A letter shows how Admiral Nelson clumsily and haplessly tried to hide his steamy affair with Lady Hamilton.
The letter, on display at Great Yarmouth's Nelson Museum in Norfolk, Nelson's native county, tells how the British national hero and his mistress pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson to try to stop tongues wagging.
The brief note is one of four exchanges between the lovers loaned to the museum by the trustees of the Denys Spittle Collection.
It sees Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton).
But barely able to contain his yearning he writes: 'Your friend is at my elbow and enjoins me to assure you that his love for you and your child is if possible greater than ever and that he calls God to witness that he will marry you as soon as possible.'
While he is at sea Nelson wrote: 'He (Mr Thompson) desires you will adhere to Lady H's good advice and like her keep those impertinent men at a proper distance.'
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
Nelson became a British national hero after he inflicted several defeats on the French during the Napoleonic Wars just over 200 years ago, most famously at Trafalgar in 1805, a battle in which Nelson was killed, and anyone who shows our Gallic next door neighbours what for instantly becomes a celebrated national hero in Britain.
'Clumsy' love letters show how strategic genius Nelson struggled to hide steamy affair with Lady Hamilton
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd June 2011
Daily Mail
An intriguing intimate letter shows how Admiral Nelson clumsily and haplessly tried to hide his steamy love affair with Lady Hamilton.
The letter, on display at Great Yarmouth's Nelson Museum in Norfolk, tells how the Trafalgar legend and Britain's greatest ever naval genius and his mistress pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson to try to stop tongues wagging.
The brief note is one of four exchanges between the lovers loaned to the museum by the trustees of the Denys Spittle Collection.
Lovers: Admiral Nelson and his mistress Lady Hamilton, right, pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson in the letter to try to stop tongues wagging about their affair
It sees Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton).
But barely able to contain his yearning he writes: 'Your friend is at my elbow and enjoins me to assure you that his love for you and your child is if possible greater than ever and that he calls God to witness that he will marry you as soon as possible.'
While he is at sea Nelson wrote: 'He (Mr Thompson) desires you will adhere to Lady H's good advice and like her keep those impertinent men at a proper distance.'
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
They give a fascinating and brilliant glimpse into the iconic and inspirational admiral's character, often seen as enigmatic.
Curator Hannah Bentley holds the letters sent between Nelson and Lady Hamilton. They are part of an exhibition on display at the Nelson Museum in Yarmouth
NELSON: A NATIONAL HERO
Nelson was a British naval commander famous for his naval victories against the French during the Napoleonic Wars.
Born in 1758 he became the captain of his first ship aged 20 and served in the West Indies, Baltic and Canada.
He married Frances Nisbet in 1787 and was given command of the Agamemnon when Britain entered the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. The wars started when the neighbouring nations of the newly-created French Republic saw the French Revolution as a threat to their monarchies. Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia set up a coalition, which included Spain and Portugal, to support the French royalists. However, only Britain fought the French all the way through the war and was eventually defeated, leading to the survival of the French Republic.
However, Britain would prevail in the Napaoeonic Wars.
Nelson lost his right eye in the battle at Calvi when he helped capture Corsica and lost his right arm in 1797 at Santa Cruz in Tenerife.
He fell in love with Emma Hamilton in Naples in 1793 and they had a child in 1801 but they remained in their respective marriages.
In 1801 he destroyed the Danish Navy at the battle of Copenhagen as vice-admiral and in 1805 was victorious in the battle of Trafalgar off the southern coast of Spain, saving Britain from the threat of invasion from Napoleon.
He was shot and died whilst on his ship Victory during the battle.
Fox Talbot's photograph of the construction of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, 1843
In London's Trafalgar Square Nelson's Column was erected in the early 1840s at 170ft high and is crowned with a statue of him.
Victory still exists and still serves in the Royal Navy. She has been in dry dock in Portsmouth since 1922. She is the flagship of the Second Sea Lord and is the oldest naval ship still in commission in the world. She is also a museum ship in which tourists are given a guided tour.
Curator Hannah Bentley said: 'People often say he was quite cold and austere, but the letters reveal his emotion and the intense relationship he had with Lady Hamilton.'
In one of the displayed letters, written on board the San Josef in February 1801, Ms Bentley detects Nelson almost losing it because of his apparent jealousy over the Prince of Wales dilly dallying with Lady Hamilton.
Aware of the Prince Regent's reputation for flirting with pretty women, he writes: 'I am so agitated that I can write nothing.'
However, in an increasingly impassioned ramble, he goes on to warn Lady Hamilton that if the prince comes calling again: 'Do not set long at table, good God he will be next you and telling you soft things...don't let him touch you nor yet set next you if he comes get up. God strike him blind if he looks at you.'
Ms Bentley said Lady Hamilton emerges as a tease, who by informing Nelson of her risque encounter with the playboy prince, undoubtedly wanted to 'keep him on his toes'.
The final letter in the series, written between 1801 and 1806, is by Lady Hamilton to the Reverend Scott, ship's chaplain on HMS Victory, after Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805.
She expresses her outrage that she and her daughter Horatia were not properly provided for by the government.
The letters see Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton)
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
Bitterly she writes: 'It seems those that truly loved him are to be victims to hatred, jealousy and spite.'
Ms Bentley said while Lady Hamilton was always conscious of her reputation during their relationship, Nelson was less concerned and thought that Horatia's birth bestowed God's blessing on their love.
She said: 'Nelson asked her to burn all the letters but she kept them.'
'Clumsy' love letters show how strategic genius Nelson struggled to hide steamy affair with Lady Hamilton | Mail Online
The letter, on display at Great Yarmouth's Nelson Museum in Norfolk, Nelson's native county, tells how the British national hero and his mistress pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson to try to stop tongues wagging.
The brief note is one of four exchanges between the lovers loaned to the museum by the trustees of the Denys Spittle Collection.
It sees Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton).
But barely able to contain his yearning he writes: 'Your friend is at my elbow and enjoins me to assure you that his love for you and your child is if possible greater than ever and that he calls God to witness that he will marry you as soon as possible.'
While he is at sea Nelson wrote: 'He (Mr Thompson) desires you will adhere to Lady H's good advice and like her keep those impertinent men at a proper distance.'
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
Nelson became a British national hero after he inflicted several defeats on the French during the Napoleonic Wars just over 200 years ago, most famously at Trafalgar in 1805, a battle in which Nelson was killed, and anyone who shows our Gallic next door neighbours what for instantly becomes a celebrated national hero in Britain.
'Clumsy' love letters show how strategic genius Nelson struggled to hide steamy affair with Lady Hamilton
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd June 2011
Daily Mail
An intriguing intimate letter shows how Admiral Nelson clumsily and haplessly tried to hide his steamy love affair with Lady Hamilton.
The letter, on display at Great Yarmouth's Nelson Museum in Norfolk, tells how the Trafalgar legend and Britain's greatest ever naval genius and his mistress pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson to try to stop tongues wagging.
The brief note is one of four exchanges between the lovers loaned to the museum by the trustees of the Denys Spittle Collection.
Lovers: Admiral Nelson and his mistress Lady Hamilton, right, pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson in the letter to try to stop tongues wagging about their affair
It sees Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton).
But barely able to contain his yearning he writes: 'Your friend is at my elbow and enjoins me to assure you that his love for you and your child is if possible greater than ever and that he calls God to witness that he will marry you as soon as possible.'
While he is at sea Nelson wrote: 'He (Mr Thompson) desires you will adhere to Lady H's good advice and like her keep those impertinent men at a proper distance.'
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
They give a fascinating and brilliant glimpse into the iconic and inspirational admiral's character, often seen as enigmatic.
Curator Hannah Bentley holds the letters sent between Nelson and Lady Hamilton. They are part of an exhibition on display at the Nelson Museum in Yarmouth
NELSON: A NATIONAL HERO
Nelson was a British naval commander famous for his naval victories against the French during the Napoleonic Wars.
Born in 1758 he became the captain of his first ship aged 20 and served in the West Indies, Baltic and Canada.
He married Frances Nisbet in 1787 and was given command of the Agamemnon when Britain entered the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. The wars started when the neighbouring nations of the newly-created French Republic saw the French Revolution as a threat to their monarchies. Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia set up a coalition, which included Spain and Portugal, to support the French royalists. However, only Britain fought the French all the way through the war and was eventually defeated, leading to the survival of the French Republic.
However, Britain would prevail in the Napaoeonic Wars.
Nelson lost his right eye in the battle at Calvi when he helped capture Corsica and lost his right arm in 1797 at Santa Cruz in Tenerife.
He fell in love with Emma Hamilton in Naples in 1793 and they had a child in 1801 but they remained in their respective marriages.
In 1801 he destroyed the Danish Navy at the battle of Copenhagen as vice-admiral and in 1805 was victorious in the battle of Trafalgar off the southern coast of Spain, saving Britain from the threat of invasion from Napoleon.
He was shot and died whilst on his ship Victory during the battle.
Fox Talbot's photograph of the construction of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, 1843
In London's Trafalgar Square Nelson's Column was erected in the early 1840s at 170ft high and is crowned with a statue of him.
Victory still exists and still serves in the Royal Navy. She has been in dry dock in Portsmouth since 1922. She is the flagship of the Second Sea Lord and is the oldest naval ship still in commission in the world. She is also a museum ship in which tourists are given a guided tour.
Curator Hannah Bentley said: 'People often say he was quite cold and austere, but the letters reveal his emotion and the intense relationship he had with Lady Hamilton.'
In one of the displayed letters, written on board the San Josef in February 1801, Ms Bentley detects Nelson almost losing it because of his apparent jealousy over the Prince of Wales dilly dallying with Lady Hamilton.
Aware of the Prince Regent's reputation for flirting with pretty women, he writes: 'I am so agitated that I can write nothing.'
However, in an increasingly impassioned ramble, he goes on to warn Lady Hamilton that if the prince comes calling again: 'Do not set long at table, good God he will be next you and telling you soft things...don't let him touch you nor yet set next you if he comes get up. God strike him blind if he looks at you.'
Ms Bentley said Lady Hamilton emerges as a tease, who by informing Nelson of her risque encounter with the playboy prince, undoubtedly wanted to 'keep him on his toes'.
The final letter in the series, written between 1801 and 1806, is by Lady Hamilton to the Reverend Scott, ship's chaplain on HMS Victory, after Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805.
She expresses her outrage that she and her daughter Horatia were not properly provided for by the government.
The letters see Nelson purporting to write on behalf of Mr Thompson, supposedly a young father on board his ship, to the sailor's lover (conveniently staying with Lady Hamilton)
The letters have taken pride of place in the South Quay museum's latest exhibition - Nelson's Women: Philanderer or Family Man?
Bitterly she writes: 'It seems those that truly loved him are to be victims to hatred, jealousy and spite.'
Ms Bentley said while Lady Hamilton was always conscious of her reputation during their relationship, Nelson was less concerned and thought that Horatia's birth bestowed God's blessing on their love.
She said: 'Nelson asked her to burn all the letters but she kept them.'
'Clumsy' love letters show how strategic genius Nelson struggled to hide steamy affair with Lady Hamilton | Mail Online
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