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This year, 2015, is the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo; a defining moment in European history. It is also the 250th anniversary of the birth of Emma Hamilton and by an eerie coincidence the 200th anniversary of her death as well. Her eventful lifetime coincided with the Golden Age of the Royal Navy and straddled the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Moreover, she died only a few months before the Battle of Waterloo, after which the world would never be the same again. She was one of the most famous daughters of her age. Her relationship with Horatio Nelson changed both their lives and reputations and secured her fame and notoriety. Nonetheless, she would have still been famous without him.
Emma (born Emily) Lyon, the daughter of a blacksmith on the Wirral peninsula, made wonderful use of her undoubted good looks and ‘natural genius’76 to further her station in life. She became first servant and then mistress to a number of gentlemen, including Charles Greville, Sir William Hamilton’s nephew, until a contemptible arrangement between the two men saw her traded and packed off to Naples in 1786, aged 21. She duly became Sir William’s mistress and, less predictably, in 1791, his wife.
