Emma, Lady Hamilton
| Emma, Lady Hamilton | |
|---|---|
Emma Hamilton as a young woman c. 1782, by George Romney
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| Born |
26 April 1765 Neston, Cheshire, England |
| Died | 15 January 1815 (aged 49) Calais, France |
| Cause of death | Liver failure |
| Known for | Mistress of Lord Nelson |
| Title | Dame |
| Spouse(s) | Sir William Hamilton |
| Children | Emma Carew, Horatia Nelson |
Emma, Lady Hamilton (26 April 1765; baptised 12 May 1765 – 15 January 1815), model and actress, is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of George Romney.
She was born Amy Lyon in Ness near Neston, Cheshire, England, the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith who died when she was two months old. She was raised by her mother, the former Mary Kidd, at Hawarden, and received no formal education. She later changed her name to Emma Hart.
Details of Emma's early life are unclear, but at age 12, she was known to be working as a maid at the Hawarden home of Doctor Honoratus Leigh Thomas, a surgeon working in Chester. Then she worked for the Budd family in Chatham Place, Blackfriars, London, and met a maid called Jane Powell, who wanted to be an actress. Emma joined in with Jane's rehearsals for various tragic roles. Emma started work at the Drury Lane theatre in Covent Garden, as maid to various actresses, among them Mary Robinson.
Emma next worked as a model and dancer at the "Goddess of Health" (also known as the "Temple of Health") for James Graham, a Scottish "quack" doctor. The establishment's greatest attraction was a bed through which electricity was passed, giving paying patrons mild shocks. This supposedly aided conception, and many infertile couples paid high prices to try it.
At fifteen, Emma met Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, who hired her for several months as hostess and entertainer at a lengthy stag party at Fetherstonhaugh's Uppark country estate in the South Downs. She is said to have entertained Harry and his friends by dancing nude on the dining room table. Fetherstonhaugh took Emma there as a mistress, but frequently ignored her in favour of drinking and hunting with his friends. Emma soon formed a friendship with one of the guests, the dull but sincere Honourable Charles Francis Greville (1749–1809), second son of the then Earl of Warwick and a member of Parliament for Warwick. It was about this time (late June-early July 1781) that she conceived a child by Fetherstonhaugh.
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