Last letter from Nelson to Horatia.

While at sea, Nelson frequently wrote to both Lady Hamilton and their daughter Horatia, and this letter was written just before the Battle of Trafalgar. It was usual, as many accounts testify, for sailors to write home before a battle in the hope that even if they were killed their final thoughts and wishes would be conveyed to their families.

Horatia’s birth and parentage were kept secret. She was brought up by a Mrs Gibson in London and rarely visited her parents, even while Nelson was at home at Merton before the Trafalgar campaign. Nelson’s message, not mentioning the relationship between them, is all the more poignant for its instruction to the four-year-old Horatia to ‘Give her [Lady Hamilton] a kiss from Me’.