Horatio
Nelson
(29/9/1758–21/10/1805)
A
Chronology
NB. Extracted
from Nelson: The Immortal Memory (1988)
by David Howarth and
Stephen Howarth.
1758
Ø
Sep
29. Born at the rectory in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England.
1767
Ø
Sep
29. 9th birthday.
Ø
After
Christmas. Mother dies.
1770
Ø
Sep
29. 12th birthday.
1771
Ø
Winter,
Chatham. Joins the Navy as apprentice officer on HMS Raisonnable.
Ø
Jul
25, London. Sails on merchant ship Mary
Ann for the West Indies. 1st sea voyage, lasts about a year,
Jamaica and Tobago visited.
Ø
Sep
29. 13th birthday.
1772
Ø
Summer?
Learns to sail a boat in the estuaries of the Medway and the Thames, as did
Drake two centuries earlier.
Ø
Sep
29. 14th birthday.
1773
Ø
Jun
4. Sails on a scientific expedition to the Arctic on Carcass under Captain Lutwidge.
Ø
Jun
28. Spitzbergen reached; two days later: stuck in ice.
Ø
Sep
29. 15th birthday.
Ø
Oct
15, London. Return of the Arctic expedition.
1774
Ø
Sep
29. 16th birthday.
1775
Ø
Sep
29. 17th birthday.
Ø
Dec.
Falls ill in Bombay, having sailed the East Indies (India, Ceylon, the Persian
Gulf) for over a year on the 20-gun frigate Seahorse.
The flagship Salisbury (50 guns)
commanded by Sir Edward Hughes.
1776
Ø
Mar.
Sails back to England on the Dolphin.
Ø
Sep
29. 18th birthday.
Ø
Late
Sep. Two days after the Dolphin comes
home, ordered to serve on the 64-gun Worcester
as an acting fourth lieutenant.
1777
Ø
Apr
9. Successful examination for the rank of lieutenant. Commissioned second
lieutenant on the 32-gun frigate Lowerstoffe
under Captain William Locker.
Ø
April/May.
Preparations for a four-year journey to the West Indies. Commands a press gang.
Falls seriously ill. The Rigaud portrait painted for the most part; finished
after his return.
Ø
July.
Lowerstoffe reaches Jamaica,
convoying 18 merchantmen.
Ø
Sep
29. 19th birthday.
1778
Ø
July.
Third lieutenant on the Bristol under
Admiral Peter Parker.
Ø
Sep
29. 20th birthday.
Ø
Dec.
Promoted to master and commander, appointed to the brig Badger as unofficial captain, sent to fend off American privateers
off the Mosquito Coast.
1779
Ø
Jun
11. Promoted post-captain by Admiral Parker in Jamaica. Given command of 29-gun
frigate Hinchinbrook.
Ø
Jun-Sep.
In charge of the battery of Fort Charles on Jamaica.
Ø
Sep,
middle of. Leaves Jamaica on Hinchinbrook.
Captures four French prizes by the end of the year.
Ø
Sep
29. 21th birthday.
1780
Ø
Jan.
Participates in an ill-fated attempt, joint with the army, to capture Lake
Nicaragua. Enters Rio San Juan with Hinchinbrook.
Even leads party on land to attack a Spanish fortress. Falls dangerously ill.
Ø
Apr.
Returns to Jamaica to recover.
Ø
Sep
4. Sent home aboard the Lion.
Ø
Sep
29. 22th birthday.
Ø
Nov
24, Spithead. Back in England, after 80 days on the Lion (at one time reported lost in fierce gales) and more than four
years away from home. Continues convalescence – lasts 18 months in total.
1781
Ø
Sep.
Appointed commander of 28-gun frigate Albemarle.
Sent to the North Sea to convoy merchantmen from Denmark to England.
Ø
Sep
29. 23th birthday.
1782
Ø
Summer.
Crossing the Atlantic with Albemarle
on his way to Newfoundland and Quebec. Escort duties.
Ø
Jul
1. Albemarle reaches Quebec. Three
days later sent on independent cruise that lasts almost 11 weeks.
Ø
Sep
17. Returns to Quebec. Fall in love with Mary Simpson.
Ø
Sep
29. 24th birthday.
Ø
Oct,
end. Sails for New York escorting 23 merchantmen. Voyage lasts about 3 weeks.
1783
Ø
Jan
20. Treaty of Versailles. Peace between Britain, France, Spain and brand new
America.
Ø
Winter/Spring.
Peaceful idling in the Caribbean on the Albemarle.
Ø
Jun
25. Albemarle anchors at Spithead.
Ø
Jul
3. Ship company paid off; offer to sail again with Nelson.
Ø
Summer.
Land amusements. Meets King George III.
Ø
Sep
29. 25th birthday.
Ø
Oct/Nov/Dec.
Sojourn in France with James Macnamara. Calais, St Omer, Marquise, Boulogne,
Montreuil, Abbeville – and back to St Omer. Never sets foot in France again.
1784
Ø
Jan.
Back in England.
Ø
Mar
18. Appointed commander of 28-gun frigate Boreas.
Ø
Apr
12. Boreas sails for the West Indies.
Patrol duties.
Ø
Jun.
At Madeira and Leeward Islands.
Ø
Jun-Dec.
Caribbean trouble with illegal American trade.
Ø
Sep
29. 26th birthday.
1785
Ø
Feb
5. At English Harbour, Antigua.
Ø
Mar.
Smitten with Mrs Moutray, but she leaves for England.
Ø
Mar.
Meets Fanny Nisbet at Nevis.
Ø
Jul.
Proposes to Fanny. But duty keeps him mostly away from her until their marriage
– 20 months later.
Ø
Aug.
At Barbados until the end of the year.
Ø
Sep
29. 27th birthday.
1786
Ø
Mar.
Sailing the Caribbean on duty for a year.
Ø
Jul
& Oct. Brief visits to Nevis.
Ø
Sep
29. 28th birthday.
1787
Ø
Mar
11. Marries Fanny Nisbet in Montpelier House, Nevis.
Ø
Jun.
Leaves the Caribbean for England.
Ø
Jul
2. Boreas anchors at Spithead after
more than 3 years abroad.
Ø
Nov
30. Boreas paid off. Waits more than
5 years ashore for another command. Contemplates resignation from the Navy.
Ø
Sep
29. 29th birthday.
Ø
Christmas,
London. With Fanny in her uncle’s house.
1788
Ø
Summer,
Norfolk. Introduces Fanny to his family.
Ø
Sep
29. 30th birthday.
Ø
Winter,
Burnham Thorpe. Settles with Fanny at the Parsonage House. Main address until
his next command early in 1793. Annual income about £230 (£100 from his uncle +
half-pay from the Navy – standard expenses)
1789
Ø
Sep
29. 31th birthday.
1790
Ø
Sep
29. 32th birthday.
1791
Ø
Sep
29. 33th birthday.
1792
Ø
Sep
29. 34th birthday.
1793
Ø
Jan
11. Given command of 64-gun ship of the line HMS Agamemnon.
Ø
Feb
4, Burnham Thorpe. Leaves Parsonage House, place of his birth, never to return.
Ø
May
11, Spithead. Sails on Agamemnon. Absent
from England for more than 4 years.
Ø
Sep
10 et seq. At Naples. Diplomatic games with the local King (begging for troops
to assist the capture of Toulon by Lord Hood). Meets Emma and William Hamilton
for the first time.
Ø
Sep
15. Breakfast on Agamemnon with the
Hamiltons.
Ø
Sep
15. Agamemnon leaves Naples in
pursuit of French ships. Does not see the Hamiltons again for 5 years.
Ø
Sep
27. At Leghorn (today Livorno) on the Tuscan coast. Now or later, acquires a
mistress named Adelaide Coregglia (“Dolly”); affair continues for a few years.
Ø
Sep
29. 35th birthday.
Ø
Oct
22, off Cape Monte Santo, east coast of Sardinia. A scrape with five French
vessels. Agamemnon ends up with rigging shot way and broken main topmast.
1794
Ø
Jan
6. Near Calvi on the north coast of Corsica.
Ø
Apr/May.
38-day siege of Bastia on the north coast of Corsica. Ship cannons deployed on
land, 11,923 shot and 7,373 shells fired at the citadel of Bastia. Wounded in
the back.
Ø
May
19. Bastia surrenders.
Ø
Jun/Jul/Aug.
Siege of Calvi, Corsica.
Ø
Jul
12. Wounded in the head, loses sight in right eye.
Ø
Aug
10. Calvi surrenders.
Ø
Sep
12. Rest and refit in Leghorn.
Ø
Sep
29. 36th birthday. At Genoa. Diplomatic mission.
1795
Ø
Mar
13, off the coast of Genoa. Agamemnon
takes on the 84-gun French ship Ça Ira and
demolishes her.
Ø
Aug
& Sep. At Leghorn with Dolly.
Ø
Sep
29. 37th birthday.
1796
Ø
Mar
27. Promoted Commodore. Given command of 74-gun Captain.
Ø
Jun
25. Arrives at Leghorn, which is being evacuated.
Ø
Jun
28. The French took possession of Leghorn.
Ø
Sep
29. 38th birthday. Arrives at Bastia, Corsica, which is being
evacuated.
Ø
Oct
20. Leaves Corsica, which is being recaptured by the French.
Ø
Dec
1. At Gibraltar.
Ø
Dec
15. Shifts flag to frigate Minerva (Captain
George Cockburn, First Lieutenant Thomas Hardy) and goes back into the
Mediterranean. Meets Hardy for the first time? (Might have met him before, from
July 1795 to August 1796, on Meleager in
the Gulf of Genoa).
Ø
Dec
19, off Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. Two Spanish frigates captured but soon lost when
more Spanish ships appear. Hardy, in charge of one of the Spanish ships, taken
prisoner.
Ø
Dec
25. At Elba, off the coast of Tuscany.
1797
Ø
Feb
13. Returns to Captain. Fleet
commanded by Admiral Jervis on Victory.
Ø
Feb
14. Battle of Cape St Vincent, south-west corner of Portugal. Boards and
captures two Spanish ships, San Josef
(112 guns) and San Nicholas (80 guns).
Ø
Feb.
Promoted Rear Admiral of the Blue. Knighted.
Ø
Apr/May.
Evacuation of Elba.
Ø
Jul
14. Lord St Vincent (John Jervis) orders attack on Tenerife. Spanish gold from
Manila pursued.
Ø
Jul
15, off Cadiz. Sails for Tenerife with 3 ships of the line, 3 frigates and 1
cutter.
Ø
Jul
22, Tenerife. Battle of Santa Cruz. Leads attack ashore. Loses his right arm.
Ø
Aug
16. Returns to Cadiz.
Ø
Sep
3, Bath. Reunited with Fanny after 4 years and 4 months. Beginning of happiest
7 months of their marriage.
Ø
Sep
29. 39th birthday.
1798
Ø
Apr
10. Sails for Cadiz on the 74-gun Vanguard.
Ø
May
2. Leaves Cadiz for Gibraltar and Toulon.
Ø
Jun/Jul.
First time in command of a large independent fleet. Searching for the French
all over the Mediterranean (Naples, Malta, Turkey, Crete, Egypt).
Ø
Aug
1-2, Aboukir Bay, Egypt. Battle of the Nile. French fleet devastated: 10
captured, 1 blown-up (L’Orient), 2
escaped.
Ø
Sep
22. Arrives at Naples. Meets again the Hamiltons. Lionised with a vengeance.
Ø
Sep
29. 40th birthday.
Ø
Dec
21. Court of Naples evacuated to Palermo (attacked by the French).
1799
Ø
Winter.
In Palermo. Lives with the Hamiltons on shore, not in his flagship.
Ø
Feb
12. Affair with Emma begins.
Ø
Jun/Jul.
Provides naval support for the reconquest of Naples.
Ø
Aug
13. Created Duke of Brontë by the King of Naples.
Ø
Aug
17. Becomes Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean during Lord Keith’s
absence (until early Dec).
Ø
Aug
18 – Oct 9. Napoleon sails the Mediterranean (from Egypt to France) under
Nelson’s nose.
Ø
Sep
29. 41th birthday.
Ø
Oct.
Visits Minorca. Writes a sketch of his life for his first biographers.
Ø
Late
autumn. Rumours of his affair with Emma reach Gibraltar and London.
Ø
Dec
12. Napoleon becomes First Consul.
1800
Ø
Jul,
Leghorn. Leaves for England – by land – with the Hamiltons.
Ø
Sep
29. 42th birthday.
Ø
Nov
6. The party arrives in England – by mail boat from Hamburg.
Ø
Nov
9. Fanny and Emma meet for the first time.
Ø
Dec
23-26. Christmas with the Hamiltons in Fonthill Splendens, Wiltshire.
1801
Ø
Jan
1. Vice Admiral of the Blue.
Ø
Jan
13, London. Separates from Fanny. They never live together, or even meet, again
for the last 4 years and 9 months of his life.
Ø
Jan
14. At Southampton.
Ø
Jan
16. At Plymouth. In command of the 120-gun San
Josef, with Hardy as a captain.
Ø
Apr
2. Battle of Copenhagen.
Ø
Jul
1, Yarmouth. Back from the Baltic.
Ø
Sep
29. 43th birthday.
Ø
Oct.
Settles at Merton Place, Surrey, with the Hamiltons.
1802
Ø
Apr.
Father dies.
Ø
Jul–Sep.
10-week tour of southern England, south Wales and the Midlands with the
Hamiltons: Oxford, Gloucester, Ross-on-Wye, Monmouth, Milford Haven, Swansea,
Ludlow, Hereford, Worcester, Birmingham, Warwick, Coventry, Althorpe.
Ø
Sep
5. Back to Merton.
Ø
Sep
29. 44th birthday.
1803
Ø
Apr
6. Sir William Hamilton dies. Nelson moves from their house on Piccadilly to
another one, four doors away.
Ø
May
13. Daughter by Emma (Horatia) christened, neither parent present.
Ø
May
16. England declares war against France.
Ø
May
20, Portsmouth. Sails on the Victory.
Ø
Jun
3. At Gibraltar on the frigate Amphion
with Hardy (Victory with Cornwallis
off Brest).
Ø
Jul
8, off Toulon. Joins the blockading fleet. 2 years of blockading the French,
including (in 1805) chasing them all over the Mediterranean and even all way to
the Caribbean.
Ø
Jul
30. Victory arrives at Toulon.
Ø
Sep
29. 45th birthday.
1804
Ø
Apr.
Promoted Vice Admiral of the White.
Ø
Sep
29. 46th birthday.
Ø
Dec
12. Spain declares war against Britain.
1805
Ø
May–Aug.
Chasing the French (under Admiral Villeneuve) from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean,
and back.
Ø
Jul
20, Gibraltar. Goes ashore for the first time since 16 Jun 1803.
Ø
Aug
18, Portsmouth. Back in England after 2 years and 3 months away.
Ø
Aug/Sep.
Last 25 days ashore. 14 of them with meetings at the Admiralty or in Whitehall.
Ø
Sep
15, Portsmouth. Sails on Victory for
the last time.
Ø
Sep
29. 47th birthday.
Ø
Oct
21. Battle of Trafalgar. Shot and killed.
Ø
Oct
22-28. Hurricane on the way to Gibraltar. 14 out of 18 prizes abandoned and destroyed.
Ø
Nov
6. News of Trafalgar reaches the Admiralty.
Ø
Dec
5. Victory reaches Spithead, anchors
for a week and proceeds to Sheerness and the Thames.
Ø
Dec
23. His body, preserved in brandy and other spirits, is placed in his own
coffin, made of the wood of L’Orient.
1806
Ø
Jan
9, London. Buried at St Paul’s Cathedral.
1815
Ø Jan 15, Calais. Emma dies, alone (except for Horatia) and heavily in debt.
No comments:
Post a Comment