Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Nelson's humour
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:52 pm 
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Devenish suggested we should have a thread on Nelson's humour, following on from his post on Inside Nelson's World.

I like the story narrated in 'The Nelsons of Burnham Thorpe' which is a good example of Nelson's rather black humour. He was having difficulty with the Admiralty about a pension for his lost sight in his right eye. He had to badger the doctor for a certificate to convince them and while he was at it, he demanded a document certifying that his right arm was missing in case they didn't believe he'd lost that as well!

There's also the rather tantalising story told by Colonel Stewart about Nelson breakfasting with his midshipman 'and joining in all their boyish jokes'. Unfortunately, he doesn't elaborate.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:56 am 
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I rather think that Nelson was not only joining in with the boyish jokes because they were just that, but also because he was trying to make the midshipmen feel at ease in the august presence. That would be just like him.

In 1801, he was in Great Yarmouth on his return from Copenhagen and visiting the naval hospital there where several of the seamen from the battle were treated, when he came across one who had also lost his arm. Presumably indicating his own, he joked, 'Well Jack, it would seem that we are both finished as fishermen.' It seems that Nelson was quite an avid fishermen in his spare time, not that he had much of that!

He was also spoken to by a woman asking if she could rename her public house the Nelson Arms, to which Nelson replied, 'That would be absurd, seeing I have only one.'

Kester.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:12 am 
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I rather like Nelson's rather risque remark to Emma that he was sorry not to have had dinner with her: 'What a dessert we would have had!'

I've heard it said that Nelson didn't have much of a sense of humour. I don't think that's true at all - he made some good jokes. But in general, I think he was not so much a wit himself as one who appreciated it in others. His friend Bulkeley used to write letters full of ribald stories and Nelson would reply appreciatively: 'I laughed heartily....' We are always ready to credit with a sense of humour anyone who laughs at our jokes!

He also had a way of setting people at their ease and creating intimacy with a friendly tease. He wrote in a letter that he had teased Troubridge's son for 'My Lord-ing' him too much: 'I tell him his father was never so polite!'


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:18 pm 
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I am also reminded of another little story - HN had been presented to a gentleman of rank (I forget who!), who said ,
" Ah,Nelson, I am sorry to see you have lost your right arm", to which HN replied,
" Yes, but not my right hand - allow me to present Captain Berry".....( or words to that efffect! )-t

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Hello all - to old friends, and I hope, many new iones!! Great to be on board, and congratulations to all involved with what will be , I know, a great, lively new site, and as they say, " God bless all who sail in her! - tay


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:04 pm 
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Tay,

I believe the 'gentleman of rank' was the King, at one of his levees!

He also asked him, 'do you get out?' to which Nelson replied that he had not only been out, but that he had come back in again!

You will remember that Nelson had received quite frosty reception from the King and Court, over his connection with Emma, although I can't remember whether the above was on the same occasion. I know that at one such occasion the King also turned his back on him, thus snubbing him.

Kester


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 Post subject: Nelson's humour
PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:10 pm 
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On Nelson's humour. He did appear to be an appreciative audience for others' jokes. Jeaffreson in his excellent biog of 'Emma Hamilton and the Queen of Naples' relates that Nelson used to 'scream with laughter' for hours on end at Sir William Hamilton's stories. Mimicking was a popular brand of humour at the time, Emma was apparently a dab hand at it, whilst Nelson and George Matcham enjoyed joshing each other while 'talking like Irishmen.'

Nelson certainly seemed to have a hard time with the King. He was rumped at least once in the weeks between returning with the Hamiltons from Europe in November 1800 and sailing on the Baltic expedition in January 1801. This is referred to by both Collingwood, and less famously by Bess Foster who relates Nelson arriving from a levee in a foul temper, whispering loudly to Emma that the weather outside was as cold as the atmosphere at St. James'. She also recalls that he complained bitterly at table about his reception at court, whilst Emma tried hard to shush him in front of the company.

I've never been clear why the king took such a dislike to Nelson. Did the King ever mention a reason for it? Nelson's friendship with Prince William Henry in the West Indies, at the time the young man was behaving a little wildly, has been cited, as well as wearing his foreign decorations (without permission - which he had asked for - or just bad form at court.) Then there was Emma of course, who seemed to get the blame for everything. Another possibility, which Nelson's circle would give credence to, was jealousy. Certainly by 1802 the press were comparing the King's popularity among the general public unfavourably to that of Nelson.

And King George was as mad as a hatter and thoroughly unpredictable. By early 1801, he had suffered a major re-occurence of his 'illness,' serious enough to delay the change of Government from Pitt to Addington for some weeks, and speculation was rife that he had gone mad again.

Even after Trafalgar and Nelson's death, the coldness persisted. Earl William Nelson, returning his brother's ribbon of the Bath, reported a distinctly cool reception from the King, and a terse comment that Nelson had got the death he wished for.

Nelson did seem to receive a warmer welcome from Queen Charlotte, who was reported as offering him a kinder reception, and all the King's sons were Nelson partisans. Thinking about the relationships in the Royal Family at the time, that in itself might have been enough to get up the king's nose.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:57 pm 
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Here's a little bit of black humour from Nelson after losing his eye in Corsica. He was referring to the health of the British navy in general:

We have a thousand sick and the rest are no better than phantoms. I am here a reed among oaks: I have all the diseases that there are, but there is not enough in my frame for them to fasten on.


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