Nelson & His World

Can someone put me out of my misery, have i missed a new revelation about Nelson's wound at the Nile. I was led to believe that he received a lump of scrap iron (langrage) to his forehead, but in my local paper (Portsmouth news) they state that the wound was taken from a French sniper, this is the second time they have printed this, the first time i did reply to try and put them right. But has there been something that has come to light to suggest it was a sniper.

The report about a French sniper probably originates from a report in the Independent the other day detailing a project at the National Archives funded by the Wellcome Trust to catalogue the ADM 101 series of surgeons' journals held there. See here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/th ... 10511.html

However the journal entry describing treatment of the wound (ADM 101/124/1) does not say what sort of missile caused it. See here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nels ... nguard.htm

I have previously read that it was a piece of langridge shot or that it was a splinter, but I don't remember a musket ball suggested before. It may have been supposition by the journalist.

Thanks for the reply. I thought something new had come to light, especially as Peter Goodwin's name was in the same news item. The item like the Independent's was about Nelson losing his arm and staying in command, i read about this in a book years ago, but they are treating it as a new revelation.
The piece about the Nile is in the second to last paragraph.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Ne ... 5776883.jp

I read an interesting addition to the above while researching the life of HN's servant, Tom Allen, who, it is said, had padded out the inside of the hat that HN wore at the Nile, and it was this which prevented HN sustaining a fatal wound, even thoughy the crown on his hat was shot away.Tom Allen was also reputed to have sewn HN's fasimile embroidered orders onto several of his master's coats upside down in error, but H\n's reaction is unknown! Tay

Tay, his hats do seem to have come in for a lot of enemy fire - Pettigrew also mentions Nelson going on board the Victory after St Vincent with part of his hat shot away!

And here is the BBC rubbishing the recent newspaper 'revelations' about his recovery from his amputation after Santa Cruz: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8338273.stm

Welcome to the forum, Post-Captain.

We are all deeply suspicious of newspaper 'revelations' about Nelson on this forum, having noted a few howlers in the past!

An excellent book on Nelson's wounds and general health is 'Nelson: a medical casebook' by Dr. A-M.E. Hills. (I've mentioned it before, I think.) It's available on Amazon.

Dr Hills is a medical doctor, as well as a Nelson enthusiast and an extremely scrupulous historian. The book is not at all a 'dry-as-dust' medical text book but an enthralling read, written with enthusiasm and style.

Of the Nile head wound, she notes: '[Nelson] was struck on the right side of his upper forehead by a piece of langridge (pieces of irregularly-shaped iron tied with rope and fired from a cannon to cause maximum damage to sail and rigging.) She then explains in detail how a such a blow can affect the brain, and expresses her belief (well-supported by evidence) that the wound altered his emotional stability 'for at least two years.'

Thank you for the welcome.
As for the howlers, oh yes i have seen quite a few of those, especially in our local paper, the favourite being 'I see no ships' I am afraid it does annoy me, should not really, but our local paper that during 2005 was 'Nelson mad' could not get some basic facts about the great man right. Still this is a great forum and i am enjoying reading the posts and learning even more. And i shall be looking out for that book to add to my others on Nelson, his times and the Royal Navy.

The cover of Dr Hill's book has an excellent reproduction of Beechey's portrait of Nelson that clearly shows the star-shaped scar of the Nile wound above his right eye. It's not so clear on the Amazon website but here it is anyway!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/imag ... 39&s=books

Dr Hill's book has an interesting appendix which lists many portraits of Nelson, and points out, with a doctor's knowledge and authority, the characteristics of the wounds that are apparent. e.g the Beechey portrait mentioned above: Beechey: oil, 1801 1) Nile scar above right eye, 2) abnormal outer half right eyebrow 3) right eye slightly sunken.

Glad you're enjoying the forum. P-C, and that you are posting! I know we have a lot of readers who enjoy the forum, but some have told me privately that they are scared of posting as everyone seems so knowledgeable. Some members (not me!) certainly are, but we welcome newcomers too! We need people to ask questions as well as provide answers in order to keep the board lively.

Tay's post about the upside down decorations raised a smile, especially when placing a couple of images side by side for comparison.

Here's Sir William Beechey's portrait of Nelson again. The hat and the coat pictured are of interest:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... l%26sa%3DG

The Imperial Order of the Crescent is the right way up; and the dress hat looks to be in fairly good condition.

Fast forward to this image of Nelson's Trafalgar coat: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-sh ... dress-coat

... and things have quite literally turned topsy turvy. The Order of the Cresent has been sewn on upside down.

The hat painted by Beechey is of interest too. Apparently this was the Nile hat, which Nelson gave to Beechey. Here's a quote from 'Sir William Beechey' by W Roberts (published 1907):



The hat that Nelson gave to Beechey still exists, and can be found on the Norfolk Museums & Archeology Service website (unfortunately the page doesn't say which museum the hat actually lives in if you want to go and see it.) If it is the Nile hat, the crown looks pretty well intact and unrestored.

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/defau ... .40.0100x2

Just an aside, but it had crossed my mind in the past (when scrutinising Nelson's Nile coat at the NMM from very close quarters) that other than some natural wear and tear, a spot or two of grease and a dusting of hair powder, there is little to indicate that the owner had commanded at the Battle of the Nile and been felled by a piece of langridge (?) to the forehead.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/nelson ... =4#content

A few moth holes, but not a speck of blood or battle fatigue. And when he gave it to her shortly afterwards, in return for artistic favours, Nelson told Anne Damer that he hadn't allowed it to be so much as brushed since the battle.

So, Nelson was definitely sporting at least one upside down order in 1805, although it might be a question whether the long-departed Tom Allen was responsible.

On becoming a Viscount in 1801, I recall Nelson requesting that Mrs. Cadogan adapt his peers robe. And having ordered four new sets of stars just prior to Trafalgar, the culprit may have been a later Mr or Mrs. Sew and Sew.

PS: some of the links above appear to be horrendously long. Is there an easy way to create shorter links?

Mira,

I believe Nelson's Nile hat is to be found in the Castle Museum in Norwich – or it was when I was there a few years ago.

You might find this useful as regards shortening links, originally posted I believe by Tony:

http://tinyurl.com/

Many thanks, Kester and Tony, for the link for tinyurl. And the location of Nelson's Nile hat.