Nelson & His World

"J. Forbes-Robertson" could well be the distinguished actor-manager Johnston Forbes-Robertson.

Edit: sorry I guess that's scarcely a revelation since Forbes-Robertson starred in the play!! Just a little behind the curve here in the colonies...

Just a couple of things that I didn't include in my post yesterday.

The link takes you to one of the instances that puts the name of "Mrs de Lacy Lacy" against the play Nelson's Enchantress. Unfortunately whoever has put this on the internet has really messed up the title of the book. It should read: Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous English Literature". I was amazed that somebody had produced such a detailed and interesting work. And even more amazed when I discovered that it was actually in 4 volumes!! It was first published in the 1880s but this edition here must obviously be from the late 1890s or early C20.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9XdqyWmtwZUC&pg=PA163&dq=%22mrs+de+lacy+lacy%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ANR5VLWCJeu67gbRyYHoDg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22mrs%20de%20lacy%20lacy%22&f=false

This is the 1881 census page showing Charles and Augusta and their little daughter Helen. I think all the stuff in the occupation column relates to Charles as a doctor. Unfortunately none of the censuses that Augusta is on give an occupation for her.

I was sent the marriage certificate of Charles De Lacy Lacy with Augusta Matilda Paterson. I still have not found a descendant who can confirm she was Risden Home - but her father was George Dacres Paterson, her daughter Helen De Lacy, and her grandson Antony Dacres Hippisley Coxe.

And not only is Risden Home's real name Augusta Matilda de Lacy Lacy, but her husband Charles de Lacy Lacy was Oscar Wilde's physician and Wilde witnessed Augusta de Lacy Lacy's will.

This may be trivia, but it is fascinating trivia.

It is hopefully worth mentioning that "the Nelson story" had quite a high profile in the 1890s when Risden Home's play had its short run on the London stage.

At the very end of 1894 a meeting was held that gave rise to an organisation called the Navy League.

The aims of the League were:

• to promote an awareness in the British public on the dependency of the country on the sea and that the only safeguard was to have a powerful navy

• to convince the public of the justification for adequate expenditure and maintenance of the navy to enable them to fulfil their role

• that naval issues required continuity and should not be interfered with through differing party politics

• education of the public and young people about the need of a strong navy through publications and lectures.

The Navy League took Lord Nelson as their figurehead and they ensured that Nelson's Column was elaborately decorated for Trafalgar Day.

This is a two-year-old addition to this thread. It is a fact "Risden Home" was a pseudonym for Augusta Matilda Paterson De Lacy Lacy, the author of the play Nelson's Enchantress. In pursuing this topic I found the great-granddaughter of Augusta, currently living in the UK. She went to her attic and found an old cutting book containing a great deal of information about the play, reviews from the papers, and so on. She turned this information over to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which has since returned it to her. Attached is a poster from the play, showing Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Nelson and Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Emma.

Thank you, everyone, and especially Mark Barrett.