Nelson & His World

just been reading on wikipedia about horatia ,and amgonst the text is a line saying nelson had 8 illigitimate children ,is this so and does anyone have any information on this please ,heres the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatia_Nelson

Zulupaul,

No, this is incorrect. So far as is known Nelson only had two illegitimate children, both girls (and no legitimate ones). The first was, Horatia, was born in 1801; the second, named I think Emma Carew, was born in 1804 but lived for only a few weeks. I'm sure others here, more knowlegeable on the subject, might provide more details.

I think you usually have to take what you see on Wikipedia with a pinch of salt, and verify it through some other more reliable source. It seems rather strange that there are, apparently, these 'proven facts' – but not one of them is mentioned! That makes me suspicious straight away!

Kester,

wasn't it said that Horatia might have been a twin, but certainly that is the end of Nelson's offspring as far as we know

so perhaps a total of 3

Margaret

Margaret,

I think this was originally thought, but the idea has now been discredited as a myth. As I say, if anyone wants to step in here and fill out the dry bones, so to speak, I'd be only too happy! Anna, Jacqui, anyone?

It is thought likely that Horatia was indeed the survivor of twins. Nelson said rather archly in a letter to Emma that, when they met, twins might again be the result of their meeting, from which biographers have concluded that twins had been born before.

There was another daughter, 'Little Emma', who died at only a few weeks old in1804.

Emma Carew was another Emma, the child of Emma Hamilton, born long before she met Nelson and brought up by foster parents.

There are other myths about Horatia's twin. Many early biographers claimed that Emma had sent the child to the Foundling Hospital, but this is hard to believe. Nelson adored children: he was delighted to have one daughter and would have been ecstatic to have two. There is no way Emma would have queered her own pitch with Nelson by abandoning his child. The foundling myth probably orginated in Emma's good deed (covered in detail in Flora Fraser's biography of Emma, 'Beloved Emma' when she sponsored a child, named Emma Hamilton, in a public ceremony at the Foundling Hospital soon after the battle of Copenhagen. A foundling boy received the name Baltic Nelson. Maybe his descendants claimed that he was Nelson's son! That's how rumours start......

Oh dear! I thought I might be wrong somewhere!