Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805

Horatio Nelson was born on September 29, 1758, in Norfolk, England, to Edmund Nelson and Catherine Suckling. At the age of 13, he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on the Raisonnable 64, commanded by his uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling. He lost sight in his right eye at the Siege of Corsica in 1794 when debris from a cannon explosion injured him. He lost his right arm in July of 1797 leading a charge against Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands, but a year later was back in the Mediterranean sailing with Captain Edward Berry on Vanguard 74. He married Frances Nisbet on March 12, 1787. Lady Nelson had a son from her previous marriage, but she and Lord Nelson never had children together. His only biological child, Horatia Nelson, came from his long-term affair with Lady Emma Hamilton. Lord Nelson died on October 21, 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar, living long enough after being shot by a French sniper to know that he’d won a decisive victory against Napoleon. His body was returned to England where he was given a state funeral on January 9, 1806.