difference in age. Then on 11 September 1793 there arrived off Naples the Royal Naval frigate Agamemnon. It bore dispatches for the king, and its commander was a certain Captain Horatio Nelson. This seeming trifling incident saw the low key opening bars of a remarkable and unfolding symphony of tenderness and duplicity. Nelson met Sir William and Lady Hamilton in the course of his duty, and in fact borrowed some cutlery off them to allow shipboard entertaining to be carried out in a manner befitting a rather posturing small man. Nelson wrote to his long suffering wife after the visit that, "Lady Hamilton is a young woman of amiable manners and does honour to the station in which she is raised." What he did not write though may even then have thought was:-

Red hair she had and golden skin, Her sulky lips were shaped for sin.

Betjeman again. What Emma thought is not recorded, but with the departure of the ship she sank back into a mind numbing round of Court intrigue, gossiping, honing to mediocrity her newly acquired skill in music, and returning to the arms of an aging husband. And then in the middle of all this ennui in September 1798 there appeared on the horizon a sail. A long boat detached itself from the man-o-war and two officers brought the first news of the Battle of the Nile, an engagement which successfully cut off Napoleon from his forces in the Middle East. The sea battle was fought in Aboukir Bay in the Nile delta, and if you go now and sit in one of the fish restraints overlooking this wind whipped shallow inlet, in your mind's eye you can easily imagine the British fleet dealing its masterstroke by sailing unexpectedly between the shore and the French ships, and also Casabianca with his son, the boy who stood on the burning deck, and the blowing up of his vessel L'Orient. We all probably remember some parody on this epic. For instance:-

The boy stood on the burning deck Eating peanuts by the peck

And though all but he had upped an fled When his legs were burnt right off

He stood upon his head. In the action Nelson sustained yet another wound, this time' over his blind eye. It was a remarkable tactical victory, and arrival of the heroic commander was awaited in Naples with ill concealed excitement, not least by Emma Lady Hamilton. On September 22 his ship hove in sight. The British Emissary and wife were in the first greeting boat. As she boarded Lady Hamilton took one look at Nelson and exclaimed "Oh God is it possible", and fell carefully into his arms.


Whether this was in excitement at the victory, pent up desire or because since last she had seen Nelson he had lost an arm and an eye and now had a wound on his forehead, is not certain. Whatever the reason the Admiral was invited to stay with the Hamiltons where Emma nursed him on a diet of asses milk, a la Anthony and Cleopatra, and the recognition of a pleasant awareness of some magic passing between them. This was not her first assay into the minefield of love, and as Byron later was to say:-

In her first passion woman loves her lover, In all others all she loves is love,

Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over, And fits her closely-like an easy glove,

As you may find, when'er you like to prove her: One man alone at first her heart can move; She then prefers him in the plural number, .

Not finding that the additions much encumber. A week later Nelson turned 40. Emma was 33 at the time. For both a new era had opened and their destinies both in fact and fancy became inextricably intertwined for ever. Over the next two years while Nelson was stationed in Naples their relationship became more passionate to ultimately arrive at its natural conclusion of actual intercourse in February 1800. Such things seemed to take time in these good old days. Perhaps the chase was more to be desired than the consummation. Either way the result was as inevitable then as now; Emma fell pregnant. It must have been a strange melange a trois akin to a bedroom farce with these three, prominently at the top of Neapolitan society, trying to keep up appearances, if not trousers. There is no doubt there was an attempt to keep it discrete, and Emma could have quite easily quoted Thomas Carew to her paramour:-

Fear not, dear love, that I'll reveal Those hours of pleasure we two steal;

No eye shall see, nor yet the sun Descry, what thou and I have done; No ear shall hear our love, but we

Silent as the night will be; The God of love himself.

If, when I die, physicians doubt What caused my death, and there to view

Of all their judgements which was true, Rip up this heart, O then, I fear,

The world will see thy picture there.

Whether Sir William knew of the goings on is unclear, but he always welcomed Nelson and spoke most warmly of his command never admitted to any suspicion. Possibly the admiral kept the sexual demands of his young wife down to

proportions the old man could handle. Or it may have been the good old British defence of denial. Anyway the party decided to return to England by land, and with Nelson included the entourage took to receiving popular acclaim in various cities en route. A contemporary report records that it was plain that Lord Nelson thought of nothing but Lady Hamilton, while she was “bold, forward, coarse, assuming, vain and colossal. Her voice was loud, her movements common and she was possessive of Lord Nelson. Sir William was old, infirm and never spoke but to applaud her." Emma enjoyed the good things in life, a whimsy not reserved for the bedroom alone, but for the dinner table and wine cellar as well. The result was her well remembered obesity. The journey took five months and throughout Emma's pregnancy, now seven months advanced, but escaped detection. In England that animal magnetism between his travelling companions which Sir William had chosen to ignore was

transparently clear to Fanny, Lady Nelson. The relationship between her and her husband became strained. In frustration Nelson reoffered his services to the Navy and, went to Plymouth to take a new command, perhaps feeling as did Shakespeare:- The gaudy, babbling, and remorseful day

Is crept into the bosom of the sea.

From his ship he began to write to Lady Hamilton under the assumed name of Thompson. Mindful of the censors, Nelson adopted the guise of a supposed sailor, Thompson, who had a supposed wife under Lady Hamilton's protection. This wife was soon to have a baby, it was said, and he wrote of his concern. At the same time

Nelson was also writing to her in an official way and he sometimes got the two confused, and who can blame him. Nelson destroyed all her replies. Emma kept all his and they survive to this day in all their touching prurience, a rare example of for once nature being the mirror of art.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

The child known then as Horatia Thompson was born in January 1801. She was delivered in great secrecy in a house in Piccadilly. Incredibly it was kept secret from Sir William who was actually living in the same building. It was either secret or the old diplomat was too diplomatic to com-ment. It is beyond reason he could not have noticed the increasing weight and general malaise and then sudden fining down. Perhaps by that time Emma was so obese the


loss of 3000 grammes or so was hardly discernible. In any event he preserved the appearance of dignified oblivion while his wife gave birth to his best friend's child. Regrettably, as with the first confinement, obstetrical details are lacking. Interestingly enough the child Horatia lived until the 1880's, became the wife of a parson, had nine children and while accepting that Lord Nelson was her father steadfastly refused to

believe Lady Hamilton was her mother. The baby was given to a Mrs Gibson, and although Emma made no secret of her name she insisted it had been born three months previously when, of course, the party was travelling from Naples, and which if true meant that she could not have been the mother. It was this patent lie which for over 80 years prevented Horatia accepting Emma as being in fact her mother. Nelson was ecstatic and suggested it be christened Horatia, daughter of Johem and Morata Etnorb, which was close to an anagram of the two lovers names, plus Bronte spelt backwards. While in Naples, and in a fit of grateful over enthusiasm, the naval hero had been created Duke of Bronte by the King of Sicily. Being a foreigner he never used the title; neither did anything come of the mildly preposterous naming idea. Nelson became officially separated from his wife. Divorce then needed a special Act of Parliament. To add to the saga's general air of unreality, Emma's first child up there in Manchester had been kept secret from her lover. He thought the girl was just part of Emma's large family. Another twist in the intrigue was that at this time the Prince of Wales, later George IV, paid some attention to our heroine, but nothing came of it. Indeed due to her dubious reputation she was never received at Court. In February 1803 Sir William Hamilton became ill and was devotedly nursed by his errant wife, to eventually die in her arms in April at the age of 72. Byron was a youth at the time but was later to write some lines which Lady Hamilton may well have pondered on.

I loved, I love you, for this love have lost State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem,

And yet can not regret what it hath cost, So dear is still the memory of that dream;

It is later in that poem, of course, that the well known line appears:- Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,

'Tis a woman's whole existence. Shortly after this event Emma discovered she was pregnant again. She again kept the information secret from decent society, and at Christmas 1803 was delivered of a second girl. It did not survive for long and may have succumbed to smallpox, for her sister Horatia had the dread disease about that time. Emma entertained hopes of marrying Horatio, but the law forbade it as it would now in similar circumstances. The debts left by her late husband were huge and she sold many of her treasures to support herself, even though Nelson gave her an allowance.

There was a flare up of her rash and she went to Southend in the hope that sea bathing would help. As the natural history of the condition is to wax and wane, sea bathing in the clearing phase could well have given it an undeserved reputation as a successful therapy. She had some uplift when her lover came on leave in August 1805, but when he rejoined HMS Victory with the parting shot that, "if there were more Emmas there would be more Nelsons" her gloom returned.

“Their meetings made December June Their every parting was to die”.

Before he left they attended a church service when a sort of Sacrament took place and gold bands exchanged to indicate undying love. They are now in the Maritime Museum at Greenwich; thus allowing us all to get a little dewy eyed. Nelson's last act before leaving for Trafalgar was to entertain George Canning on his ship. This is the same Canning after whom our river in WA is named. Emma wrote that day, "My face is an honest picture of the sufferings of my heart." When she eventually received news of the death of Nelson she screamed, fell backwards and for ten hours could neither speak nor shed a tear. In time she received his last letter, written before the battle, his hair, his pictures of her and the coat he wore at Trafalgar, bullet hole, blood and all. When the body returned to England she was not permitted to view it, nor was she invited to the State funeral, it being considered an occasion for authorised persons only. Ironically a former suitor, the Prince of Wales, was chief mourner. In his will Nelson left as he put it, "Lady Hamilton and Horatia to my country." the famous bequest to the nation. The request was never carried out for Emma Hamilton, like Cleopatra before her, suffered the universal fate of the mistress on death of her supporter — total loss of status. For years she tried to get some financial compensation, but successive governments fobbed her off. Nelson's sisters received £10,000 each and his brother, the new Earl, £100,000. At least Horatia assumed the name of Nelson rather than Thompson. The rest of the story is a rather sordid tale of physical and financial degeneration. Betjeman again:-

Time bring back The rapturous ignorance of long ago,

The peace, before the dreadful daylight starts, Of unkept promises and broken hearts.

I For years Emma petitioned the Government for what she held was her rightful inheritance. Her circumstances became more and more strained, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Most of her effects were sold to buy food and support herself, her daughter and her increasing drinking habit until in 1813 she was arrested for debt and taken to King's Bench


ANSWERS TO QUIZ FOM PAGE 4 1. After 7. The Nile 13. The Nile 2. 8. A.W. Devis. 1807 14. 3. 9. 1805 15. Aged eight 4. 1798 10. 16. Naples 5. L F Abbott c1805 11. Trafalgar 17. Tenerife 6. Spain. R. Westall 1798 12. 18. Lieutenant

Prison. She took Horatia with her. With the help of some friends she was released, but at New Year 1814 had an attack of jaundice. There could be a number of reasons or this, including Leiptosprosis from the bite of a rat which had been cohabiting with her in her unsavoury surroundings, cancer of the pancreas, pancreatitis from her alcoholism or hepatitis. But the general feeling is the it was due to a cirrhotic condition of the liver due to alcohol. As I say, her well known obesity, a character-istic which has caused her to be likened to a Martello tower, could also have been as a consequence of this. She herself put the jaundice down to fretting and anxiety, but whatever the reason she was in bed for three months. To add to her misery at that time her letters from Lord Nelson had been purloined and published. He had always enjoined Emma to burn them, which she could not bring herself to do, thus giving a perfect example of the old adage, "Do right to men. Do not write to women." This was the last straw, and she decided to leave England, which she did accompanied by Horatia and sailed to Calais. There she hired a room, sold odd remaining trinkets and took to her bed, above which hung portraits of Sir William Hamilton and Lord Nelson. Now all the world she knew is dead..

In this small room she lives her days, The washstand stand and single bed

Screened from the public gaze

She continued to drink heavily and drifted in and out of consciousness. Her only visitor was a priest, and on 15 Janu-ary 1815 she died in abject poverty, probably from liver failure. She was bur-ied in Calais. Her grave site was de-stroyed during the second world war and its whereabouts is now unknown. The story of Emma Lady Hamilton is one of rags to riches to rags. That is supposed to take three generations, but such was the intensity of her life, such the pace at which she led it that she managed to

squeeze it into 50 hectic years. But Lord Horatio Nelson never wavered in his love for her, and at the end I think he would have preferred to think of her in a Byronic way:-

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

J Leavesley


Graham Perkins presents Mike Sargeant with the Nelson Medal sent by the Nelson Society of Great Britain in recognition of the NSA’s contribution to the Bi-Centenary Celebrations. The medal will be handed down to each succeeding Chairman of the Nelson Society.

Graham Perkins presents Ron Ingham with John Sugdens book “A Dream of Glory” as a thank you for his contribution to the Bi Centenary celebrations by organising ‘The Sword of Honour’ and the Commemorative Port.

THE NELSON SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA Patron: Commodore David J Orr. RAN (Retd)

Honorary Life President: Graham Perkins COMMITTEE 2006-2007 Office Bearers: Chairman: Mike Sargeant Vice Chairman: Richard Savage Secretary Bob Woollett Treasurer Ann Nelson Committee Members: John Ashworth, John Caskey Gillian Mead, (Minutes Sec.) David Shannon, Lillian Toomer (Catering co-ordinator ) OTHER POSITIONS Newsletter: Betty Foster (editor), Ted Collinson (photos) Bob Woollett and Lillian Toomer (distribution) Nelson Dispatch Distribution: Gwen Phillips The Nelson Year Book and Archives David Shannon SUB COMMITTEES Memorial Service: Richard Savage (Chair), David Shannon, Ron Ingham, John Caskey, Graham Perkins, John Ashworth and Mike Sargeant. Catering: Lillian Toomer (co-ordinator) Elsie Paice and Renee Almond Pickle Night Bob Woollett, Betty Foster and John Caskey Reception: Cynthia Lyall and Ann Penny

THE NELSON SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA Founded 2001

To advance public education in the appreciation of the life and character of Admiral Lord Nelson. Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st October 1805. In the greatest sea battle, involving 60 ships of the line, over 3,000 men were

killed, 3,500 wounded and over 1,000 reported missing.


Name…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Address…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………...Postcode………………………………………………. Telephone……………………………………E-mail………………………………………………………….. Membership Subscription — $25

Payable to Membership Secretary, The Nelson Society of Australia, Bob Woollett, 28 Norfolk St, Fremantle, 6160 WA

Printing Courtesy of Jim McGinty MLA With sadness we record the death of one of our original members George Thomas.

the nelson society of australia inc newsletteragostini/newsletters/09 nelson... · 2016-06-12 ·...

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