13 Facts About Frances Nelson

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.

Frances Nelson 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.

Frances Nelson was able to return to Nevis in early 1787 while touring the islands with Prince William Henry, and there he determined to marry Fanny.

Frances Nelson pronounced himself entirely satisfied with his decision, drawing up a new will that made his new wife the sole beneficiary, and writing to his friend William Locker that he was 'morally certain she will continue to make me a happy man for the rest of my days'.

Frances Nelson saw little of her family during the long periods that kept them at sea, and became ever closer with Edmund, taking trips with him to Somerset in the winter.

Frances Nelson managed her husband's financial affairs while he was at sea, and kept up relations with the Nelsons in Norfolk.

Frances Nelson wrote him a letter begging him not to repeat such antics, and to leave them to captains, now that he had been promoted to rear-admiral.

Meanwhile, Frances Nelson grew increasingly cold and distant toward Fanny, while his trysts with Lady Hamilton became more and more the subject of gossip.

Edmund Frances Nelson remained especially horrified by the breakdown of his son's marriage, and wrote to Horatio on occasion to rebuke him, both for adultery and abandonment of his wife.

Fanny Frances Nelson fell ill in 1805, the year of her husband's death at Trafalgar, but recovered.

Frances Nelson moved to Paris for a time to live with her son, where her eldest grandchild, named Fanny, recalled her good nature and her devotion to her husband's memory.

In 1830, her son Josiah died, and Lady Frances Nelson returned to live in London.

Frances Nelson died at Harley Street, London, on 4 May 1831 and was buried beside her son in the churchyard of St Margaret and St Andrew, Littleham, Devon.