THE TRAFALGAR CHRONICLE TRAFALGAR CHRONICLE Yearbook of THE 1805 CLUB No. 15, 2005 TRAFALGAR CHRONICLE
Cover Illustration: HMS Victory in her final berth at Portsmouth, from an original drawing by Hanslip Fletcher, 1932. Courtesy Michael A. Nash Archive. Published by The 1805 Club, 2001, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 2QD. Publication Design by Bumblebee (www.bumblebeedesign.net) Printed by B D&H, Litho and Screen Printers, Norwich. ISBN: 1-902392-14-0 ii
THE TRAFALGAR CHRONICLE Yearbook of The 1805 Club. No.15, 2005 Editorial Anthony Cross and Huw Lewis-Jones vi Chairman’s Dispatch Peter Warwick viii President’s Address Mrs Lily McCarthy CBE xi ‘The Immortal Memory’:Trafalgar Night,The Painted Hall, Greenwich 150th Anniversary, 21 October 1955 The First Sea Lord, Earl Mountbatten 1 Nelson’s Last Morning: 21 October 1805 Colin White 5 The Difficulty of Reconstructing the Battle of Trafalgar Tim Clayton 14 Vice-Admiral Villeneuve David Harris 26 Gravina and the Naval Leadership of his Day Agustín Guimerá 30 Nelson’s Avenger at Trafalgar Jack Spence 42 ‘System and Nice Combination’: Nelson the Fighting Sailor Peter Freeman 50 ‘I’ll sing of fam’d Trafalgar if you’ll listen unto me’: Nelson in Popular Song Mark Philp 65 Nelson and the Bear: The Making of an Arctic Myth Huw Lewis-Jones 82 Mary Simpson:A New Look at Nelson’s First Love John Sugden 120 Nelson and the Bronte Estate Jane Knight 133 Nelson and Agostino Millelire John R. Gwyther 145 Details of Illustrated Coloured Plates: Sir John Gray, Louis Roeder and Peter Hore 156 The Strategic and Tactical Applications of the Telegraph at Trafalgar Howard Mallinson 158 Victory in Art and the Constable Sketches Robin Brooks 173 Romantic Nelsons Rule the Waves: The Naval Hero in Literature Tim Fulford 180 Making a Victorian Nelson: Albert, Nicolas and the Arts Andrew Lambert 192 The Navy League’s Invention of Trafalgar Day Marianne Czisnik 217 ‘In spite of lip service and tall columns he is half forgotten’: A Brief Revisit to the Trafalgar Centenary Celebrations Adam Oliver 230 Not a Patch on the Original? Nelson’s Black Eye Richard Walker and Huw Lewis-Jones 239 Nelson’s Character:A Further Note Richard D. Ryder 245 Significant Dates Replay Nelson’s Traumatic Childhood Bereavement:A Note Robert Oxlade 252 The Nelson Portraits:Addendum 2005 Richard Walker 257 Book Reviews 269 Contributors’ Biographies 286 1805 Membership 290 iii
THE 1805 CLUB THE 18 05 CLUB President Mrs. Lily McCarthy, CBE Vice Presidents Mr. K Flemming*, Mrs. J Kislak, Mr. M Nash*, Mr T A G Pocock, Mrs. W J F Tribe, OBE JP, Mr T Vincent*, Mr K Evans* Hon Chairman Peter Warwick 4A Camp Road,Wimbledon, London, SW19 4UL Hon Vice-Chairman Bill (G W) White 14 Devonshire Gardens, Chiswick, London,W4 3TN Hon Secretary John Curtis 9 Brittains Lane, Sevenoaks, Kent,TN13 2JN Hon North American Secretary Randy B Mafit 1981 Sunrise Boulevard, Eugene, Oregon, 97405, USA Hon Treasurer Lt. Cdr. David Harris, MBE RN 3 Stephenson Close,Alverstoke, Hampshire, PO12 2JD Hon Editors, The Trafalgar Chronicle Anthony Cross 30 Hopedale Road, Charlton, London, SE7 7JJ Huw Lewis-Jones, FRGS St. John’s College, Cambridge, CB2 1TP Hon Membership Secretary Sally Birkbeck 81 Pepys Road, West Wimbledon, London, SW20 8NW Hon Events and Public Affairs Officer Lynda Sebbage Oriole Cottage, Little St Mary’s, Long Melford, Suffolk, CO10 9HY Research Advisor (Co-opted) Professor Leslie P LeQuesne, CBE FRCS Flat 1, 10 Strathray Gardens, London, NW3 4NY Chaplain to The 1805 Club (Ex officio) Reverend Peter Wadsworth, MA The Vicarage, 21 Elson Road, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12 4BL iv
Hon Editors, The 1805 Club Newsletter Paul and Penny Dalton Woodlands, Hawkham, nr. Pevensey, East Sussex, BN24 5BE Hon Publications Officer Stephen Howarth, FRHistS FRGS AMNI Shelton Great Barn, Shelton, Nottinghamshire, NG23 5JQ Hon Fundraising Officer Chris Gray National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, SE10 Hon PR and Media Alison Henderson 5 Elder Close, Badger Farm,Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 4LG * Indicates Founder Member. All posts listed above are honorary. The Club’s Bank TSB, 27, High Street,Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1AX. Account Number: 11193060 Annual Subscription Rates Members: £25 / US$50 Schools: £50 / US$100 Corporate Members: £100 / US$200 Membership of The 1805 Club The 1805 Club is a non-profit-making voluntary association dedicated for the benefit of the public to the preservation and maintenance of Nelson-related graves and monuments. The 1805 Club also publishes original Nelson-related research, reprints rare Nelson-related documents and organises events of interest to students of the Royal Navy in the age of sail. Membership of the 1805 Club is by direct application to or special invitation from the Committee and is at the Committee’s discretion. Subscriptions are due on 1 January each year. All members receive, post-free, the Club’s Newsletter, the Club’s yearbook the Trafalgar Chronicle, the Club’s Occasional Papers and the Club’s Nelson 2005 Commemoration series of booklets published at intervals during the Nelson Decade. A charge may be made for other special publications. A prospectus is available on request from the Membership Secretary or the NorthAmerican Secretary. For economy of administration, members are encouraged to pay their subscriptions by Direct Debit. Disclaimer The opinions expressed in the Trafalgar Chronicle are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the 1805 Club as a whole. Registered as a Charity in England and Wales Registered Charity No. 1071871 v
Editorial A Boom in Nelson Plays seems imminent, so Playgoers must be prepared for different ideas of the Hero ofTrafalgar. Published in Punch, 20 March 1897. Author’s Collection. Many Nelsons take to the stage in 2005. In this bicentenary year it is right to have Trafalgar at the heart of our focus, though in selecting papers for inclusion we have deliberately spread our compass wider than might be expected. This year’s journal brings forward a mix of research and analysis, comment and review, and many different interpretations. Within this variety of papers one joins the Hero on the morning of the battle; victualing in Sardinia; planning his estate at Bronte; even floating on an iceberg. One paper asks questions of Nelson’s love life, some consider his strategic skills, and others attempt to draw conclusions about the inner workings of his mind. Our cast list is not limited to Nelson either, for we include artists, poets, ballad peddlers, naval lobbyists, biographers, opponents and comrades within this bicentenary story. Images of the Hero are equally diverse: from the art of Mid-Victorian Britain, souvenir postcards commemorating the Trafalgar centenary, a selection of eye patch-clad political cartoons, to an addendum of new Nelson portraits. In offering such a mixed selection we hope there might be something to satisfy everyone, just as Emma, after the Nile, wished Nelson every title and elevation: ‘that posterity might have you in all forms’. Nestling at the back of the journal, as always, is the most important cast list of all, the members, supporting the charitable ideals of this Club, and continuing vi
to do so in this bicentennial year. We look forward to seeing many more names amongst this list in the years to come, and in welcoming new contributions for future editions of this journal. We look back to events on that fateful day in 1805, with a view to looking forward. It is fitting, as editors, to offer the words of others. On Trafalgar Day in 1896, a London journalist described the enthusiasm for Nelson in glowing terms, better than we ever could: ‘Britannia Rules the Waves!’is out great national motto, copyright, complete; and Nelson, the greatest of all her sons remains our most popular, perhaps our only, ‘hero’. To the man to whom our first line of defence is a meaningless phrase Nelson sums up once and for all the naval history of England. His glory grows year by year; distance only helps to magnify the magic of his name, and his grip tightens on the imagination of his countrymen. This week has witnessed a popular outburst of enthusiasm throughout the length and breadth of the country, which demonstrates as nothing else could the canonisation of the hero of Trafalgar…Nelson comes home to the hearts of all men, not as a spotless saint, but as an intensely human brother. His picturesque personality has silenced those who forgot to be patriotic, and today he stands as far above all our heroes as, in stone, he actually looks down on London from his splendid pinnacle in Trafalgar Square…and his countrymen have worshipped him, even in an age which is fain to break images and pull heroes down. Nelson, indeed, is the darling of the people. It remains to be seen if this enthusiasm endures, and whether his image can appeal to thoroughly modern audiences. One can be certain, nevertheless, of the value in revisiting the Nelson story. Anthony Cross Huw Lewis-Jones vii
viii The Chairman’s Dispatch ‘What would Nelson give to be here!’relished Collingwood as the Royal Sovereign cut the line of the Combined Fleet at the start of the Battle of Trafalgar. Two hundred years later, Nelson, Britain’s greatest hero, is enjoying an outstanding and remarkable tribute from people all over the country. How he would have loved to be here! The celebration of Nelson is a remarkable phenomenon. It is hard to think of any other historical figure in our long and wonderful history who has secured such a proud and un-revised position in the pantheon of British heroes. Almost without exception those who knew him agreed that there was something special about this ‘affectionate, fascinating little fellow’, as Alexander Scott, Chaplain of Victory described him. Nelson’s extraordinary importance to the nation was evident from the instant the bittersweet news of his death and victory at Trafalgar reached England. As Clemence Dane wrote of Nelson one hundred years later, ‘He feels for, he fingers your heart’. He continues to do so and all the events arranged in his honour this year corroborate it. This dead sailor has attained the status of a Greek hero and an ageless military champion, but his significance in 2005 reaches far beyond the martial. Nelson and his achievements are the hook for matters and concerns that not only commemorate his victory and celebrate his life, but also pay homage to the 50,000 people on both sides who took part in Trafalgar - a battle fought on a square mile of ocean that influenced the course of global history – and highlight Britain’s enduring relationship with the sea. Unlike any other battlefield, the sea carries no scars. The waves off Cape Trafalgar are today as they were in Nelson’s time. The sea appears maybe a constant, but this year has raised its profile and helped people to understand how vital it is to our existence. The sea is absolutely crucial from an environmental perspective. The sea is important because ninety-five per cent of this country’s trade is transported across the oceans of the world, protected by the Royal Navy. The sea gives millions of people pleasure and entertainment: whether they sail, motor or row, view the horizon from a cliff or listen to the breaking of the waves on a beach.
ix SeaBritain 2005, is the overarching year-long celebration of Britain’s relationship with the sea. The Trafalgar Festival is at the very heart of SeaBritain 2005 and it has presented an array of special events numbering more than a thousand. The flagships have included an International Fleet Review at Spithead, with 35 navies represented, a four-day International Festival of the Sea at Portsmouth, the journey of the New Trafalgar Dispatch from Cadiz to London via Falmouth generating more than 50 events, and The Emirates Thames Nelson Flotilla, a symbolic re-enactment of Lord Nelson’s river borne funeral procession in London. All have been stunning, hugely successful events attracting tens of thousands of people and considerable media attention. Many of them have been organised by Council members of the Club. Yet, interspersed between and among them there have also been hundreds of smaller events, including tree plantings, village fêtes and fairs, Trafalgar parades, lectures, church services, lunches, dinners, regattas, concerts, musicals and fireworks. They have all been organised at the local level, which has been their strength, and each has displayed a personality of its own. And then there is the Club’s own Trafalgar Captain’s memorial project, brought to a wider audience by the publication of The Trafalgar Captains: Their Lives and Memorials. Whatever the event the same spirit has actuated all of them. There is a feeling that the occasion of the bicentenary is genuinely important, there is the glow of patriotism, and there is the sense that Britain is still a maritime nation. The visible affection for the Royal Navy during at all of these events has been striking. Moreover, the philosophy of the Trafalgar Festival, which is embodied in the words of The New Trafalgar Dispatch, has been given a very warm reception. Heroism and homage to all heroes, humanity after victory, the Brotherhood of the Sea and its inspiration for international friendship have been the key themes. They are now the foundations for the bicentenary’s legacy. We shall have to wait many years to see how durable that legacy is, but the auspices appear propitious and The 1805 Club will play a significant part ensuring that it is effective. Let us hope that our descendents will look back as they prepare for the Trafalgar tricentenary and recognise that in 2005 ‘Nelson’and ‘Trafalgar’ were commemorated with imagination, relevance, and true purpose. The 1805 Club, through its membership of the Official Nelson Commemorations Committee, has been a significant voice influencing the character of the Trafalgar Festival. Our main purpose is and remains the conservation of
x graves, monuments and memorials of the Georgian sailing navy - things firmly rooted in the past – but our outlook is very much towards the future. Nelson will always remain central to the Club’s activities, but we shall build on our achievements during the Nelson Decade and go on to harness the naval story during the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars. I should like to take this opportunity to extend, both personally and on behalf of the membership as a whole, my warmest thanks to our hard working and dedicated members of Council who continue to take the Club from strength to strength. They give freely of their spare time and without their superb efforts the 1805 would not be held in the high esteem that is. One of the New Nelson Letters, which I paraphrase, conveys my sentiments perfectly: ‘…with much pleasure will I bear testimony to your Worth, and high Merits’as Council members of The 1805 Club, ‘for I can never forget all your kindness towards me, and I beg that you will Believe me your obliged Friend’. Friendship is one of the distinctive attributes of The 1805 Club. It is fitting that the Trafalgar Festival 2005 has the Fellowship of the Sea and international friendship at its heart. Peter Warwick
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