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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Lord Nelson
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(Horatio Nelson, 1758–1805, KB 1797, viscount 1801) Admiral whose victory and death at *Trafalgar is remembered as the high point of British naval history. At sea from the age of 12, he was a captain before he was 21 and was a senior naval officer by the time the *French Revolutionary Wars began in 1793. He lost the sight of his right eye in 1794 when attacking Calvi, in Corsica, and his right arm was shattered in an assault on Tenerife in 1797. By 1798 he was in command of a fleet in the Mediterranean and scored his great victory at the *Nile.
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Throughout this period he was frequently at Naples, a port open to the British, and it was there that he met Lady *Hamilton. A respite from the *Napoleonic Wars in 1802–3 (the result of the peace of *Amiens) meant that he was briefly able to enjoy with her the pleasures of London. His final two years brought him success at *Copenhagen as well as the tragic triumph of *Trafalgar, the scene of his death. His body was brought back to England, preserved in a cask of spirits, and lay in state in the Painted Hall of the *Royal Naval College at Greenwich before being buried in *St Paul's Cathedral.
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