Admiral Horatio Nelson’s recently unearthed letter to his mistress, Emma Hamilton, in 1801, reveals how he urged her to give their daughter the newly developed smallpox vaccine.
- Admiral Horatio Nelson’s letter urges his mistress to vaccinate his daughter
- The 1801 letter supports the healing of Jenner’s smallpox, when many were skeptical
- Edward Jenner found that people were immune to smallpox if they caught smallpox
A recently unearthed letter from Admiral Horatio Nelson to his mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, revealed how he urged her to give their little daughter the newly developed smallpox vaccine.
The 1801 letter, discovered in the archives of the National Maritime Museum, does not mention a dangerous mission in France that Nelson had to do, but instead focuses on the health of his daughter, Horatia.
It was written just three years after Edward Jenner discovered the milk that developed smallpox, working near animals, appeared to be protected from smallpox, the human form of the disease.
In a letter to Lady Hamilton, Admiral Nelson wrote: “The child is feverish for only two days; and there is only a slight inflammation of the arm, instead of crusts everywhere. ‘
A letter from 1801 shows Admiral Horatio Nelson urging his then mistress to vaccinate his daughter against smallpox at a time when people were skeptical about inoculation.
At the time, many were skeptical about the use of vaccines – after an attempt to inoculate children by deliberately infecting them with smallpox led to the death of King George III’s son Octavius at the age of four.
Rob Blythe, senior curator at the National Maritime Museum, shared the letter with The Guardian, revealing a passage in which he confesses his love for his boyfriend, Lady Hamilton.
Although they were both married, neither had a legitimate child.
People were skeptical about vaccinations in the 19th century, after King George III’s son died in an early treatment, later abandoned for smallpox. Today, vaccinations help fight Covid-19. In the photo: A woman from Thamesmead receiving her job today
After his death in 1805, Nelson’s father took over Horatia and raised her among his family.
He said: “Nelson is a man who accurately understands the risks. He faces risks every day at sea, whether it is life or death or injuries caused by gunshots, cannonballs, splinters … I think that probably, as a sailor, he can make a risk assessment on to vaccinate better than others could. ‘
Mr. Blythe expects Nelson to hear about Jenner’s vaccine while at the captain’s table.
Nelson urges his mistress, Lady Hamilton, to inoculate his daughter, Horatia, against the smallpox virus
He told The Guardian: “No doubt the ship’s doctor would have been kept relatively up to date with the latest medical developments, and when the conversation remained in a new rerun of the Battle of the Nile, the ship’s doctor could have said,” heard of inoculation? “just to try and move everyone on a different subject.”
The letter was one of more than 2,000 purchased by the National Maritime Museum in 1946.
A transcript of the heroic admiral’s correspondence was published in 1814, but this letter had gone unnoticed until then.