Nelson: The Sword of Albion

by John Sugden

Overview

The most authoritative and intimate portrait written of Horatio Nelson

In this epic biography of British history's most celebrated naval commander, acclaimed historian John Sugden separates fact from myth to offer a powerful portrait of the military hero of Trafalgar.

As was true of the Sugden's riveting account of Horatio Nelson's early years (Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 2005), this comprehensive life of Lord Nelson is built from largely overlooked primary documents, letters, and diaries that reach across two centuries to invite us to share Nelson's multifaceted life in the Napoleonic Wars.

The Sword of Albion offers the sweep and intimacy of first-rate historical fiction—revealing the interior lives, for example, of Lord Nelson's wife, Fanny and family and the caring and more passionate Emma, Lady Hamilton, who nursed the war-weary hero back to health in Naples and London after his brilliant victory over the Spanish fleet at Cape St. Vincent in 1797 and the stunning defeat at Tenerife that cost Nelson his right arm.

Today's reader comes to understand that every obstacle in Nelson's path was attacked head-on with an Achilles-like ferocity and resolve. Yet his life was no steady upward trajectory; it was instead plagued by injuries and debt for the commoner admiral in a royal navy and English society dominated by lineage and property. As Sugden points out, "His life was a mission with the essence of a tour de force, hurrying toward a bloody climax that would change the fate of empires."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805098433
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/11/2013
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	944
Sales rank:	933,155
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

John Sugden is the author of several biographies, including Nelson: A Dream of Glory, Tecumseh: A Life, and Sir Frances Drake. A historian and lecturer, Sugden has pursued his research for this work in archives in Europe, Britain, and North America over the past decade. He lives in Carnforth, England.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Maps xi

Introduction 1

Book 1 The Band of Brothers

I Recovering 13

II The Band of Brothers 46

III 'Victory is… Not a Name Strong Enough for Such a Scene' 85

IV 'Nostro Liberatore!' 125

V Nelson's Great Gamble 154

VI 'The Mainspring' 181

VII Corning Back 212

VIII The Bourbon Restoration 236

IX Duke of Bronte 268

Book 2 Hoping for Happiness

X 'Come Back to Your Family Here' 301

XI 'A Weak Man in Bad Hands' 332

XII Domestic Strife 371

XIII 'Champion of the North' 408

XIV Controlling the Baltic 451

XV The Guardian 484

XVI Looking for Paradise 520

XVII No Common Love 552

Book 3 The Glorious Race

XVIII 'By Patience and Perseverance' 595

XIX The Eastern Question 633

XX In the Victory 655

XXI Mastering the Machine 672

XXII The Test 720

XXIII The Last Farewell 753

XXIV 'For Charity's Sake, Send us Lord Nelson!' 772

XXV 'Irresistible Lines of Ships' 795

XXVI 'All Toils Surmounted…' 835

Acknowledgements 854

A Notes on Sources 859

Select Bibliography 870

Glossary 889

Index 895

Editorial Reviews

Picking up where Sugden’s Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758–1797 left off, this superb warts-and-all biography details the awe-inspiring ups and downs of the final eight years of British Admiral Horatio Nelson’s life. After the then-39-year-old Nelson lost an arm in the Royal Navy’s 1797 defeat at Tenerife, he returned home to convalesce with his loving wife, Frances. Quickly reappointed to command, Nelson achieved a stunning victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Emerging as an international superhero, he was elevated to the peerage and inspired a torrent of songs, snuff boxes, jewelry, and other commemorative memorabilia. Nelson’s hunger for adoration impelled him to manipulate the press, flaunt his decorations for posterity, and enter into a notorious affair with the bewitching wife of Britain’s ambassador to Naples—but it also drove him to push ever forward militarily, even in the face of extreme opposition. After several successful campaigns, Nelson was killed in the critical victory over the French and Spanish at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, one of the greatest British naval triumphs since the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada. In addition to expertly depicting the intricacies of maritime warfare, Sugden’s meticulously researched, highly readable work will no doubt be the definitive portrait of a brilliant, fearless, inspiring warrior beset by flaws and vulnerabilities. 33 illus. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Perhaps the best biography of Nelson to emerge in the past two centuries…superbly researched and very well-written.” —The Daily Beast

“This superb warts-and-all biography details the awe-inspiring ups and downs of the final eight years of British Admiral Horatio Nelson's life. Sugden's meticulously researched, highly readable work will no doubt be the definitive portrait of a brilliant, fearless, inspiring warrior beset by flaws and vulnerabilities.” —PW, "Best New Book of the Week"

“This is an ambitious and largely successful conclusion to a biography of a historical icon that has appeal for both scholars and general readers interested in British history.” —Booklist

“Superb…In addition to expertly depicting the intricacies of maritime warfare, Sugden's meticulously researched, highly readable work will no doubt be the definitive portrait of a brilliant, fearless, inspiring warrior beset by flaws and vulnerabilities.” —PW (Starred Review)

“It's clear that Sugden has spent an enormous amount of time on his research into primary sources, many of them newly accessed, and [he] presents a masterly portrait of the hero as a man…This is biography as it is meant to be.” —Library Journal (Starred Review)

“History repeats itself and it's worth as visit.” —Examiner.com

“A scholar's dream…tremendously engaging.” —Kirkus

“A rich and many-sitting read.” —Library Journal

From the Publisher

Admiral Horatio Nelson is one of history's greatest military heroes, having saved Great Britain from Napoleon by defeating the French fleet at Trafalgar in 1805, at the cost of his life. He has had many biographers but none has served him so well as John Sugden (Nelson: Dream of Glory) in his two-volume study of Nelson's life. In this second volume (the first was published in 2004), Sugden covers Nelson's final eight years, resuming the story in 1797 with Nelson unemployed and on half-pay and suffering from general poor health after the loss of his right arm to grapeshot. His wife, Fanny, tended to his recuperation but eventually lost him to his mistress, Emma Hamilton, as Nelson returned to naval command in the Mediterranean. His tremendous victory at the battle of the Nile in August 1798 was followed by service in the Baltic, and then in 1805 with Nelson's death at Trafalgar. It's clear that Sugden has spent an enormous amount of time on his research into primary sources, many of them newly accessed, and presents a masterly portrait of the hero as a man—vain, emotional, irritable, lonely, embittered, and completely dedicated to serving his country. VERDICT This is biography as it is meant to be; its subject, however, will be most pleasing to those who study the naval history of Britain in the Napoleonic Wars.—David Poremba, Windermere, FL

Library Journal

The exhaustive second volume of this definitive biography treats the admiral's supreme command of the British Navy and the bittersweet Lady Hamilton years. British biographer Sugden is a scholar's dream: He provides a gracious introductory bibliographic essay on previous works about Nelson and Hamilton, includes extensive maps of significant battles and even offers such helpful extras as a diagram of an "expansion" of Merton Place, Nelson's last home in Wimbledon. Nelson: A Dream of Glory (2004) covered Horatio's formative years: early patronage, solid marriage to Fanny and rise in ranks over the four years of wars with the French, culminating in his fame at the battle of Cape St. Vincent. This installment opens as the gravely wounded rear admiral, having lost his right arm in the disastrous defeat at Tenerife, returns to England to convalesce in Bath with his wife and aged father. Considering that his death at the Battle of Trafalgar looms in the near distance, and that the book weighs in at over 900 pages, there is a great deal to magnify over these few years. Equally epochal were the push back of Napoleonic aggression in the Mediterranean and the explosion of Nelson's passion for the spirited second wife of elderly Lord William Hamilton. Having gained heroic stature for destroying the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, Nelson then turned to repulse Napoleon's forces from the Kingdom of Naples, before lingering rather too long there among the lotus-eaters, to the detriment of his reputation and marriage. Sugden judges sexy Emma harshly in comparison to saintly Fanny, while Nelson is portrayed as a veritable cauldron of conflicting emotions (vanity, humility, honor, guilt), a man who yearned to do his duty yet craved a bit of happiness, too. Despite its length, a tremendously engaging work with few dull moments.

Kirkus Reviews