Frances Nelson

Frances Nisbet
Born	1761 Nevis
Died	4 May 1831 Harley Street, London
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Josiah Nisbet m. 1779, d. 1781 Horatio Nelson m. 1787
Relatives	Josiah Nisbet (1780-1830), son

Frances "Fanny" Nelson, Viscountess Nelson (1758 – 4 May 1831), is best known as the wife of Horatio Nelson, the British naval officer who won several victories over the French during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Born of wealthy parents on Nevis, she was orphaned at a fairly young age, and married a doctor, Josiah Nisbet. The couple returned to England, but her new husband died there, and Frances returned to Nevis to live with her uncle, a prominent politician of the island. There she met Horatio Nelson, and married him in 1787. The couple moved to England and Fanny established a household and cared for her husband's elderly father while he was at sea. She was by all accounts a devoted wife, but in time Horatio met Emma Hamilton while serving in the Mediterranean and the two embarked in a highly public affair. Fanny became estranged from her husband, who refused all contact with her through to his death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Despite this she remained devoted to his memory for the rest of her life.

Frances was born on the Caribbean island of Nevis in 1758, and was baptised Frances Herbert Woolward in St. George's Church in May 1761. The Woolwards were members of the colonial elite, her mother, Mary Herbert, was one of three sisters of John Richardson Herbert, a descendant of the fourth Earl of Pembroke, and Mary and John's uncle had been President of the Council of Nevis until his death in 1768. Fanny's father, William Woodward, was a senior judge on Nevis, and a partner in the firm of Herbert, Morton and Woolward. The Woolwards lived in comfort, and Fanny herself owned a black manservant named Cato.

Fanny's mother died while Fanny was still a child, with her father succumbing to tetanus in February 1779, at the age of 53. Fanny inherited most of her father's possessions, but was forced to sell most of them to creditors. She raised a tablet to her parents' memory in the local church, and on 28 June 1779 married the 31-year-old physician Dr Josiah Nisbet. Josiah had connections with the political elite of the island, and was probably fairly wealthy. The couple moved to England and lived briefly in the close at Salisbury Cathedral. Josiah Nisbet became seriously ill shortly after arriving in England and died on 5 October 1781, leaving Fanny with their seventeen-month-old child Josiah, but with no other provision. Fanny raised a plaque in her dead husband's memory at the church in Stratford Sub Castle, and spent some time in England acting as the guardian of the children of another Nevis planter, John Pinney. Pinney returned to England in 1783 and did not recognise his children, prompting Fanny to exclaim 'Good God! Don't you know them? They are your children!' Pinney's wife was so surprised that she set her headdress alight on a nearby candle.

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Wikipedia