Stratford Guild REVIEW Thursday 13 March 'Viscountess Frances 'Fanny' Nelson'

Fanny Nelson, a Hero’s Wife - a talk by Christine Mason 

The connection between Horatio, Lord Nelson, his wife Fanny and Stratford sub Castle is not as obscure as it first might seem.  Frances arrived in Salisbury from the Isle of Nevis. Here in St Lawrence’s Church, there is a memorial plaque (see the photograph) in memory of a Doctor Josiah Nisbet. 

Dr Nisbet attended Fanny’s father. However, her father died and four months later Fanny married the doctor and they had a son, also called Josiah. They are said to have lived in the Cathedral Close though there is no record, probably because tenancies were not recorded. In those days The Close was boggy and wet, an unhealthy place and the doctor died aged only 34. She was only 21 with no money and a baby son. Did they also live in Stratford? That might explain the memorial in St Lawrence.

Unable to return to Nevis (it was now occupied by the French) she ended up still in Salisbury staying with her uncle John Herbert. Her uncle was President of the Isle of Nevis and when she returned there in 1784, she met the seafaring Horatio Nelson on his travels.

Nelson was of a reserved disposition, of odd behaviour and a yellow wig.  Ambitious, he was waiting for a ship – Agamemnon was appropriate and was being built at Buckler’s Hard. In 1793 Fanny’s uncle died and she married Nelson, being given away by Prince William. They had no children together. They lived in Bath, Portsmouth and Devon and Norfolk where Nelson’s father lived.

She was alarmed at Nelson’s recklessness and tendency to disobey orders but he was clearly clever and successful. Pay in the Navy was at best minimal and reward had to be from prize money. Nelson was impatient to be at sea. In action at Tenerife, he lost an arm. He was away at sea on and off from 1787-1792 which she spent in Norfolk with Nelson’s father, whom she looked after with his sister Kitty who had eleven children. At the age of 12 Josiah joined his stepfather in the Navy so Fanny was without husband and son. She wrote newsy letters regularly always signing off with great affection. Josiah never wrote back.

Nelson sailed for the Mediterranean under Lord Hood and he spent a year in Naples and Sicily, staying at the Hamilton’s. His correspondence was not steady but signed affectionately and full of news, some personal and some naval news reflecting his friendship with Hood.  Nelson was very careful of the health of his crew with a good supply of citrus fruit. (James Lind, in Scotland, had proven the relationship of scurvy to fruit and vegetables in1747.) He became infatuated with Emma Hamilton and Fanny considered joining him in the Mediterranean but Nelson dissuaded her, unsurprisingly. So, Fanny was separated from her husband for four years.

In 1800 Nelson was recalled and came home by land to Great Yarmouth; he stayed at Fonthill when he was granted the Freedom of Salisbury.  He was granted the freedom of several cities but this one was the only one he was gracious enough to attend. Then the Hamiltons, Fanny and Nelson all met up in London. Emma was pregnant and gave birth to a young daughter, Horatia. Nevertheless, Fanny wanted a reunion with Nelson. He did not agree but he settled a quarterly allowance on her, and they separated. Nelson’s eyesight was failing (he had lost the sight of one eye in battle) but there were successes in the Baltic campaign. Fanny wrote congratulating him but received no reply. Repeated letters were written begging him to come home but were returned opened but unread. She was still looking after Nelson’s father. The separation was complete.

In 1805 Nelson was killed at Trafalgar and the ‘Victory’ was returned with Nelson’s body.

Fanny had 26 years of widowhood, but was well reconciled with Nelson’s family. Emma had nothing and died in penury.

As a widow Fanny was treated with admiration and respect, being a viscountess with a naval pension. Overall, it seems that Fanny received more attention from the public and her friends than she ever did from her husband who was unfaithful and had an unsympathetic personality.

Charles Villiers