Rare intimate letters written by Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson including notes to his lover Emma Hamilton have gone on display to mark Trafalgar Day.
The new exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire, includes documents never shown in public before, many of which were written at the peak of his fame.
Nelson: In His Own Words focuses on 30 rare and previously unpublished documents from the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation’s Nelson collection alongside other personal items from the museum’s own collections including a betrothal ring given by Nelson to his mistress, miniature portraits, and a meat platter from HMS Victory.
In one letter to Emma Hamilton in the days leading up to the birth of their daughter, Nelson writes: “My Dear Lady Hamilton, When I consider that this day 9 months was your birthday, and that although we had a gale of wind, yet I was happy and sung ‘Come Cheer up Fair Emma’ even the thought compared with this day makes me melancholy, my heart somehow is sunk within me.”
A museum spokeswoman said: “Written with his left hand, after losing his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz, the letters are peppered with fascinating insights from everyday gossip and anecdotes to historic events, and breaking news of the Battle of the Nile.
“The letters take the reader through Nelson’s relationship with Emma Hamilton to just a few days before his death at Trafalgar on HMS Victory, all of which can be seen and visited from the gallery.”
She added: “The new display heralds the start of work with the Greek cultural institution, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, marking the first tangible expression of the partnership.
“The letters are each fragile survivors which give a unique insight into Nelson’s life and preoccupations, written in different places and situations, and give a fascinating snapshot of his life.”
Matthew Sheldon, NMRN executive director, said: “The letters were written in the turbulent and troubled years which were the peak of Nelson’s fame.
“They might be sent from the middle of the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, be written when rushing to get his furniture onboard HMS Victory or when chasing the French Fleet.
“We can imagine them being signed and sealed, despatched by boat, carried by ship and coach to the tables of his friends and family.
“Through the letters we can hear Nelson’s voice in his own words; his emotions and energy always near the surface, as he jumps from the personal to the professional all in one sentence.”
Panos Laskaridis, president of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation said: “During my postgraduate studies at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, the only civilian student amongst Royal Navy officers, I quickly became infatuated with Nelson.
“The Laskaridis Nelson Collection aims to bring to light Horatio Nelson not just as a dedicated officer and great leader of men at sea in peace and war but also as a man in love, with personal feelings and anxieties, that do not diminish by any measure his being one of the greatest naval heroes of all times.”
The museum is adjacent to the dry dock holding Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory which is currently undergoing extensive restorations.
The opening of the exhibition, which runs until April 16, 2023, has been timed to mark the 217th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar where Nelson defeated the French and Spanish navies before losing his own life. Trafalgar Day takes place on Friday October 21.
