Colonial Despatches

Viscount Horatio Nelson was a British naval officer, born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on September 29, 1758.1 Nelson joined the navy at the age of 12 during the Falkland Islands Crisis.2

Nelson was appointed a Captain in the navy in 1779, at the age of 20, and was a major figure in the French Napoleonic Wars. He lost sight in his right eye while commanding the vessel Agamemnon in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars in the Mediterranean, but went on to serve in several battles in Egypt, Naples, the Baltic, and the West Indies.3

One of Nelson's most famous battles was the Battle of Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain, where his fleet fought the Spanish and French. The British were victorious, but Nelson died in action on October 21, 1805. The Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square, London was created in his memory.4

• 1. N. A. M. Rodger, Nelson, Horatio Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 2. 2011. Horatio Nelson, Viscount Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition 1. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.