Nelson & His World

Yesterday marked the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, just four years after Trafalgar, whose life was to change the world's perception of who we are and where we came from.

Had Nelson survived Trafalgar and the rest of Napoleanic Wars, living into old age and let's say for arguments sake at Merton with Emma, he would have been 73 at the commencement of Darwin's epic voyage on the Beagle in 1831. The voyage took 5 years but Darwin's earth-shattering book, 'The Origin of Species' was not published until 1859. Nelson would certainly have been dead by then, but he would very likely have read of Darwin and his voyage in the newspapers.

What would he have made of both Darwin and his theory? Being conservative and having been brought up in the Christian faith with a rector for a father, I believe he wouldn't have been swayed by Darwin's beliefs. He might conceivably have been offended. What do others think?

Interesting question, Kester!

Well, since Darwin's voyage was undertaken on a ship of the Royal Navy, and since Nelson was interested in exploration and new discoveries, (reading books such as Dampier's 'Voyages' and poring over maps and charts were two of his preoccupations when 'on the beach') we can safely assume, I think, that he would have been interested in the work Darwin had undertaken, and his discoveries. As a man of status, he might have been in a position to seek out Darwin and ask to know more - but possibly, as you suggest with a degree of scepticism and even antagonism, in view of his own faith which was essentially unquestioning and childlike, not concerned with the niceties of theological doctrine.

He might have found Darwin's theory troubling and psychologically 'conflicting', like many intelligent men of his time, who found the arguments difficult to dismiss intellectually, but also hard to accept emotionally, particularly if he felt the new reality might upset the social order and lead to a breakdown in the established systems, including the supremacy of the church. If, by this time, Nelson had not been persuaded of the evils of slavery, he might have been troubled by the implications of Darwin's theory, that all human beings of whatever colour, were capable of interbreeding and were therefore one species. Darwin was strongly anti-slavery, and felt his theory strengthened the case against treating non-Europeans as an inferior breed.

On the other hand, I quote a letter that Nelson wrote - and forgive me that I can't lay a hand on the reference at the moment - when he was asked to offer protection to a French savant who was passing through his sphere of influence:


I should have been proud to have assisted M. le Chevalier in the universal beneficial work he is engaged upon to the utmost of my power. The man bestowing knowledge on the human race cannot be the enemy of any nation but every nation is bound to be the protector of that man. He is, while so engaged, a citizen of the world…how attentive I should have been to your recommendation by showing him every civility in my power.

Well - who knows? Maybe he was less of an old stick-in-the-mud than one might fear - unlike the Duke of Wellington, who was fiercely opposed to the railways as this new-fangled freedom of movement - if it spread to the lower orders - might expose them to experiences and ideas dangerously above their station and cause no end of trouble.

Tycho,

I agree with you. Nelson would probably have been interested in the voyage from a practical point of view and in light of his own seagoing career, but probably would have found it difficult to come to terms with Darwin's beliefs as to the beginnings of mankind.

In 'seeking out Darwin' one wonders if he would have been significantly intrigued, he being not altogether unreceptive to new ideas, to invite him to Merton to discuss them. One imagines though that he would have been rather more interested in the expedition and the flora and fauna found, than in the possibility that in the long-distant past man decended from monkeys. That might have been the point where there might have been a strong divergence of views, but I am sure they would have discussed the matter amicably each arguing their point. One can imagine perhaps that Emma, not having the religious fervour that Nelson possessed, might have been more interested in Darwin's views.

Or would they both have been repulsed by the ideas that Darwin proposed? Was it a case of Darwin being before his time and that no one from Nelson's era would have entertained the idea?

As for Wellington, he might very well have been on to something re. the railways - the station of the 'lower orders' being Waterloo no doubt!

A slight digression here which I hope will be of interest nonetheless: we may speculate on Nelson's attitude to Darwin's theories; we have a clearer view of how the scientific advances affected one naval officer, Captain, later Admiral Fitzroy, who commanded HMS Beagle in which Darwin sailed. Initially persuaded by Darwin's theories, he later rejected them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy