Nelson & His World

There is a campaign underway to spend £100,000 on building a statue of Lady Hamilton in Birmingham's Bullring: http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... -27927055/

Councillor Peter Douglas Osborn sees it as a way to put right a historic wrong after Nelson's bequest to the nation was not heeded.

Birmingham was the first British city to erect a statue to Nelson. Would this be the first public statue to Emma?

And how should she be depicted?

Tony

Well that's the first I have heard of this.

How fantastic if it ever goes ahead!!

After Nelson and SWH and Emma came to Birmingham in 1802 Emma wrote a letter to the Low Bailiff and was very complimentary about the local people. I have a copy of that letter. I don't know if this councillor will be aware of its existence.

Just for a bit of fun - here is a photo I took in 2005 which shows Emma roughly "in situ".

The people in the picture are Anna Tribe, plus Nelson and Emma lookalikes - Alex Naylor & Finni Golden.



MB

All vey well and good and sorry to be a wet blanket but, whatever is thought about Lady Hamilton and righting the wrong of the 'bequest to the nation', how is it to be financed? I would have thought that the spending of £100,000 on a statue of her wouldn't go down that well with many of the taxpayers of Birmingham, if it is to come out of the public purse, and I am sure they could cite many other more important things they could spend the money on.

Surely too, the bequest was to the nation, so shouldn't the nation right the wrong? I somehow feel Nelson would agree – on both counts and even if it did involve a statue to his mistress.

Kester

I did a double-take when I saw the potential cost of the statue. But things have come a bit clearer.

Following Tony's post I decided to buy an Evening Mail so I could keep a copy of the original article and I found there is a bit more information in the paper than on the website.

It states: The £100,000 has been handed to the council by the Bullring as spin off cash from the development of three new restaurants in St Martin's Square. It is to pay for a piece of public art to replace the acclaimed Spiral Cafe which is being removed for the development.

So given that the money has to be spent on Public Art they could do a lot worse than a statue of Emma.

e.g. The Iron Man that stands at one end of New Street!

Since funding is available, I think there are worse things to spend it on than a piece of public art - and why not on a companion statue of Lady Hamilton to accompany Nelson? She wasn't only Nelson's inspiration, but also an Ambassadress and 'Patroness of the Navy' whose services were never recognised in her lifetime; and she was the muse of the painter Romney. Even if she had remained Emma Lyon/Hart and never attained fame/notoriety as Lady Hamilton, we would be familiar with her face through Romney's art.

It would be interesting to see what a modern artist might make of representing an historical figure who can't be studied in the flesh. I've mentioned before the statue of Nelson outside the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwhich that was commissioned in 2005 and which I think is an excellent piece. It captures perfectly a Nelsonian blend of kindliness and authority. http://tinyurl.com/3xu2n5x

What would a sculptor seek to capture of Emma? Her exuberance and joie-de-vivre, I hope; her adoration of Nelson; her physical beauty and grace - quite a task!

Mark, Anna,

Thanks for the additional information. Since the money comes from such a source, it would seem a good idea to have a statue of Emma if that is what is decided. At any rate I would hope that it is better than Iron man!

Regarding putting right the the 'bequest to the nation' decision, whilst I applaud Birmingham's intention, I wonder if there is any intention to involve the nation as a whole? In fact, how far has Britain come in giving Emma her due?

I agree that LH should be given her due in helping Nelson diplomatically ( which he wasn't supposed to be involved in) she also knew the language, (Italian dealing with the king and queen of Naples) much like Jackie O helped Jack LOL

she was instrumental in helping them escape Naples and being a liason and such

but I'm not sure about a statue on the same level as Lord Nelson. Perhaps a tasteful plaque or some other way but not to stand beside him

just an opinion

Margaret