Horatia Nelson-Ward

Pinner, Greater London, England, United Kingdom

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Horatia Nelson-Ward (Nelson)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: 23 Piccadilly, Mayfair, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Death: March 06, 1881 (80)
Pinner, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Place of Burial: Pinner, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, KB and Emma Hamilton
Wife of Rev. Phillip Ward
Mother of Rev. Horatio Nelson Ward; Eleanor Philippa Ward; Marmaduke Philip Smyth Ward; John James Stephens Ward; Nelson Ward and 5 others
Sister of Emma? Hamilton, Thompson or Nelson
Half sister of Emma Carew

Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Horatia Nelson-Ward

Note: Married name has been adopted as per records and grave.



Wikipedia - Horatia Nelson
"Horatia Nelson, christened as Horatia Nelson Thompson (January 29, 1801 – March 6, 1881) was the illegitimate daughter of Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson." (etc.)

National Archives source for name at baptism.



thepeerage.com entry for Horatia


Name Horatia Nelson Thompson
Gender Female
Christening Date 13 May 1803
Christening Date (Original) 13 MAY 1803
Christening Place SAINT MARY-ST MARYLEBONE ROAD,ST MARYLEBONE,LONDON,ENGLAND
Birth Date 29 Oct 1801
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQYW-Z3J : 11 February 2018, Horatia Nelson Thompson, 29 Oct 1801); citing SAINT MARY-ST MARYLEBONE ROAD,ST MARYLEBONE,LONDON,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 580,907.

Note that the birthdate on the baptism record is not correct - this was to continue the fiction that Horatia had been born earlier and was godchild of Nelson and Emma.
Kate Williams' book says she was born "around 28 January", but most sources have it recorded as 29 January. She also cites the birth day year on the baptism record as 1800 (referring to an unpublished letter from Mrs Gibson to Emma), to further the pretence that the child had been born and orphan in Naples. (Later on, her natural parents adopted her as an orphan.)

(Note that thepeerage.com shows 29 Oct 1800 as Horatia's birthdate, citing Burke's Peerage as its source, and the National Archives source says that Horatia was aged 2 at the time of baptism.)



Census records - still to be properly documented:
1841 - Tenterden. Phillip, Horatia, children Horatio, Eleanor, William, Horatia, Phillip and Caroline.
1851 - Tenterden. Phillip, Horatia, children Horatio, Eleanor (shown as Ellen), Nelson, Horatio, Caroline.
1861 - Westend, Harrow - probably Westend Road in Pinner. Horatia (widow - now 60), Eleanor (30), William Horatio Ward (grandson, born Middlesex - aged 1. Whose child is this? There's no exact match, and no obvious likely candidate in GRO birth records).
1871 - Pinner. Horatia and Eleanor with 3 servants, at 2 Beaufort Villas, Woodridings, Pinner, Middlesex.


Obituary index and outline facts on FS:
Name: Horatia Nelson Ward
Event Type: Obituary
Event Date: 11 Mar 1881 [presumably date of publication]
Event Place: Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
Gender: Female
Age: 81
Relationship to Deceased: Deceased
Birth Date: 1801
Birthplace: , , England
Death Year (Estimated): 1881
Death Place: Pinner, Middlesex, England
Newspaper: Edinburgh Evening News
Page: 0002

Spouse and Children
Philip Ward Husband Male
Parents and Siblings
Emma Hamilton Mother Female
Horatio Nelson Father Male

"British Newspaper Archives, Obituaries", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q26M-MYN7 : 18 March 2018), Horatia Nelson Ward, 1881.



Findagrave memorial has photo and much biographical information too.

She was born to Emma Hamilton at Sir William Hamilton's London house, 23 Piccadilly, while Nelson was preparing to set sail for the Battle of Copenhagen. The news was brought to him while he was at anchor in Torbay in Devon. For the first few years of her life, she was known as Horatia Thompson because, in order to protect Nelson from the scandal of having fathered a child out of wedlock, Admiral Thompson of Portsmouth Dockyard agreed to pretend to be the father. However, in his will, Nelson wrote : "I leave to the beneficience of my country my adopted (sic) daughter Horatia Nelson Thompson, and I desire that she will in future use the name of Nelson only." He died at Trafalgar when Horatia was four, and left her £200 a year. Unfortunately, Lady Hamilton fell into debt and the girl had to spend ten months in a prison cell with her mother before they flew to Calais to escape the creditors. Emma died in 1815 and Horatia was brought back to England disguised as a boy ; as, if her identity had become known, she would have been liable to arrest for the debts her mother had incurred in France. Horatia spent her next seven years in Slaugham in Sussex with Nelson's sister, Mrs. Catherine Matcham. On the 19th. February 1822, she married the Reverend Philip Ward, and they had nine children, of whom two are buried in this grave. Her youngest son died of a liver complaint on his return from India, and her eldest daughter was knocked down by a horse which bolted from the yard of the Queen's Head Inn in Pinner High Street, and was carried into a nearby draper's shop, where she died. Horatia survived her husband (who is, presumably, buried in Tenterden) by twenty years, and died at Beaufort Villa, Woodridings, Pinner, half a mile North of the cemetery. In memory of Lieut. Philip Ward, 25th. Bengal Native Infantry, who died 12th. September 1865, aged 33, youngest son of the late Revd. Philip Ward, Vicar, Tenterden, Kent. Also in memory of Eleanor Philippa Ward, Spinster, eldest daughter of the above-named Revd. Philip Ward, who was accidentally killed 6th. August 1872, aged 48. Here also rests Horatia Nelson Ward, who died March 6th. 1881, aged 80, the beloved daughter of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson and widow of the above-named Revd. Philip Ward."

Bio by: Iain MacFarlaine


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Horatia Nelson-Ward's Timeline

1801
January 29, 1801
23 Piccadilly, Mayfair, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
1803
May 13, 1803
Age 2
St Mary's, Marylebone, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
1822
December 8, 1822
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
1824
April 14, 1824
Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
1825
May 27, 1825
Bircham Newton, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom
1827
February 12, 1827
Bircham Newton, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom