Viscount Merton

Earl Nelson, of Trafalgar and of Merton in the County of Surrey, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created for William Nelson, an older brother of the famous British naval commander Horatio Nelson, who gained his fame in the wars against Napoleon. The title exists into the 21st century, with the 10th Earl Nelson, who has an heir apparent.

The title was created on 20 November 1805 for William Nelson, 2nd Baron Nelson, older brother of the famous Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. The Nelson family had been settled in Norfolk for many generations. Reverend Edmund Nelson (1722–1802) was Rector of Hillborough and of Burnham Thorpe in that county. He married Catherine Suckling, whose maternal grandmother Mary was the sister of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford and of Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton. Their fifth but third surviving son was the renowned naval commander Horatio Nelson. After defeating the French in the Battle of the Nile in 1798 he was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain as Baron Nelson, of the Nile, and of Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk, with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body, on 6 November 1798. In 1799 he was created Duke of Bronté (Duca di Bronté), of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by King Ferdinand I, which title he was given royal sanction to use in Britain. After defeating the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801 Nelson was further honoured when he was made Viscount Nelson, of the Nile, and of Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk, with normal remainder to the heirs male of his body, on 22 May 1801. On 18 August of the same year he was created Baron Nelson, of the Nile and of Hillborough in the County of Norfolk, with remainder, in default of male issue of his own, to his father and the heirs male of his body, and failing them to the heirs male of the body severally and successively of his sisters Mrs Susannah Bolton and Mrs Catherine Matcham. Both titles were in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Lord Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. He had no legitimate children and on his death the barony of 1798 and viscountcy became extinct.

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