Lord Horatio Nelson (1^st Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Hilborough)

Posted by Jon Miller on Monday 20th of July 2026 06:30

Portsmouth, 1 August 1801: Lord Nelson hoisted, on Thursday morning, his flag on board the Leyden, and took the command of the squadron of bomb and gun vessels in the Downs. [Portsmouth Telegraph, 3 August 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Saturday 18th of July 2026 15:38

Lord Nelson has pleaded ill health as his reason for wishing to come home. But those who know him best very shrewdly suspect, that the real complaint of the noble Admiral is ennui of sailing up and down the Baltic with the enemy’s ships in sight, while he is under the necessity of remaining inactive. On the dispatches being read, the observation of a person high in office tends to confirm this hypothesis. - “Had Nelson received orders to attack the Swedish or Russian fleet, or to attempt some daring enterprize, it would operate as an immediate specific for any indisposition he now complains of.” [Hampshire Telegraph, 15 June 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Saturday 11th of July 2026 01:43

Naval Appointments: Admiral Sir H Parker, commander in chief in the North Sea; Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, second in command, and to hoist his flag on board the Neptune; and Rear-Admiral Sir G W Fairfax, third; Captain Domett of the Belleisle, is first captain to the commander in chief. Capt Lumsdaine succeeds him in command of the said ship. [Hampshire Chronicle, 2 February 1801]

Posted by Jon Miller on Sunday 14th of June 2026 15:35

Lord Nelson now has a pension equal to that either of l\ord St Vincent or Lord Duncan. The two latter have each £2000, on the British, and £1000 on the Irish establishment. Lord Nelson had a pension of £1000per annum, on account of the loss of his arm, previous to the late grant of £2000 which makes his income from the country amount in the whole to £3000 a year. Should he therefore be also put on the Irish establishment, his pension will exceed that of either Lord St Vincent or Lord Duncan, by £1000 per annum. Lord Nelson entered into the forty-fifth year of his age on Michaelmas day last. [Hampshire Chronicle, 3 December 1798]

Posted by Jon Miller on Saturday 13th of June 2026 17:38

The stump of Rear-Admiral Nelson’s wounded arm has given him excrutiating pain for some time past, owing to some unfortunate contraction of a ligature, when it was first bound up, and which, by the advice of his surgeons, is now to be re-opened. [Hampshire Chronicle, 18 November 1797]

Posted by Cy on Monday 20th of May 2024 07:02

Jude, you are correct that the regulations state you need to be 20 to take the lieutenants exam, but the age limit was quite commonly ignored. Nelson is not the only example. The commission date given is correct.

Posted by Cy on Monday 20th of May 2024 06:59

Albert, the software in use can not make such distinctions so we have to live with this sort of very minor, technical, inaccuracy.

Posted by Albert Parker on Monday 20th of May 2024 06:38

The Horatio Nelson shown here was never "Lord Horatio Nelson." After he was granted a peerage after the Battle of the Nile, he was Horatio, Lord Nelson or Horatio, Baron Nelson etc., or "Lord Nelson" for short. A "Lord Horatio Nelson" would have had to be the younger of a duke, marquess, or earl, such as Horatio Nelson's brother, who was created Earl Nelson after the Battle of Traflagar. Earl Nelson's oldest son would have been referred to by courtesy by a subsidiary title (viscount or baron/lord). The admiral never had a legitimate son (or daughter, for that matter), but his second baronry, created when he was made a viscount, had a special "remainder" for inheritance by his father and *his* heirs, Horatio's brothers, and was thus inherited by Horatio's older brother William. If a later earl had a younger son named Horatio, *he* would have been "Lord Horatio Nelson."

Posted by jude de angulo on Monday 20th of May 2024 03:01

RN regulations is strict in the promotion of midshipmen to lieutenant only at the age of 20 years, whilst a man might pss his lieutenant exams before being 20 (as many did) appointment and promotion to that rank only happens at 20 yo, given that Nelson was born in Sept 1758 he could not have beeb acting or second lieutenant as indicated above until late sept 1778 when it is indicated he was aboard Bristol 50

Posted by Kate Robinson on Tuesday 21st of May 2019 22:14

Nelson's sister Ann did not marry Clague. She died 1783 unmarried

Posted by Tony Willoughby on Thursday 13th of July 2017 10:02

many thanks

Posted by Cy on Thursday 13th of July 2017 10:01

Oops! Amazing how these things get into the data. Corrected it now.

Posted by Tony Willoughby on Thursday 13th of July 2017 09:52

You have his day of birth down as 28 September - I had always thought it to be 29 September

Posted by Tim Oakley on Friday 13th of July 2012 19:20

31 Jan 1793 Vessels to be fitted out for Channel fleet Captain and Fortitude at Plymouth and Raisonable64 cap James Cranstoun and Agamemnon64 cap Nelson at Chatham both newly appointed captains