I consider myself a historian. It isn’t a job title or a career, more of a passion. The object of my passion is the period following the French revolution. When the world, for all its art and elegance, was convulsed by conflict and Napoleon. I shy from the big sweep of events, preferring to tell stories through the words of those who were there. My interest in Nelson and Lady Hamilton grew from my research on the Neapolitan revolution of 1799 and I was shocked to discover that, in addition to their love story, there was a chilling crime disguised and buried beneath their famous romance.
I wrote...
Nelson at Naples: Revolution and Retribution in 1799
In 1799 a republic was established in Naples. It lasted six months before an avenging army under Cardinal Ruffo was laying siege to the survivors in the castles of Naples. That June they agreed to surrender when Ruffo promised them safe passage to France. Nelson, accompanied by his fleet and Lady Hamilton, then arrived and objected to the treaty, but then pretended to agree so that, as the republicans evacuated their forts, they could be seized. Hundreds were executed by the merciless royalists.
This book examines the events leading up to Nelson’s war crime and, making use of accounts by Cardinal Ruffo, Lady Hamilton, and Nelson himself, as well as by many others caught up in the drama, tells the story of this neglected atrocity.
I don't know about Emma being England's mistress (that sounds tiring), but (and this is the subject of my list) she was certainly Nelson's. Kate Williams thinks Emma was infamous and it should come as no surprise that this book is built around the scandals that made Emma and unmade her. As such it is written in a rather breathless tone, just short of salacious. This makes it rather fun but also quite in keeping with Emma’s life and times. After all, Emma’s story can never really be separated from the scandals. I like it because it packs a lot in (especially on the relationship with Nelson) and it moves at a hectic pace reminiscent of old Covent Garden on a Saturday night.
A dramatic, sparkling tale of sex, glamour, intrigue, romance and heartbreak, England's Mistress traces the rise and rise of the gorgeous Emma Hamilton.
Born into poverty, she clawed her way up through London's underworlds of sex for sale to become England's first media superstar. Nothing could stand in the way of her dreams- except her self-destructive desires.
Drawing on hundreds of previously undiscovered letters, and told with a novelist's flair, England's Mistress captures the relentless drive, innovative style and burning passion of a true heroine. In a world of tabloid fame and three-minute wonders, Emma's life is truly a tale…
Flora Fraser, daughter of Lady Antonia, crafted this more sedate biography a few decades ago but it has stood the test of time. There’s less scandal driving the narrative as the author is more measured and allows the material, which is fascinating enough, to speak for itself without improper or unnecessary embellishment. This makes it rather old-school, which I think is also nice, and the author conjures up a rather sympathetic version of Emma, seeing her as loyal and loving, and managing to free her from some of the tawdriness that some other accounts use to grab the reader’s attention.
And, as you can also tell from the title, we have now moved into more academic circles. Here we have some primary sources on Nelson’s intense relationship with Emma, thus allowing the two key participants in that drama to speak for themselves. They do, and it is all quite eye-opening. There’s much on the stresses of the war, and the trials of separation, but touching moments, too, and real concern for their daughter. Despite the editor being a little too sympathetic to Nelson, who was, after all, having his hardtack and eating it, and there being gaps in the correspondence at key times, such as Naples in June 1799, when the couple was together, this is a great book to understand the couple’s dynamic and the context of their relationship.
The biography by Hugh Tours is also rather scholarly (I suspect the author is of a legalistic bent) and he sets out with the intention of being scrupulously fair. That is rewarding as is the fact that when the author doesn’t know something, or is supposing something happened, he generally says so. This is nice and balanced and makes the book a great entry point into Emma’s world. It is also reasonably short, which helps the book in its role as a useful primer as does the old-school structure of beginning in the beginning and moving on from there. Don’t expect great wit or sharp prose, though, there are better books for that.
Emma, Lady Hamilton, rose from poverty to become a media celebrity, and her relationship with Admiral Nelson, and her renowned beauty, made her the most instantly-recognisable woman of her era, with the press following her every move. She was a friend of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, longed-after by the Prince of Wales, and was a high society fashion icon.
Born in 1765, Emma was the daughter of the village blacksmith in Neston, Cheshire, who died just two months later, leaving the family in difficult circumstances. After failing to find a permanent position locally, Emma took the stagecoach to London…
Walter Sichel’s biography, for all its flaws, and the fact that more is available on Emma and Nelson now than was the case 120 years ago, is still a solid piece of work from a capable biographer and decent historian. There’s an elegance in the language that can be looked up to, and an understanding of the period that has few rivals. I view it like a pair of comfortable slippers. They aren’t perfect, perhaps with a hole in the toe, but you don’t want them to make an impression. You do, however, look forward to slipping them on. The other reason I like this book is that it means you don’t have to read any of the other Victorian biographies of Emma or Nelson, many of which are drivel.
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Four years old and homeless, William Walters boarded one of the last American Orphan Trains in 1930 and embarked on an astonishing quest through nine decades of U.S. and world history.
For 75 years, the Orphan Trains had transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast into homes in the emerging West, sometimes providing loving new families, other times delivering kids into nightmares. Taken by a cruel New Mexico couple, William faced a terrible trial, but his strength and resilience carried him forward into unforgettable adventures.
Whether escaping his abusers, jumping freights as a preteen during the Great Depression, or infiltrating Japanese-held islands as a teenage Marine during WWII, William’s unique path paralleled the tumult of the twentieth century—and personified the American dream.
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From 1854 to the early 1930s, the American Orphan Trains transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast into homes in the emerging West. Unfortunately, families waiting for the trains weren’t always dreams come true—many times they were nightmares.
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