Horatio Nelson Memorial

Horatio Nelson Memorial

Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), British naval commander, whose victories in the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar made him a British national hero.
Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on September 29, 1758. He entered the British navy in 1770, serving under his uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling. In the ensuing years Nelson gained much naval experience through service on a merchant vessel, on an Arctic expedition, and in the East Indies and the West Indies. By 1779 he had attained the rank of captain. Subsequently he saw battle service in the West Indies in 1780, was chosen to instruct Prince William, later William IV, king of Great Britain, in naval tactics, studied naval matters in France, and in 1784 commanded the British frigate Boreas, stationed at Antigua, West Indies. In 1787, while stationed in the West Indies, Nelson married Frances Nisbet.
Service
Nelson's services to the British nation were contributed in the course of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Serving under Rear Admiral Samuel Hood, in 1793 he assisted in the occupation of the city of Toulon by allied British and Spanish forces. In the course of a visit to Naples, from which he convoyed troops to help the British at Toulon, Nelson first became acquainted with Lady Hamilton, wife of the British ambassador at Naples; Lady Hamilton subsequently became Nelson's mistress, and his career was considerably influenced by her advice and help. After the British allies were driven from Toulon by Napoleon Bonaparte, Nelson assisted Hood in the taking of the towns of Bastia and Calvi in Corsica, and in occupying (1794) the island. At Calvi he was wounded in the right eye, the sight of which he eventually lost.
Nelson was made a commodore in 1796. The following year he played a prominent part in the victory off Cape Saint Vincent, Portugal, of the British fleet under John Jervis, later Earl Saint Vincent, over the fleet of Spain, then allied to France. In July 1797, Nelson led a rash attack by small boats on the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession; the attack failed, and Nelson received a wound in the right arm that resulted in amputation of the arm. The following year he was sent to discover the purpose of the great French fleet gathering at Toulon. Nelson's ships, reconnoitering off Toulon, were scattered by a storm, and before he could resume his position, the French fleet sailed. Nelson discovered that it had gone east carrying Bonaparte's troops for an invasion of Egypt, and set out in pursuit.
The French fleet had discharged its troops before Nelson came up with it at Abu Q?r Bay; in the Battle of the Nile, on August 1-2, 1798, he destroyed most of the French vessels; the victory cut Napoleon's line of communication with France and eventually was responsible for his withdrawal from the Middle East in spite of his military victories there. Nelson then proceeded to Naples, from which the Neapolitan royal family had been driven by French troops and Neapolitan sympathizers with the French Revolution; he was prominent in the action against Naples that resulted in the restoration of the royal family, and for his services he was created (1800) duke of Bront? by Ferdinand I, king of Naples. He returned to England the same year and the following year was separated from his wife.
In 1801 Nelson became a vice admiral, but in spite of his rank he accepted service under Sir Hyde Parker when the latter was placed in command of the fleet sent to the Baltic Sea to compel Denmark and Sweden to discontinue their economic aid to France. In the Battle of Copenhagen, in which the British fleet destroyed the Danish in the harbor of the capital, Nelson, although second in command, took entire charge of the British operations; when his attention was called at the height of the battle to Parker's signal for the British ships to withdraw, Nelson placed a telescope to his blind eye and declared he could not see the signal. Later that year he was created viscount.
Trafalgar
Nelson was in England at the time of the Treaty of Amiens (1802-03), which temporarily ended the fighting between England and France. When war broke out again in 1803 he was appointed commander of the British Mediterranean fleet. He blockaded Toulon, where a large French fleet under Vice Admiral Pierre Charles de Villeneuve was preparing to invade England. Nelson forced the French fleet to remain in Toulon for two years, but it escaped in 1805 and made for the West Indies. Nelson set out in pursuit, but the French fleet eluded him and, sailing back to Europe, took refuge in C?diz, where it was joined by a number of Spanish ships. The British blockaded the city, but Villeneuve finally broke out of the harbor and gave battle off Cape Trafalgar, in Spain. In the Battle of Trafalgar, on October 21, 1805, Nelson overwhelmingly defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets, leading the attack himself in his flagship Victory; he was mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter, however, and died as the battle ended. The British victory put an end to Napoleon's plans for invading England.
Nelson is regarded as the most famous of all British naval leaders and as one of the most noteworthy in world history. He was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral. In November 1805, in recognition of his services, his brother William Nelson was made Earl Nelson of Trafalgar. In 1849 a monument known as the Nelson Column was erected to Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square, London.

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