Emma, Lady Hamilton
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Emma Hamilton, in one of dozens of portraits by George Romney, at the height of her beauty in the 1780s |
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Emma Hamilton, after the portraits by George Romney |
Emma, Lady Hamilton (baptized
April 26,
1765 –
January 16,
1815) is best remembered as the
mistress of
Lord Nelson. She was born
Amy Lyon in
Cheshire,
England, the daughter of a
blacksmith, Henry Lyons, who died when she was two months old. She was brought up by her mother at
Hawarden, with no formal education. She later changed her name to
Emma Hart.
By
1782 the 17-year-old Emma was already very well known in
London society, having been taken from a
brothel "into keeping" as the mistress of several men, and as the model of the "Goddess of Health" for
James Graham, a
Scottish "
quack" doctor. (In 1780, at the age of 15, she reportedly had a daughter by a "patron", Sir
Harry Featherstonhaugh, named Emma Carew, who was brought up by her grandmother in
Wales. As a young woman, she saw her mother reasonably frequently, but when her mother fell into debt, she was forced to leave the country to work abroad as a companion or governess, and probably died not long after her mother).
Emma lived with
Charles Francis Greville, a young
aristocrat who was deeply in love with her and sent her to sit for his friend, the painter, George Romney. In 1786, resolved on finding a rich wife, he sent her to
Naples to be the mistress of his uncle, Sir
William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples, in the hope of freeing himself from her for good, and preventing his uncle from remarrying.
Sir William was smitten with Emma, and to Greville's shock, married her on
September 6,
1791 at
St. George's, Hanover Square,
London. As Sir William's mistress and then wife, Emma developed what she called her "Attitudes", a cross between postures, dance, and acting, that took
Europe by storm. Using a few
shawls, she posed as various classical figures from
Medea to
Queen Cleopatra, and her performances charmed aristocrats, artists, writers â€" including the great
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe â€" and kings and queens alike, setting off new dance trends across Europe and starting a fashion for a draped
Grecian style of dress.
Lady Hamilton became a close friend of
Queen Maria Carolina, wife of
Ferdinand I of Naples. As wife of the British Envoy, she welcomed Nelson in
1793, when he came to gather reinforcements against the
French. He returned to Naples five years later, a living legend, after his win at the
Battle of the Nile in
Aboukir. However, Nelson's adventures had prematurely aged him: he had lost an arm and most of his teeth, and was afflicted by
coughing spells. Emma reportedly fainted when she saw him. Still, she nursed him under her husband's roof, and arranged a party with 1,800 guests to celebrate his 40th birthday. They soon fell in love and their affair seems to have been tolerated, and perhaps even encouraged, by the elderly Sir William, who showed nothing but admiration and respect for Nelson, and vice-versa.
Emma gave birth to Nelson's daughter Horatia, on January 31,
1801 at Sir William's rented home in Clarges Street,
Piccadilly, London. By the autumn of the same year, Nelson bought Merton Place, a small ramshackle house on the outskirts of modern day
Wimbledon. There he lived openly with Emma, and Sir William (along with Emma's mother) in a
menage a trois that fascinated the public. The newspapers reported on their every move, looking to Emma to set fashions in dress, home decoration and even
dinner party menus.
Sir William died in
1803 and Nelson returned to sea soon after, leaving Emma pregnant with their second child. She was desperately lonely, preoccupied with attempting to turn Merton Place into the grand home Nelson desired, and frantic for his return. The child, a girl, died a few weeks after her birth in early 1803. Emma reportedly distracted herself by gambling, and spending lavishly.
After Nelson's death in
1805, Emma (who had quickly exhausted the small pension Sir William had left her), fell deeply into debt. (Nelson had willed his estate to his brother; he gave her Merton, but he would have been better off leaving the house to his brother for Emma exhausted her finances by trying to keep it up as a monument to him). In spite of Nelson's status as a
national hero, the instructions he left to the government to provide for Emma and Horatia were ignored (they showered honours on his brother instead).
Emma was to spend a year in
debtor's prison (Horatia was with her at the time), before moving to France to try to escape her creditors. Turning to drink, she died in poverty of
liver failure in
Calais in January
1815.
Horatia subsequently married the Rev. Philip Ward, and lived until 1881. She had nine children: Horatio Nelson (born 8 December 1822); Eleanor Phillipa (born April 1824); Marmaduke Philip Smyth (born 27 May 1825); John James Stephen (13 February 1827â€"1829); Nelson (born 8 May 1828); William George (born 8 April 1830); Edmund (10 July 1832â€"1833); Horatio (born 24 November 1833), Philip (born May 1834) and Caroline (born January 1836).
The
Italian dessert
Zuppa Inglese, a more alcohol-laced version of the English
trifle, is claimed to date from Lady Hamilton's time in Naples.
*
Susan Sontag authored a novel based on Emma, Hamilton, Nelson, and their historical position called
The Volcano Lover.
*
Terence Rattigan published
A Bequest to the Nation in
1970, based on his
1966 television play
Nelson.
*
Glenda Jackson starred as Lady Hamilton in the 1973 film
The Nelson Affair.
*
Corinne Griffith starred as Lady Hamilton in the 1929 film
The Divine Lady.
*
Vivien Leigh starred as Lady Hamilton, with Laurence Olivier as Lord Nelson, in the 1941 film
That Hamilton Woman.
* Kate Williams 'England's Mistress' (October, 2006)
*
Flora Fraser,
Beloved Emma (1986)
*
Mollie Hardwick,
Emma, Lady Hamilton (1969)
*
Norah Lofts,
Emma Hamilton (1978)
*
Oliver Warner,
Emma Hamilton and Sir William (1960)
*
'Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante' in the
Lady Lever Art Gallery
