surrounding people, the vast majority of whom were French Canadians or habitants. Though coming of a rigidly royalist and tory stock, Nelson completely identified himself with the habitants, and headed the cry raised by them for an alteration in the exclusive system of government then in vogue. In 1827 he contested the borough of William Henry against James Stuart, the attorney-general for Lower Canada, and defeated him by three votes. In the assembly Nelson closely allied himself with Louis Papineau [q. v.], head of the French party. On 23 Oct. 1837 a great meeting of delegates from six counties of Lower Canada was held at St. Charles. Nelson acted as chairman, and so violent was the tone of his speeches that the governor, Lord Gosford, issued a warrant against him and Papineau; a reward of two thousand dollars being offered for Nelson's apprehension. Papineau urged surrender, but Nelson, bent upon rebellion, entrenched himself, with George Cartier and a number of French habitants, in his brewery, a large stone house at the north-east corner of St. Denis, and prepared for armed resistance. On 23 Nov. he beat off an attack made by Colonel Gore and a company of the 23rd regiment with heavy loss. Two days later, however, the rebel camp at St. Charles, seven miles distant from St. Denis, was stormed by the English. Nelson now evacuated his position, tried to escape to American soil, but was captured and brought to Montreal a prisoner. His brother, Robert Nelson, who had joined him, escaped to American soil, whence he organised expeditions against Canada during 1838. Nelson remained in gaol till 1838, when the high commissioner, Lord Durham, on his own responsibility, sentenced him and a number of other prisoners to transportation to Bermuda. The sentence was reversed as invalid by the home government, and Nelson was set free. But, fearing subsequent prosecution, he retired to America in November 1838. He returned to Montreal in 1842, after the amnesty, and resumed his practice as a doctor. His popularity continued, and in 1845 he was elected to the Canadian assembly for the county of Richelieu in opposition to D. B. Viger. He supported the Rebellion Losses Bill, a measure bitterly resented by the English and loyalist party; but as a general rule he showed himself opposed to any extreme action. He thus recovered favour with the government. In 1847 he was appointed chairman of the board of health. In 1851 he was made inspector of prisons, and in 1859 he rose to the chairmanship of the board of prison inspectors. He wrote numerous reports on the state of the prisons, and also contributed on political subjects to a Montreal paper, ‘La Minerve.’ He died at Montreal in 1863.
[Morgan's Sketches of Celebrated Canadians; Rose's Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography; Histories of Canada by Garneau and Withrow; Lindsey's Life of William Lyon Mackenzie; Canadian Parliamentary Reports.]
NELTHORPE, RICHARD (d. 1685), conspirator, was son of James Nelthorpe of Charterhouse, London. On 7 Dec. 1669 he was admitted of Gray's Inn (Register, ed. Foster, p. 308). He was concerned in the Rye House plot, and upon its failure escaped with a brother lawyer, Nathaniel Wade, to Scarborough, whence they took ship to Rotterdam, and arrived at Amsterdam at the end of June 1683. His chambers in the Temple, together with those of his associate, Richard Goodenough [q. v.], were on 20 June rigorously searched, but without result (Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. vol. ii. p. 55). Finding that the States-General had resolved to arrest them, they fled to Vevay in Switzerland, and were kindly received by Edmund Ludlow [q. v.] (Wade's ‘Confession’ in Harl. MS. 6845, ff. 268 b–9). Meanwhile, a reward of 100l. was offered by royal proclamation for Nelthorpe's apprehension, and on 12 July the grand jury found a true bill against him (Luttrell, Brief Relation, i. 262, 273). He was accordingly outlawed. A staunch protestant, Nelthorpe became an adherent of the Duke of Monmouth, and landed with him at Lyme in 1685. After the battle of Sedgemoor he was sheltered by Alice Lisle [q. v.] at her house in Hampshire, but his hiding-place was betrayed by one Barter. He was examined on 9 Aug., refused to divulge anything of moment (Lansd. MS. 1152 A., f. 301), and in consequence was subjected to such rigorous treatment that he temporarily lost his reason. He was executed under his old outlawry before the gate of Gray's Inn, on 30 Oct. 1685, and died with composure (Luttrell, i. 362). Jeffreys would have spared him for a bribe of 10,000l., but Nelthorpe refused to save his life by depriving his children of their fortunes (Gent. Mag. 1866, pt. i. p. 126). In the next reign his attainder was reversed (Luttrell, i. 542). Nelthorpe left a widow and five children. He is described as a ‘tall, thin, black man.’
[Bramston's Autobiography (Camd. Soc.), p. 209; Macaulay's Works, 1866, i. 496–8; State Trials (Howell), xi. 350; Western Martyrology (3rd edit. 1689, pp. 180–7), which contains his letters to his relatives and children.]
NENNIUS (fl. 796), historian, is the traditional author of the ‘Historia Britonum.’ From incidental allusions in the body of the
