Rediscovering Nelson

A captain before he was twenty-one, a household name throughout most of Europe at thirty-nine, and killed in action just three weeks after his forty-seventh birthday, Nelson lived a colourful life. Not content with winning some of the most resounding victories in British history at the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805) – and losing an arm and the sight of an eye in the process – he also had a tempestuous and very public love affair with Emma Hamilton, one of the most beautiful women of his day. An affectionate, engaging and loyal friend and father, he was also ruthless and occasionally even cruel. Uninspiring in his personal appearance, he was nevertheless one of the most charismatic leaders Britain has ever produced, able to inspire devotion, even love, in those who served with him. It is this combination of opposites that makes Nelson so fascinating and, as a result, there always seems to be something new to be said about him, some new light to be shed on his complex character.