Notes on the Character of Admiral Lord Nelson — pamphlet, 1861

Description

A pamphlet by George Nelson Matcham of Newhouse (1789–1877), originally contributed as a letter to The Times of 6 November 1861, and reprinted the same year in London by James Ridgway of Piccadilly. The piece responds to the recently published journals of Melesina Trench (née Chenevix), known earlier as Mrs St George, whose unfavourable account of meeting Lord and Lady Hamilton with Nelson at Dresden in 1800 had appeared in The Remains of the Late Mrs. Richard Trench (1861). Matcham, writing as Nelson's nephew and as one of the family circle who had known him in his last years, defended his uncle's character against what he regarded as a partial and prejudiced account. The Matcham family connects to the Purvises through his daughter Louisa Harriet Eyre Matcham, who married Fortescue Richard Purvis — son of Richard Fortescue Purvis.