26 Nelson Newsletter Jan 2012

The Nelson Society of Australia Inc. Newsletter January, 2012 Trafalgar Commemoration, St George’s Cathedral 2011 Program of Events All meetings begin at 7pm for a 7.30 start unless otherwise stated. St Michael’s Church, Cnr The Promenade & Gunbower Rd, Mt. Pleasant Please bring a plate for supper. 13th Feb. Monday 2012. 6pm The Annual Evening BYO Picnic at Wireless Hill Park, Melville “Nelson’s Captains” by Mike Sargeant 14th March Mon. 2012. A.G.M. ‘Nautical Terminology” John Richards Members are urged to nominate for positions on the Management Committee which currently meets at two monthly intervals. There is also a need for volunteers to assist Richard Savage on the Memorial Sub Committee. 14th May Mon. 7pm Talk. Details Later 28th May Mon. North American Veteran’s Unit, Kings Park 9th July Mon. 1.30pm Day Time Talk — details later 9th Sept Sun. 10 .30 am Visit to Peter Board’s Nelson Collection in Parkerville 21st Oct. Sun. 3pm Trafalgar Service, St George’s Cathedral 9th Nov Fri. 7pm Pickle Night Dinner 26th Nov. Mon. 7pm End of year event Page 1 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2012 Trafalgar Day Service Address given by Bob Woollett. St Georges Cathedral, Perth. October 23rd 2011 Horatio Nelson was unquestionably a committed But most notable were the gifts to his father, the and successful warrior, and the four great Battles he Reverend Edmund Nelson, the vicar of Burnham fought towards the end of his life, Cape St Vincent, Thorpe in Norfolk. First in 1794, £200 for the poor and The Nile, Copenhagen and needy of the area and then finally Trafalgar, bear ample starting in 1799, an annuity of testament to this idea. The latter £500 to assist with his father’s which we are commemorating general work in the parish, ‘a today had the avowed aim, of not mark of gratitude’ he wrote ‘to the just defeating the enemy but best of parents from a dutiful son’. utterly destroying it. It is a concept Loyalty in both directions lay at which is emphasised in many the heart of Nelson’s formation of accounts of his life and times and his famous ‘Band of Brothers’. is one which epitomised by Lord The name originating at the Battle Byron’s description of him, in his of the Nile, was one he gave to epic poem, ‘Don Juan’, as the group of senior captains ‘Britannia’s God of War’. serving under him such as, But as a summary of the man and Thomas Hardy, Tom Fremantle, his achievements, the Thomas Troubridge, Edmund picture of Nelson as no more than Berry, Alexander Bell and later a son of Mars, does him less than Henry Blackwood. Nelson was justice and fails to explain the familiar with the works of devotion and admiration he Shakespeare and often quoted inspired in those who served with him and in the them in letters. The phrase a ‘Band of Brothers’ comes population at large. from the famous speech by the King in Henry V just The key to such an explanation lies in the equally before the Battle of Agincourt, important humane qualities of the man and it is on “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers some of these that I would like to focus in my For he today that sheds his blood with me, address this afternoon. Shall be my brother.’ Foremost among these qualities, was the loyalty he Bonds between above and below were important for showed to his family and friends, and to the officers Nelson and loyalty was the glue which held them and men who served with him. A sad exception to together. He demanded unqualified allegiance from this, it must be said, was his wife Fanny, Lady his offices and men and in return fought vigorously for Nelson whom he heartlessly discarded when his their welfare. In the words of John Sugden in part 1 of relationship with Emma Hamilton developed and, his authoritive biography of Nelson, ‘A Dream of Glory, although he made reasonable material provision for ‘They were, in their leaders eyes, partnered in a her, the manner of their separation and Nelson’s patriotic and sacred enterprise.’ subsequent attitude to her, does him little credit. This deeply ingrained sense of loyalty saw Nelson It was a very different matter with other members of frequently take the stand in both naval and civil courts his family, keeping in close touch with his father, to speak on behalf of people under his command. sisters and brothers and doing what he could to In 1787, when James Jamieson the Master of the promote the navel career of his stepson, Josiah frigate Boreas, was accused of cruelty to one of the Nisbet, and his nephew, William Bolton. ship’s crew, Nelson as his captain, recommended that This interest in his family and their well-being often in view of Jamieson’s good character and clear record, took a very practical form as when during the 1790’s no further action be taken on the matter, with the he offered financial assistance to his younger sister, result that the charge was dropped. Kate, and paid the educational expenses of the In the following year, he appeared as a witness in the children of his elder sister Susannah Bolton. trial of James Carse, an elderly cooper on the Boreas Page 2 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2012 for the murder of a woman during a drunken spree in the West Indies in 1790. After being accused of ashore. The evidence was not compelling and, asked if, misconduct in his position as an Administrator in in his opinion Carse was likely to commit such a foul Honduras, Despard became associated with deed, Nelson replied ‘I should as soon as suspect groups of radicals and Irish Rebels and was myself because I am hasty and he is not’, a comment involved in various plots of insurrection, including that no doubt played a part in the defendant eventually hare-brained schemes to blow up the Houses of receiving a pardon. Parliament and the Bank of England. “I served A more difficult situation arose in 1796 when Charles with Despard in the Spanish Main”, proclaimed Sawyer, the captain of he frigate Blanche, a ship in the Nelson from the witness box ‘and in all that time, squadron of which Nelson was Commodore, was no man could have shown more zealous accused of homosexual offences with member of his attachment to his sovereign and Country than crew. Nelson held Sawyer in high regard as a fellow Colonel Despard I formed the highest opinion of officer but found himself, in his own words, ‘mixed with him as a officer and a man’. indignation and sorrow’ and was forced to let the law As it happened Nelson’s eloquence was to no run its course. avail, Despard was found guilty and subsequently Sawyer was found guilty and dismissed from the hanged before a cheering crowd outside service but Nelson later wrote a letter to the Newington Goal. But it is a good example of dishonoured man and was of some help ensuring Nelson doing what he thought was his duty to an Sawyer received a substantial amount of prize money old friend, even one that was unpopular with the which had been due to him before the accusations authorities and the people at large and was now arose. accused of a most serious crime. Similarly he stood by several civilian friends or A risk of a different kind was later taken by Nelson acquaintances in their times of trouble with the law. In in the lead up to the Battle of Trafalgar when he the 1780’s during service in the West Indies, although showed great magnanimity towards his colleague, hardly endearing himself to the authorities, he lent his Admiral Sir Richard Calder, the Commander of support to two merchants, Messrs. Wilkinson and one of the Squadrons in the British Fleet. Calder Higgins, when they were wrongly accused in his view of needed to return to England to deal with an illicit dealings in the acquisition and distribution of naval investigation into his alleged dereliction of duty stores. when, on his return from the West Indies back in In 1803, Nelson’s long July, he had failed to intercept the French Fleet standing mentor and friend under Admiral Villeneuvre off the N.W. coast of Alexander Davison, who France. After failing to persuade Calder to take a advised him on business smaller ship, Nelson finally agreed to his going in matters and looked after his his flagship the 90-gun Prince of Wales, a finances, was accused of decision which reduced the number of Nelson’s bribery and corruption when capital ships to 27 and seriously weakened the standing for Parliament, was overall fire power of the fleet. Nelson later judged found guilty and sent to that he might be thought by some to have made a prison. mistake but felt sure he did ‘the right thing, as a But Nelson did not forsake his man to a brother officer in affliction.’ ‘My heart friend and continued to could not stand it,’ he said, ‘and so the thing must entrust his affairs with him, a rest’. gesture much appreciated On the eve of Calder’s departure for England, he and remembered by Davison wrote a letter to him wishing him a quick passage when, after Trafalgar he and a happy termination of the enquiry. Going into erected a monument to battle a few days later, Nelson is reported to have Alexander Davison Nelson on his estate at turned to one of his officers nearby and say ‘What Swarland Place, bearing the inscription ‘to the memory would poor Calder give to be with us now?’ of a private friendship’.

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