Nelson & His World

Hi Tycho!

Was it not Cribb the gardener? I'm pretty sure I've seen this story in more than one book; I'm supposed to be working on something else right now or I'd look for it, I'd much rather do that...(I couldn't resist making a quick visit here.)

And Hi Mark,

Speaking of Nelson namesakes and the American Civil War, you can always visit Lord Nelson's Gallery the next time you're in Gettysburg! But according to the gallery website "The store was named after Nelson, our black Lab who greeted Lord Nelson's customers until 1996."

And "Should you walk into Lord Nelson's with the intent of finding Civil War art, you have come to the wrong place. We are one of the few stores in Gettysburg that has nothing Civil War related." The gallery "now specializes in Eastern Indian/Frontier Art—art depicting the 18th century frontier—as well as wildlife art and gifts. "

Hmmmn, so Lord Nelson's in Gettysburg has nothing to do with - Lord Nelson, or the ACW. But it is a really nice store.
http://www.lordnelsons.com/aboutus/main.htm


Gretchen

Tycho, I've found one reference at least. Mr. Cribb was apparently taking very tender care of the parsley and gooseberry there at Merton.

From Carola Oman, Nelson page 607:
It is Nelson's last day at home.


I'll let you know if I find any mention of this elsewhere.

Gretchen

Many thanks, Fiddler, for that precise reference. It is always reassuring to know that you haven't imagined vague recollections!

There is also 'the other Horatio Nelson of Burnham Thorpe' whose sad, brief life is narrated in a pamphlet by Rev. C J Isaacson, vicar of Burnham Thorpe. The boy's baptismal name was Thomas, the son of another Nelson family in Burnham Thorpe, unconnected by blood to the Admiral's. He seems to have acquired, unofficially, the name Horatio, perhaps conferred jokingly by his shipmates when he served as a midshipman in HMS Druid; his name was entered in the ship's muster in 1809. He was a protege of Nelson's nephew, William Bolton. To cut a long story short, the boy was taken ill aboard HMS Endymion in September 1811 off the coast of Ireland and was taken to the home of a retired Admiral, William Heath. He spent some time as a patient, tended by the admiral himself, who became very fond of him, 'and died holding his hand, showing by the pressure that he recognised him to the last.'

Sir Thomas Bolton penned the inscription on his tombstone, which commemorates 'Horatio Nelson, an amiable youth', though the letters of administration in the Public Record Office make clear that he was actually Thomas.

Unlike the mythical 'Tiddles', the supposed pet of Lord Nelson, Sir Winston Churchill really did have a cat named Nelson. Sir John Colville relates in his memoir of his period as Churchill's wartime private secretary that he entered Churchill's room during a bombing raid where he found the great man, on his knees, in his underwear, having been interrupted while dressing for dinner by the disappearance under the chest of drawers of the panic-stricken Nelson. Colville reports that Churchill berated the terrified animal, reminding him that it was a disgrace that he 'the bearer of so noble a name, should cower in the face of the enemy.'

After this exhibition of cowardice, Nelson was banished to Chartwell, Churchill's house in the country, where he lived a less stressful life, far from the threat of bombs.

As a further digression, the name Horatio was borne by several members of the Walpole family, to which Nelson was connected. The writer and aesthete Horace Walpole was baptised Horatio, but like Nelson, was known as 'Horace'. Walpole, I recall, but again can't find the reference, made a comment to the effect that he didn't want a fancy foreign name - he was content with the solid English name of Horace.

Here is a picture that was sent to me by new forum member Joanna Brooks.



As you can see, it is a memorial to a godson of Captain Bladen Capel, a protegé of Nelson, who brought back the news of the victory at the Nile to the Admiralty and fought at Trafalgar. The Nelsonian connection is mentioned on the memorial plaque which is in the church at Great Easton, near Saffron Walden in Essex.

More about Captain Bladen Capel here:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid ... aden+capel

I have a friend who does research like myself and we quite often swap bits of information that we find.

He knows that I am interested in anything Nelson related and the other day showed me a very poignant item that he had come across in the Death notices of an 1866 newspaper.

It read:



The fathers initials caught my eye - and a check on the Times archive showed that there was indeed a Rev Horatio Nelson Grimley.

It would be fascinating to know if this naming went back another generation and nearer to Nelson's own time. If I can make time I will go back to old copies of Crockford's and see if that reveals anything more about the "Horatio Nelson" name in the Grimley family.

If anyone has come across the name Grimley in relation to Lord Nelson himself I would be interested to know.

Thanks

MB

Mark:

a quick Google reveals several 'Horatio Nelson Grimleys' but I found nothing linking the family to Nelson. Was there a Grimley at Trafalgar? Or is there one listed in navy lists or other naval reference books?

The Reverend Horatio Grimley you mention was born in 1836, long after Trafalgar, so his name couldn't have been a patriotic notion in the flush of HN's death and victory. His infant son was also named HN.

There was another Rev Horatio Nelson Grimley 1884-1918, Rector of Norton in Norfolk. See http://www.stedmundsbury.anglican.org/n ... story.html

The NA also lists a Horatio Nelson Grimley of Birmingham. It appears in a collection of documents formerly held by Walsall Local History Centre.

[no title] 35/27/5 18 Dec. 1862

Contents:
Declaration by Horatio Nelson Grimley of Birmingham, house agents, re. brother Edwin.
Annexed
Copies of marriage certificate of Edwin and Sarah Grimley [21 Feb. 1829] and baptism of their son Samuel [15 Aug. 1830].

The NA also lists a Horatio Nelson Grimley of Aberystwyth but I don't have time at the moment to scroll through the entries.

Well! Interesting! Why were so many members of the Grimley family (assuming they are all connected) named Horatio Nelson? Come on, Mark, we know how you love a mystery!

Incidentally, the 'original' HNG - father of the dead infant you first mentioned, was at Peterhouse, Cambridge and is listed in a genealogical website http://www.tolliss.com/gedview/individu ... olliss.ged as 'printer/compositor/curate/rector. He graduated in 1861, having been born in 1836.

Especially interested in the Midlands connection.

There must be something in that as the Death notice for the baby was in a Birmingham local paper although he died in Heston.

No promises - but I'll have a delve - see what I can find!!

MB

Oh boy - I have made some progress already - and how interesting!!

Yes - Rev HN Grimley's father was also a Horatio Nelson Grimley.

That takes us back to his birth in 1808 (baptism somewhat later - 1812)

He was born in Aston on the outskirts, now part of, Birmingham.

I have a copy of his entry in the baptism register of St Peter & St Paul's Curch, Aston. I will try to post a copy later - if not tomorrow.

1808 is quite interesting. 3 years after Nelson's death, but just a year before Birmingham unveiled their Nelson statue - the first in the U.K. The statue was paid for by public subscription - so doubtless Nelson would have been a regular topic of conversation in Brum during that whole period.

Nelson had visited B'ham in 1802 so there is every likelihood that the father of HNG the first had seen him at first hand. Maybe he was at the theatre when Nelson, Emma and Sir WH attended. Almost anything is possible!!!

I am 99% certain that this Grimley family formed the property company Grimley & Sons which over the years has become part of GVA Grimley - http://www.gvagrimley.co.uk - although whether the family still have any direct involvement I have no idea.

What an interesting day but I think this investigation still has a little way to run . . . . . !!

MB

As promised here is the entry in the Baptism register for the first Horatio Nelson Grimley.



He must have been a reasonably well known figure in Birmingham. The Post Office Directory for 1860 has the following entries.



When time allows I will check the 1871/81 censuses - just to see if Rev HN Grimley named another child after his lordship after the baby died in 1866.

Intriguing!!

MB

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I managed to check the censuses for 1871 and 1881 and it doesn't seem that Rev HN Nelson used the HORATIO NELSON name for any later-born child. So effectively the name just went through 3 generations of that family.

After checking this out I had a few spare minutes left on Ancestry.com and it led me to do a search that I had never done before.

i.e. I went through each census and did a search on the Christian names Horatio Nelson.

I was quite surprised that the 1841 census only produced about 4 results - but I know from past experience that some information from that census can be quite unreliable.

This was borne out when the later censuses gave from 30 to 40+ results.

On at least one of the censuses Rev HN Nelson is recorded as "Horatio N" so I also searched on that and that brought up several more results. My guess is that a good number of the "Horatio N"'s are actually Horatio Nelson.

I don't think I will have time to pursue this any further - but what a fantastic project it would be to find out more about these people. To undserstand how they they went through life bearing these illustrious names. Also to see if there were are any more families where the name was used in more than one generation . . . . . etc. etc.

I sometimes wonder if I am too easily pleased - but I do find issues like this absolutely fascinating.

I recall somebody writing once that "to really understand the big stories - you have to investigate the small stories".

I am very happy to take that on board as my personal philosophy.

MB

One last thing for now.

T - an issue that I will HAVE to follow up on is the Rev HN Grimley you found as rector of Norton. It seems that he MUST belong to that same family - so for now I am wondering if he was a child of one of the deceased baby's siblings.

Because I was so tight for time on Friday I may not have gone as far as the 1891 census which is the first one he would have appeared on.

Another thing to add to my agenda for next week!

MB

The British Library shows 5/6 books either authored or translated by Rev Horatio Nelson Grimley.

This rather lengthy link below should take you there.

http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/A8KEFPY6IRB9AG3NY9E7HL1EJ3XP5S7V5GT2LSR3TAGYA12N9D-13971?func=find-b&request=Horatio+Nelson+grimley&find_code=WNA&adjacent=N&image.x=0&image.y=0

MB

Many thanks for that intriguing pursuit, Mark.

I, meanwhile, did a little Googling too, had a look in the BL catalogue, and found one of the Rev. gentleman's books on line. He styles himself only as 'Horatio Grimley', omitting 'Nelson' altogether. Too many nudges and winks about Lady Hamilton, perhaps?

You mentioned in a post above the visit to the theatre by HN and company when they were in Birmingham. The Times of 3 September 1802 carried the following report:

Birmingham, 31 August

Lord Nelson, Sir William and Lady Hamilton etc. arrived at the place yesterday, previous to which they were anxiously expected. It was speedily announced, after the Hero's entrance to the Hotel, that he would honour the theatre with his presence the same evening. The performances were 'the Merry Wives of Windsor' and 'Perouse'......The moment Lord Nelson and his friends entered the stage box.....the shouts of applause were loud, incessant and heartfelt, while the band struck up 'Rule Britannia,' to which the performers in the audience gave loud chorus. Two new songs were introduced in the course of the evening, conveying some happy allusions to the occasion, but nothing had more effect than the part of the play where Falstaff.....says, 'before the best Lord in the land I swear it', pointing his hand towards Lord Nelson's box. The audience instantly caught it and renewed their plaudits.'

The report continues, describing the party's journey back to the hotel, their carriage drawn by local men amid loud 'huzzas' and flaming torches. etc.....

T

As you can imagine - we did heaps of research on Nelson's visit to Birmingham for the bi-centenary in 2002.

Nelson's party attended the Theatre Royal on both nights that they were here and it is amazing that original playbills for both shows still exist in the Birmingham archive. I can imagine the printers must have worked long into the night - as Nelson was invited to chose the itinerary for the second evening - and the playbill proudly announces that the performance is "By Desire of the Right Honourable Lord Nelson".

Fantastic stuff!!!

Unfortunately the Hotel where the party stayed (features in Pickwick Papers by the way) was demolished many years ago - but we managed to get a blue plaque put on one of the modern buildings nearby to commemorate the visit. It was unveiled by Anna Tribe. I've got some nice photos which I can maybe share one day.

MB

Well I never!!

If any of you have done any family research you may have come across a website called FreeBMD. A team of people are building up a database (as yet incomplete) of all the official registrations of Births Marriages and Deaths i.e. since it became a legal requirement in 1837.

The website is here: http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

This morning on a whim I did a search on the Christian names "Horatio Nelson" as I had done on the censuses.

It brings up a HUGE number of results - far more it seems than I got from the censuses.

Try it for yourself as follows:

Select Type = All Types
Key in First Names = Horatio Nelson
Click on Find

I only had time to glance through the results but I noticed a Horatio Nelson Collingwood Fleet.

There is a Horatio Nelson Hardy.

And a Horatio Nelson Hornblower.

And 2 Horatio Nelson Victory's - NOW WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT!

And there is a flurry of births in 1905. Doubtless little "Trafalgar Centenary" HN's!!

Sorry to use an internet cliche - but I am Laughing Out Loud here!!

MB