Nelson & His World

Can anyone help with a query about what honours were handed out to officers who served at Trafalgar? By honours, I mean Knighthoods, Earldoms etc.

Also, who would be responsible for making the decisions about who got what (or not), what evidence/recommendations of services performed would be taken into consideration and how would recipients be informed?

Sorry, reading that back it seems to be rather a lot of questions, but any pointers would be very much appreciated.

If you are asking about honours given at the time that specifically related to the battle, then the only recipients were the admirals and Captain Hardy. In Nelson's case it was of course his brother that was made an earl. Collingwood was made a baron, and as Northesk was already an earl he was made a knight of the Order of the Bath. Hardy was made a baronet.

Thus merit played little part in the decision, and two of the recipients were amongst the least deserving in terms of actual services performed in person. The awards were of course the King's prerogative, and I would assume the decisions were made in consultation with ministers, but I don't know what recommendations were made or whether much debate took place. Maybe someone else can help on that?

Everyone else had to wait until the end of the war when the Order of the Bath was extended and awarded to many naval officers. Surviving Trafalgar captains who had by then reached flag rank were made KCB, and the others were made CB. Trafalgar captains who did not survive that long of course received no such awards.

Other awards included the naval gold medals, freedom of some cities, the Lloyds Patriotic Fund awards, and of course various promotions.