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Unveiling Nelson’s Legacy: My Travels This (Northern) Summer

Updated: Oct 28

This summer I have been traveling in England, Ireland, and the United States. I am on the hunt for materials and ideas for my blogs, for speeches, and for my third novel in the Nelson and his Son trilogy – The Nelson Inheritance.


Image: History on Mackinac Island, MI with thanks to Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau


Exploring Nelson’s Portsmouth and Norfolk

In England, I visited two places familiar to Nelson fans - Portsmouth and Norfolk. My three-hour visit to the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth in the UK was partly sight-seeing – to view the wonderful Mary Rose exhibit. I had visited the Victory twice before, so I passed by the mighty ship, now cocooned in scaffolding and lacking its top masts as she undergoes yet another facelift. I was also at the Museum to visit the Nelson exhibit and to meet the curator to discuss the museum’s donation policy.


Image: The Victory

The Nelson Gallery: A Tribute to a Naval Hero

The exhibit I wanted to see was the Nelson Gallery. The exhibit was created by the late Colin White, perhaps the greatest Nelson scholar of recent times. The fantastic artefacts and portraits in the exhibit were all donated by Lily Lambert McCarthy CBE, an American citizen whose lifelong study of Nelson led her to make this valuable donation in 1972. John McCarthy, Lily’s son, who I know through a mutual friend, told me Lily was a supporter of Fanny. It was too bad that the exhibit was created thirty years before the discoveries by Martyn Downer of some seventy letters, which established once and for all that Fanny was a loving woman who was cruelly treated by Nelson and his lover after their marriage failed. Colin White himself wrote the paper which vindicated Fanny. As a result of being created before these new discoveries, the exhibit dealing with Fanny occupies only a small and darkly lit showcase - easily overlooked and overshadowed by the more significant exhibits.


Afterwards, I met with the curator who described the rules for any donation. My reasons for the donation - a rare portrait of Fanny - failed to raise any level of interest in using the donation to re-evaluate Fanny in the light of the new evidence.


Image: Holkham Hall


Later on, in Norfolk, I again visited Holkham Hall, the Great Palladian House close to Nelson’s home and which appears in Nelson’s Folly. Coke is Whig while Nelson is Tory. Coke is rich while Nelson is struggling financially. Yet Nelson knows that his victories will overshadow Coke and what he represents. It is ironic that the descendant of Coke, the Earl of Leicester, is the patron of the new Nelson exhibit in Burnham Thorpe as well as the owner of the newly restored “The Lord Nelson” inn in the village.


Burnham Thorpe: A Quiet Reflection

We also visited the sad, deserted Burnham Thorpe church where Nelson’s father was the rector. In recent times there has been an initiative by the Portsmouth “Museum of the Royal Navy” to memorialise Nelson at his birthplace. Just a few steps from the “Lord Nelson,” the Museum, advised by Martyn Downer, the author of Nelson’s Purse, has created a mini-exhibit outlining Nelson’s life in Burnham Thorpe and has illustrated it with portraits and murals. My painting of Fanny Nelson, which I had arranged to be photographed by a leading studio in Sydney for the exhibit, now occupies a prominent position. The portrait has been enlarged and does Fanny more justice than my miniature.


Image: At Nelson Exhibit, Burnham Thorpe

I left Burnham with my friend who lives in nearby Wells-next-the-Sea on our bikes, well satisfied with another short visit to Nelson’s Norfolk.


Across the Atlantic: Travel the best type of Research!

In the United States, I visited New York - which features in my new book. I especially enjoyed vistas of the city across the mighty Hudson River from the New Jersey Palisades north of the city. Josiah visits the city which is at the cusp of its dominance as the financial centre of the US.


Later I visited Lakes Huron and drove north to Mackinac Island – all important places in my new novel. For centuries, visitors have enjoyed this Jewel of the Great Lakes that’s home to historic Fort Mackinac and car-free streets full of horse-drawn carriages. To find out its connection to Nelson, you’ll need to read The Nelson Inheritance - I promise you I’m working hard on ensuring it is a rattling good yarn for all!


Image: Nelson Exhibit at Burnham Thorpe


So any travel recommendations anyone? Have you ever visited a location from a historical fiction novel you’ve enjoyed? Please tell us about it in the comments below!


To find out more about my novels and sign up to ‘stay in touch’, visit my author home page. Remember that my first novel in the triology, Nelson's Folly, is also available as an audiobook.


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