In the original dustsheet. Blue cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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Much has been written about Horatio Nelson’s glamorous mistress Emma Hamilton but his wife usually appears as a marginal character. Historians tend to portray Francis Lady Nelson as dull, dowdy and mousey but Sheila Hardy has put the spotlight on her and in this book reveals her in a new light. Through close analysis of previously published as well as newly discovered documents, the author puts forward a convincing case and presents Fanny Nelson as an intelligent, warm-hearted and sophisticated wife of a rather vain and egotistical husband.

Frances “Fanny” Nelson, Viscountess Nelson, Duchess of Bronte (née Frances Herbert Woolward, formerly Nisbet; (1758  – 4 May 1831), is best known as the wife of Horatio Nelson, the British naval officer who won several victories over the French during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Born of wealthy parents on Nevis, she was orphaned at a fairly young age, and married a doctor, Josiah Nisbet. The couple returned to England, but her new husband died there, and Frances returned to Nevis to live with her uncle, a prominent politician of the island. There she met Horatio Nelson, and married him in 1787. The couple moved to England, and Fanny established a household and cared for her husband’s elderly father while he was at sea. She was by all accounts a devoted wife, but in time Horatio met Emma Hamilton while serving in the Mediterranean, and the two embarked in a highly public affair. Fanny became estranged from her husband, who refused all contact with her through to his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Despite this, Fanny remained devoted to his memory for the rest of her life.