Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 7:47 pm 
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Posts: 284
Location: England
Jesse,

Many thanks for your feedback on 'Finding the Lost Daughter of Lady Hamilton' and your beautifully nuanced thoughts on the daughter (and her mother's) situation.

You're right, I think, to consider contemporary attitudes on one side, and fear of consequences on the other, as the guiding motivator in keeping the secret. The word 'ruin' sums it up for me in a short post - it's an important factor that runs powerfully and fearfully (albeit in the background) through both their lives. Not a chapter or an article, as such - that wouldn't do it justice, but a continuous thread from the beginning to the end of their story.

Theirs wasn't an uncommon situation. Here are a few lines from a similarly afflicted mother, addressed (but never sent) to her daughter. She, the Duchess of Devonshire, explains the fatal conundrum well:

Quote:
Unhappy child of indiscretion,

poor slumberer on a breast forlorn

pledge of reproof of past transgression

Dear tho' unfortunate to be born



For thee a suppliant wish addressing

To Heaven thy mother fain would dare

But conscious blushes stain the blessing

And sighs suppress my broken prayer



But in spite of these my mind unshaken

In present duty turns to thee

Tho' long repented ne'er forgotten

Thy days shall lov'd and guarded be



And should th' ungenerous world upbraid thee

for mine and for thy father's ill

A nameless mother oft shall assist thee

A hand unseen protect thee still



And tho' to rank and wealth a stranger

Thy life a humble course must run

Soon shalt thou learn to fly the danger

Which I too late have learnt to shun



Meanwhile in these sequested vallies

Here may'st thou live in safe content

For innocence may smile at malice

And thou-Oh ! Thou art innocent

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Jacqui


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:11 pm 
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OK, folks, I am now among those chosen who have read Jacqui's article. I am impressed no less than all of you, as I find it an important historical document and a beautiful piece of great English literature.
Jackie, you're brilliant, and thank you so much!
I think your work reveals how caring a mother Lady Hamilton was, as she was trying to protect and to supply her "little Emma", even if she was not very affectionate in expressing her love towards her both daughters.


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:06 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:06 am
Posts: 2830
Location: mid-Wales
Welcome to the forum, drmarina and thank you for your comments.

It is true that Emma and Horatia had a somewhat stressful relationship towards the end of Emma's life - unsurprising when you think of the difficulties they were in with Emma's poor health and pressing financial worries at a time when Horatia was an adolescent; but when Horatia was small there was clearly a lot of affection between them. The NMM has a number of letters which I found enthralling when I came across them. They reveal Emma's overwhelming and affectionate pride in Horatia who was clearly a lively and engaging child. Emma took particular care over Horatia's education.

I'll try and post a facsimile of an affectionate letter written by Horatia to Emma when she was little. (As members of this forum know, I struggle with technology!

By the way, here is a link to a host of pictures of Emma Carew's resting place, the wonderfully atmospheric English cemetery in Florence. Mother Julia, the Director, brings all her talents as a scholar - she is a professor emerita specialising in Dante - to maintaining this remarkable place. She is constantly researching details of the departed buried there to preserve and expand the archive under her care.

http://tinyurl.com/m55dxdq

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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:44 am 
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Posts: 284
Location: England
Apologies for the time it’s taken to upload our photos from the English Cemetery, but here are a selection. As visitors aren’t permitted to get too close the tombs due to their fragile state, there are no close ups.

Thanks, Anna, for filling the gap with your link to other images available online. Brings back a lot of memories of the day that we were unable to record.

The last image is of the memorial plaque to Emma Carew mentioned earlier: carved by a young Roma woman of Florence who was being taught the trade of monumental masonry. Catherine MacKinnon was governess to the future Alexander II at the Imperial Court in Russia. She moved to Florence near the end of her life, and was buried at the cemetery in 1858. She was 80 years old. A good companion for Emma Carew, I think.

Thanks drmarina for your kind comments on the article. As I mentioned, I’m happy to email a copy to anyone who’d like to see it. Meanwhile, there might be an opportunity to posit the article online, for free and easy access to everyone. If that happens, I’ll add a signpost here.

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English Cem Florence 2.jpg
English Cem Florence 2.jpg [ 39.38 KiB | Viewed 72450 times ]


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English Cem Florence 3.jpg
English Cem Florence 3.jpg [ 20.86 KiB | Viewed 72450 times ]


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English Cem Florence 7 Emma Carew plaque.jpg
English Cem Florence 7 Emma Carew plaque.jpg [ 145.19 KiB | Viewed 72450 times ]

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Jacqui


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:13 pm 
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Posts: 284
Location: England
The people at the britishnavalhistory.com website - Justin Reay, Sam McLean and Jamie Goodall - asked if I'd write an article for them in the New Year.

I thought it might be an opportunity to put 'Finding the Lost Daughter of Lady Hamilton' into the public domain for anyone interested in reading.

Here it is at: http://tinyurl.com/nzkbvsp with a link back to Nelson & His World.

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Jacqui


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:34 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:06 am
Posts: 2830
Location: mid-Wales
Jacqui:

I am delighted that your wonderful research and discoveries have been further recognised by some very distinguished naval historians. I think it is no exaggeration to say that you are probably the greatest authority on the relationship between Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton in the world. Many professional biographers have produced lives of Lady Hamilton; but none has made it a lifetime's study in the way that you have. This long-standing diligence, not to mention an amazing flair for original research, acute perception and insight into the human psyche and a lively pen, have combined to add much already to our knowledge and understanding. We look forward to more!

Many thanks indeed for posting the article here. It is good to have the complete text on the website.

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Anna


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:27 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:11 am
Posts: 44
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
My friend Joel Kaplan sent me these directions for the English Cemetery. I will go there next I'm in Florence:

The English cemetery now stands as an enormous traffic island on the SS67 which runs from the Piazza Beccaria (S) to the Piazza della Republica (N). It's roughly where the Borgo Pinti crosses the SS67. It keeps odd hours, but Sheila and I have walked there on spec and found it attended. If you go you will be given a map to help you locate individual plots.


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Sat May 10, 2014 10:42 pm 
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Posts: 44
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Here it is: click this link or copy as a URL in your browser and it will open with the cemetery on the upper right "Cimitero degli Inglesi." I just tried clicking on it and it works fine.

http://mapq.st/RAmibT

Thanks again to Jacqui Livesey for bringing this out after so many years.


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 Post subject: Re: Emma Carew
PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:38 am 
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Location: Baltimore, Maryland
It's Mother's Day, and that leads me to reflect a bit more about what may have led Emma Hamilton to keep the secret of her own motherhood of Emma Carew and Horatia. Her own mother, Mary Kidd Lyon, lost her husband when Emma was just two months old. Not only was it extremely difficult for her financially but she must have been in mourning and frightened. They ended up in London.

Emma Hamilton kept her mother with her all her life. She went to Naples with her, and they were together until the mother's death. Her mother, who eventually was known as Mrs Cadogan, was a superb housekeeper and was able to make herself useful continuously. I think of Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey. A most admirable person who effaced herself while acting for the good of others. The secrecy surrounding Emma Carew and Horatia was apparently maintained also by Mrs Cadogan. How did she fit in to the entire picture? What did she know? What part did she play?


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