29SEP1758 - Nelson is born

[Felix/FFDS]

LORD NELSON BORN:
September 29, 1758


Horatio Nelson, Britain's most celebrated naval hero, is born in Burnham Thorpe, England. In the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, he won a series of crucial victories and saved England from possible invasion by France.


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[ozzy72]

And had a strange last wish to be kissed by a man called Hardy.....

[Hagar]

And had a strange last wish to be kissed by a man called Hardy.....

That old chestnut is debatable & it's more than possible that what he actually said was "Kismet Hardy". He would have been very weak by this time & Hardy had to lean over him to hear what he was saying with his last breath. Unlike most of his crew, Lord Nelson was an educated man & this could easily have been misheard or misinterpreted. Still, like all these myths it makes a nice story.

kismet
n.
Fate; fortune.

PS. It's also possible that Hardy actually kissed him out of respect for his Admiral who had just died after being wounded in action. That would be nothing out of the ordinary.

[TacitBlue]

There is a big article about the battle of Trafalgar in the latest (October) issue of National Geographic. I haven't read it yet, but now I will.

[Woodlouse2002]

Now there's a reason for a drink.

Incidentally, this october it will be 200 years since Trafalgar, hence the article in the National Geographic that I'm now going to have to find and read.

Bugger, seems my October edition hasn't arrived yet...

[Felix/FFDS]

It's interesting how, in my opinion, Nelson's legacy directly influence British Naval thinking into the 20th Century.   Jellicoe was derided for not seeking out the German High Seas Fleet and achieving a Nelsonian victory, vs Beatty's charge of the Battlecruisers was seen as act of Nelsonian proportions.  Neither, of course, was a Nelson, but the times and technologies had changed significantly.  In the end, the Grand Fleet prevailed.

[Woodlouse2002]

They were planning to erect another column in Trafalgar square after Jutland but in the end the battle was so indecisive that they had to settle for a mere fountain instead.

[myshelf]

i read somewhere that nelson, as captain of a corvette of 22 guns, almost lost his ship to charybdis.

[Woodlouse2002]

Very possible. They were turbulant times in those days.

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

Sick one. Seriously, he was an excellent symbol of the power that the British Empire wields, an the skill with which it does.
Sorry, but for an old schooler like me, nothing beats Old Nelson.


A.

[Hagar]

Seriously, he was an excellent symbol of the power that the British Empire wields,

Andrew. I think you mean wielded. I'm as patriotic as the next chap but the British Empire no longer exists.

[Woodlouse2002]

Tis the Commonwealth now lad.

[MWISimmer]

On a side note, i went to the same school as Lord Nelson, well the same site at least!
Norwich school, Norwich, Norfolk.
They have a "house" (English term?) named Nelson.
Ironically i now live in Merton, South west London where Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton...err.. well you know..
Rob.

[C]

An interesting thought to go alongside this thread. As we all know the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square needs a permanent resident.

Yesterday the answer came to me, inspired by the words of Air Commodore Pete Brothers, upon the announcement the RAF Bentley Priory is to be sold by the MoD...

"Nelson saved the country, Dowding saved the world"...

He's quite possibly right. Maybe Lord Dowding would be a fitting occupant...

[Hagar]

"Nelson saved the country, Dowding saved the world"...

He's quite possibly right. Maybe Lord Dowding would be a fitting occupant...

I'll go along with that although unfortunately I can't see it happening. The treatment meted out to Lord Dowding after his victory was disgraceful. Anyone would think he'd failed instead of achieving a near-miracle. Sadly this is how this country so often treats its heroes.