Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Re: Could Sir William Hamilton have been Horatia's father?
PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 10:35 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:11 am
Posts: 44
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Thank you, Lily, and I would be pleased to contribute as I can to your website on Emma. From my time on N&HW, however, I doubt you could do better than seeking the advice and knowledge of Tycho (Anna). Mark Barrett is also extremely knowledgeable, and there are others. Jacqui Livesey wrote a brilliant piece on “Finding the Lost Daughter of Lady Hamilton, whose grave in the English cemetery of Florence she describes.You might enlist other descendants, too. It might be that one of the biographers of Emma would be interested in being involved, possibly serving as a consultant. Kate Williams (England's Mistress) wrote an excellent and sympathetic biography just a short time ago - she is a Professor of History at the University of Reading.

In addition to the accomplishments of Emma that you mention on the site there are quite a few more (she was totally amazing) : her intervention induced the Queen of Naples to sign a secret order allowing Nelson to get his fleet supplied in Sicily. Nelson always averred that without her aid he would not have been able to win the Battle of the Nile, which made England master of the Mediterranean and then ruler of the waves. She was not only an excellent singer, she was offered a contract to sing at the Royal Opera in Madrid. Her use of classical dress in her Attitudes influenced Empire style clothing. In spite of the attention from all of her accomplishments she always supported her mother and grandmother and was kind and thoughtful to those who worked for her.

In addition to the film The Divine Lady, if you have not seen it see That Hamilton Woman starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. It is extremely rare, if not unheard of, that Vivien Leigh played a woman who actually was as beautiful as she was herself. And it was the great painter George Romney, who made over thirty images of her, who called her “Divine Lady.”

But here is another thought: It may be that in describing Emma as misunderstood you are thinking more of the Victorian attitudes of the past than those of the present. She is today seen, I believe, in a different and vastly more positive light, as the two films mentioned above demonstrate. This is due in good measure to the great strides made by the women’s movements towards equality.


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