Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson

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Horatio Nelson was born on September 29th , 1758 , during the Seven Years ' War (Lavery 10 . He was the sixth child of Edmund and Catherine Nelson , out of eleven . His mother 's maiden name was Suckling . She was the grand niece to Sir Robert Walpole . Walpole had previously been the British Prime Minister (Mahan 4 . Although this connection to royalty was a best tenuous , it would play a role in Nelson 's life (Coleman 9

Nelson 's mother died when he was

nine years old . This coupled with the fact that his father was a member of the clergy may have instilled in Nelson the knowledge that death was always close . This undoubtedly had an effect on him . He was well known to be sickly , but at the same time fearless (Lavery 12

Nelson 's attended the Royal Grammar School in Norwich . When he turned eleven he attended Sir John Paston 's School . He was a very good student of English , becoming fairly knowledgeable in Shakespeare . In spite of the attempts of a French master , he was unable to become proficient in that language (Lavery 12-13

Nothing in his upbringing to this point would have pushed him to go to sea . But in 1763 his uncle , Maurice Suckling , had returned from the sea as a Captain in the Royal Navy . Suckling had been the commanding officer of the HMS Dreadnought , a 60 gun ship-of-the-line , and had seen combat against the French in the West Indies . He had taken up residence forty miles from the Nelson residence (Lavery 13

Peace was not to last . In 1770 Britain and Spain had a disagreement involving the Falkland Islands . As fate would have it , Suckling was offered a ship . Nelson , 12 years old , requested to go to sea with his uncle . Suckling agreed , and Nelson joined his ship in March of

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1771 . The threat of war with Spain diminished , Nelson did not sail for the Falklands , and the ship he had been assigned to was taken out of commission (Lavery 17

Suckling asked for and got the command of the 74 gun Triumph . He brought Nelson

with him as a Captain 's servant . He was now on his way toward a career in the Royal Navy (Coleman 13 . His uncle realized , though , that if Nelson was going to have a good chance at that career , he must have the chance to sail in the open water . In 1772 He transferred to a small merchant ship for a voyage to the West Indies (Coleman 13

The Royal Navy in 1771 was in a state of flux . Lord Hawke , the political head of the Navy , and veteran of the Seven Years ' War resigned due to poor health . Lord Sandwich replaced him , serving in the post for the next twelve years (Knight 12 . Captain Cook had finished his voyage and had moored Endeavor on the Thames . In 1771 the Royal Navy had...