That Hamilton Woman: Emma and Nelson
By Barry Gough and Andrew Roberts
5/5
()
About this ebook
Barry Gough
Barry Gough, sailor-historian, is past president of the Organization for the History of Canada and the Official Historian of HMCS Haida, Canada's most decorated warship. His acclaimed books on the Royal Navy and British Columbia have received numerous prizes, including the prestigious Clio Award of the Canadian Historical Association. Professor emeritus of Wilfrid Laurier University, he lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Read more from Barry Gough
From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume III: Jutland and After May to December 1916 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Historical Dreadnoughts: Arthur Marder, Stephen Roskill and Battles for Naval History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume I: The Road to War 1904–1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume II: To The Eve of Jutland 1914–1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Menace: The Dakar Expedition and the Dudley North Affair Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Secret Capture: U-110 and the Enigma Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From the Dardanelles to Oran: Studies of the Royal Navy in War and Peace, 1915–1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Classroom to Battlefield: Victoria High School and the First World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritannia's Navy on the West Coast of North America, 1812–1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBritannia's Navy on the West Coast of North America, 1812-1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Through Water, Ice & Fire: Schooner Nancy of the War of 1812 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPossessing Meares Island: A Historian's Journey into the Past of Clayoquot Sound Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Search of the Visible Past: History Lectures at Wilfrid Laurier University 1973-1974 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurchill and Fisher: Titans at the Admiralty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to That Hamilton Woman
Related ebooks
Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJean, Lady Hamilton, 1861–1941: Diaries of A Soldier's Wife Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Austen Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Darling Winston Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBright Young People: The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finding Richard III:: The Official Account of Research by the Retrieval and Reburial Project Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Churchill: The Travels of Winston Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exit Lady Masham: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Devonshire's Own Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Diary & Letters of Madame D'Arblay: Personal Memoirs & Recollections of Frances Burney, Including the Biography of the Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Representations: Queen Victoria and British Culture, 1837-1876 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInsubstantial Pageant.: Ceremony & Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Windsor Faction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDerby Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bagpipers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sophia of Hanover: From Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 16301714 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Had Been King: The American Exile of Napoleon's Brother Joseph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Victoria - Her Girlhood and Womanhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Queen and the Heretic: How two women changed the religion of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Artists in Nazi-Occupied France: A German Officer's Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurchill on the Riviera: Winston Churchill, Wendy Reves and the Villa La Pausa Built by Coco Chanel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Women in World War I: They Also Served Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warrior King and the Invasion of France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Letters of Emma Hamilton: The Story of Admiral Nelson and the Most Famous Woman of the Georgian Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Days of Richard III Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for That Hamilton Woman
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
That Hamilton Woman - Barry Gough
Front cover: Emma painted by J Schmidt, Nelson’s favourite depiction of her. See plate 33.
Copyright © Barry Gough 2016
‘That Hamilton Woman’ essay © Estate of Arthur Marder 2016
Introduction copyright © Andrew Roberts 2016
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Seaforth Publishing,
Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street,
Barnsley S70 2AS
www.seaforthpublishing.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4738 7563 0 (HARDBACK)
ISBN 978 1 4738 7565 4 (EPUB)
ISBN 978 1 4738 7564 7 (KINDLE)
ISBN 978 1 4738 7566 1 (PDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing of both the copyright owner and the above publisher.
The right of Barry Gough to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset and designed by MATS Typesetting, Leigh-on-Sea
Printed and bound in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd
Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction by Andrew Roberts
Preface & Acknowledgements
Prologue: Arthur Marder’s ‘That Hamilton Woman: Emma and Clio Reconciled’
1 Patroness of the Navy: The Women Behind the Fleet
2 Emma Meets Hamilton
3 Emma Meets Nelson
4 Emma Meets Fanny
5 Nelson and Emma Meet Immortality
Sources Writing Emma and Nelson
Dedication
For Lawrence Phillips
‘People will be very sorry they spoke so cruelly of me. One day they will see that they were abusing a tragic figure.’
SUSAN SONTAG, writing of Emma. The Volcano Lover: A Romance (1992)
‘It is strange to observe how the unfortunate Emma mingles herself with the life of Nelson. The student cannot get away from her. She is as a strand in the rope of his career, and makes herself as much a portion of his later life as if she had been a ship or a battle.’
W CLARK RUSSELL, Pictures from the Life of Nelson (1897)
List of Illustrations
Between pages 32 and 33
1. Portrait of Emma Hart, by George Romney, c1782 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
2. Mrs Cadogan, Emma’s mother. (National Museum of the Royal Navy)
3. Little Emma, painted by George Greville. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PU3232)
4. Emma as Nature, by George Romney, 1782. (Wiki Commons)
5. Emma as Bacchante, by George Romney, 1785. (Wiki Commons)
6. Emma in a cavern, by George Romney, c1785. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2736)
7. Emma, Lady Hamilton, by George Romney, c1785. (National Portrait Gallery)
8. Emma ‘From the Nude’, attributed to George Romney. (Private collection, photography by Mike Searle)
Between pages 48 and 49
9. Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, by Pompeo Batoni 1776. (National Trust collections)
10. Emma sitting for George Romney in his studio, by Frank Dadd. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PU4300)
11. Sir William Hamilton, by David Allan. (Wiki Commons)
12. Emma as the Ambassadress, by George Romney, 1791 (Blanton Museum of Art)
13. Emma as Cassandra, copy of a study by George Romney. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2261)
14. The Attitudes of Lady Hamilton, etching by Francesco Novelli, after 1791. (Wiki Commons).
15. Lady Hamilton’s Attitudes, cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson, 1791. (Bridgeman Images)
16. The road at Posillipo, Naples, from an album of topographical drawings, by James Butt. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PT2100)
Between pages 64 and 65
17. Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and Sicily, artist unknown. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, B3173-a))
18. Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily, artist unknown. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, 4933)
19. A perspective view of Naples (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PY2468)
20. Lady Hamilton as Bacchante, by Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun. (Bridgeman Images)
21. Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson, by Lemuel Francis Abbott 1800. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2889)
22. Lady Frances Nelson, by Daniel Orme 1798, (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, A0094)
23. The Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798, engraving after Thomas Whitcombe 1799. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PY7957)
24. ‘Extirpation of the Plagues of Egypt; – Destruction of the Revolutionary Crocodiles; – or The British Hero cleansing ye Mouth of ye Nile’, by James Gillray 1798. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PW3893)
25. Vanguard entering the Bay of Naples, 22 September 1798, attributed to the son of Guardi the Venetian painter. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PX9746)
Between pages 80 and 81
26. Poster for film That Hamilton Woman. (Wiki Commons)
27. Vivien Leigh as Emma. (Wiki Commons)
28. Lord Nelson’s Reception at Fonthill. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PU3988)
29. Modern Antiques, by Thomas Rowlandson, c1800. (Private collection)
30. A Cognocenti contemplating ye Beauties of ye Antique, by James Gillray, 1801 (Private collection)
31. A Mansion House Treat or Smoking Attitudes, by Isaac Cruikshank 1800. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF3887)
32. Horatia Nelson, after Henry Bone 1806. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2884)
33. Emma, by J Schmidt 1800. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, A4288)
Between pages 96 and 97
34. Dido in Despair!, by James Gillray 1801. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF3874)
35. Needlework after an illustration in Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, F3644)
36. Merton Place. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PY6235)
37. The Noble Admiral Lord Nelson, falling in the Arms of Victory, by P Patriarcha. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF4352)
38. The Death of Admiral-Lord-Nelson – in the moment of Victory, by James Gillray 1805. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF3866)
39. The Exact Representation of the Grand Funeral Car which carried the Remains of Lord Nelson to St Pauls on Thursday January 9th 1806. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAF4369)
40. The Apotheosis of Nelson, by Benjamin West 1807. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2905)
41. Horatia Nelson, British school c1815. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, BHC2886)
Introduction
The 1941 classic movie That Hamilton Woman, starring Laurence Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Vivien Leigh as Emma Hamilton, was made in Hollywood by the great Hungarian-American film producer Alexander Korda. It was boycotted by the isolationist, anti-war America First Committee when it was released for its obvious propaganda overtones, such as the moment when, hearing of Napoleon’s peace offer, Olivier states: ‘Gentlemen, you will never make peace with Napoleon … Napoleon cannot be master of the world until he has smashed us up, and believe me, gentlemen, he means to be master of the world! You cannot make peace with dictators. You have to destroy them – wipe them out!’ Small wonder that it was Sir Winston Churchill’s favourite film and that he was said to have watched it seventeen times.
Barry Gough has written an excellent overview of the story of the hero and heroine of That Hamilton Woman, whose relationship still today constitutes a love affair to stand beside those of Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Napoleon and Josephine (the last of whom died only eight months before Emma Hamilton). It was an extraordinary tale. One moment Emma was the gorgeous, buxom, rouge-cheeked temptress of the Romney portrait at the Frick Gallery in New York, striking her ‘Attitudes’ and fascinating a series of upper-class patrons who passed her on from one to the next. Then, after the briefest of interludes as Admiral Nelson’s lover, she became a debt-ridden, obese alcoholic eking out her existence in the Calais stews. The tragedy is tangible.
I have an invitation to Nelson’s funeral close to my desk, at which ceremony all the eight admirals who carried his coffin at St Paul’s Cathedral in January 1806 were in floods of tears. Regency men didn’t mind expressing their feelings in a way that their Victorian children and grandchildren felt they couldn’t. Yet if Nelson had lived, and become the Duke of Trafalgar, this story