His body was brought home in his flagship and laid to rest in St Paul’s. He is commemorated in London by the monument in Trafalgar Square, completed in 1849 with a colossal statue by E. H. Baily, and surrounded by Landseer’s bronze lions, added in 1867.
In estimating the character of Nelson, and his achievements, there are some elements which must be allowed for more fully than has always been the case. He was, to begin with, the least English of great Englishmen. He had the excitability, the vanity, the desire for approbation without much delicacy as to the quarter from which it came, which the average Englishman of Nelson’s time, his judgment obscured by the effects of centuries of racial rivalry culminating in the Napoleonic wars, was wont to attribute to Frenchmen. Where there is vanity there is the capacity for spite and envy. Nor was Nelson altogether free from these unpleasant faults. But in the main his desire to be liked combined with a natural kindness of disposition to make him appeal frankly to the goodwill of those about him. He won to a very great extent the affection he valued, and that from men so widely different in character as Lord Minto and the simple-hearted seamen among whom he passed the best part of his life. He could be cruel when his emotions were aroused by evil influences, with the downright cruelty he displayed at Naples, or the more subtle form of hardness in his conduct to his wife, when his duty to her stood in the way of his love for Emma Hamilton. But they were few to whom the evil side of his nature was shown, while the captains and seamen for whom he did much to make a hard duty more tolerable were to be counted by the thousand.
As a commander he belonged to the race of Pyrrhus and the prince of Condé—the fighters of battles. His victories were won at the head of a force which had been brought to a high level of efficiency by three generations of predecessors, against enemies who had been, as in the case of the French, disorganized by a social revolution which had ruined their discipline, who were inexperienced as the Danes were, or who, as in the case of the Spaniards, were sunk in a moral and intellectual decadence. But he estimated the vices of his opponents with full insight. Wielding a fine instrument, and confronted by inferior enemies, he was entitled to dare much, and it is a proof of his sagacity that he saw how far he could dare, caring but little for the bulk of the force in front of him, and looking to the spirit. Above all, he had the power to inspire the enthusiasm he felt, and to make men act above themselves because he was there, and because they found a joy in pleasing him. Among all the warriors of his generation Napoleon alone was a greater master of the souls of men, and Blücher alone came near him.
Nelson had no children by his wife. His daughter Horatia, by Lady Hamilton, became the wife of the Rev. Philip Ward, and died in 1881. In November 1805, in recognition of Nelson’s great services to his country, his brother William (1757–1835) was created Earl Nelson of Trafalgar, an annuity of £5000 being attached to the title. When William died without sons in February 1835 his only daughter Charlotte Mary (1787–1873), wife of Samuel Hood, 2nd Baron Bridport (1788–1868), became duchess of Bronté, while, according to the remainder, his English titles passed to his nephew Thomas Bolton (1786–1835), who became 2nd Earl Nelson. Bolton, who took the name of Nelson, was succeeded as 3rd Earl Nelson in November 1835 by his son Horatio (b. 1823). The duchy of Bronté was in 1910 held by Baroness Bridport’s grandson, Arthur Wellington Nelson Hood, 2nd Viscount Bridport (b. 1839).
Authorities.—Very much has been written about Nelson. A large part of the total mass consists of hasty work done to meet an immediate demand, or of repetition not justified by the critical faculty or literary skill of the writers. The valuable portion may be divided into original authorities, such as correspondence, and the testimony of eyewitnesses; and the narratives or criticisms of students who tell with original power, and judge with knowledge and insight. Under the heading of original authorities, the first place is taken by The Dispatches and Letters of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, with notes by Sir N. H. Nicolas (7 vols., 1844–1846). Nicolas spared no pains to make his collection complete and to illustrate it from all trustworthy sources. Thus he includes Sir Edward Berry’s Account of the Battle of the Nile, Colonel Stewart’s Notes on the Copenhagen Campaign, Dr Beatey’s Narrative of Nelson’s Last Hours, and passages from the so-called Reminiscences of the Captain of the Victory, Dr Scott. This last authority is of little value, for the book consists of recollections by Dr Scott’s daughter and son-in-law of what he said years after the events he was speaking of. The student of Nelson’s life should make it a rule to exhaust Nicolas before consulting any other authority. A collection of Letters from Nelson to Emma Hamilton was published under her direction in 1814, but it is subject to much suspicion. A great mass of correspondence of the Hamiltons and much MS. relating to Nelson came into the hands of Dr Pettigrew, and passed into the possession of Mr A. Morrison, from whose collection they were transferred to the British Museum. A catalogue, in which the text is given, was privately printed and can be consulted in the museum. Isolated letters have appeared from time to time. Between February and April 1898 some valuable extracts from his correspondence with his wife, previously unknown, and the correct text of parts of his diary, appeared in the extinct weekly, Literature. Among the lives of Nelson’s contemporaries, J. S. Tucker’s Earl of St Vincent (1844), Ross’s Saumarez, Lady Bourchier’s Codrington and the Letters of Sir William Hoste throw light on particular points. The Nelsonian Reminiscences of Parsons give an interesting picture of the admiral as he appeared to an observant boy. The observations of older and more intelligent witnesses will be found in The Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose, in The Life and Letters of the First Earl of Minto and in a Journal kept during a Visit to Germany, by Mrs St George, afterwards Mrs Trench. Incidental mentions of Nelson are to be found in the Paget Papers, the correspondence of the minister who succeeded Sir W. Hamilton at the court of Naples. Biographies of Nelson are numerous. Emma Hamilton inspired one by a Mr Harrison, an odious book which was in reality an advertisement of herself and which appeared in 1806. The two quartos of Clarke and McArthur (1809), reprinted in three volumes octavo in 1840, were based on papers supplied by the family, but the texts were edited with unpardonable freedom and the originals have in many cases been lost. Southey’s classic Life was based on Clarke and McArthur. All later biographies have been superseded by Captain Mahan’s Life of Nelson, first published in two volumes in 1897 and again in one volume, with additions and corrections in 1899. The much-debated Neapolitan episode has given rise to a literature of its own. The controversy began with the appearance of Captain Foote’s Vindication of his own part in the transaction published in 1810. It drew an immediate Counter Vindication of Nelson by Commander Jeaffreson Miles. Italian versions will be found in Sacchinelli’s Fabrizio Ruffo and in the Compendio of Micheroux edited by the Marchese Maresca. The controversy has been revived in England by Mr F. P. Badham with his Nelson at Naples (1900). and has provoked the publication of a collection of the documents by the Navy Record Society, in vol. xxv. of their publications, under the title Nelson and the Neapolitan Jacobins (1903). Mr C. Jeaffreson’s two works, Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson (1888) and the Queen of Naples and Lord Nelson (1889), are based on the papers collected by Mr Morrison. See also T. Nelson, Genealogical History of the Nelson Family (1908). (D. H.)
NELSON, ROBERT (1656–1715), English philanthropist and
religious writer, son of John Nelson, a London merchant, was
born on the 22nd of June 1656, and was educated as the private
pupil of George Bull, afterwards bishop of St David’s. Having
inherited a considerable fortune from his father, he followed
no profession. About 1680 he went abroad and spent much
time on the continent of Europe till 1691, when he settled at
Blackheath. For many years he was an intimate friend and
correspondent of Archbishop Tillotson, though not in agreement
with his views; and he was also on terms of friendship with
the astronomer Halley and other men of science. Nelson’s
sympathies were with the Jacobites; and after his return to
England he associated himself with the nonjurors, under whose
influence he produced several of his writings on religious subjects.
He was an active supporter of the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
and similar associations, and he used his influence largely in
the establishment of charity schools and the building of churches
in London. In 1687 he had published a controversial work
against transubstantiation, and in 1704 appeared his Companion
for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England, which
obtained a remarkable popularity lasting till the middle of the
19th century. Within five years of its publication ten thousand
copies of the Companion were printed, and thirty-six editions
appeared in a hundred and twenty years. After the death of
Bishop Bull in 1710 Nelson wrote his biography, which was
published three years later; and he was also the author of many
other devotional and controversial works. He died in January
