Horatio Nelson by Tom Pocock
Horatio Nelson: the national hero who secured a century of maritime
supremacy for his country and became th focus of British identity and
aspirations. Generous and brave, sometimes vain and occasionally weak, he
is still the butt of half-admiring jokes: bawdy when his name is coupled
with that of Emma Hamilton; respectful in relation ot his great naval
achievements.
Tom Pocock's Horatio Nelson is the first biography of the admiral to
include a significant and hitherto unpublished account of Nelson's plans
for a new career in politics. It is the first full biography to unveil
detailed descriptions of his adventures on an expedition to the Arctic as
a boy, his exploits in the Nicaraguan jungle as a young captain, his love
for an older officer's pretty and sophisticated young wife in the West
Indies and his defence in court of one of his men on a murder charge and
of an old friend charged with treason and plotting the murder of the King.
Including an appendix of existing Nelsonian sites in addition to many photographs
and quotations from letters unpublished until now, this biography also
grants us an intimate glimpse, seen through the eyes of Nelson's young
niece, of life with Nelson and the Hamilton's at Merton Place, the home
they shared.
The most revealing study yet written, this biography juxtaposes
details of Nelson's daily life, friendships and opiniions with the great
events which make him one of the best loved and most memorable figures in
British history.
Book serial number BK38. Price £20.00. Hard back with 364 pages.
