WI: Nelson doesn't die at Trafalgar

simple enough question. i was just going over my ASB ATL again (rewriting the *British history and i'm up to the Napoleonic period) and i couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Horatio Nelson was not killed at the decisive Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

given his track record, could he perhaps lose more body parts instead of his life in a Trafalgar where he survives? :p
 
A leg perhaps?

But really it was Trafalgar which cemented his heroic reputation in the British mind. After the Nile there'd been a series of scandals with the Hamiltons and the controversy over Copenhagen- dying at Trafalgar effectively wiped those out the public conciousness.

So say he survives, well the naval threat is ended and he'll have another hero's period, but after a few years it's very likely that the scandals will take over and tarnish his memory. A state funeral mights still be possible when he dies, but certainly no Column in Trafalgar Square. There's certainly indications that Nelson realised this himself and almost hoped he would die in the battle.
 
I seem to recall that Nelson for a few years before Trafalgar had been trying to retire from active service, but he returned to duty partly because his illicit affair alienated him from polite society but also because he kept feeling like his country needed him. With French and Spanish naval power destroyed, he may well feel like he is finally ready to permanently leave the service, that his country can do without him as the French will never be enough of a threat to require his services.

I know it's not a very exciting idea, but that's what seems the logical thing to me.
 
IIRC Nelson's health wasn't particularly good by the time of Trafalgar... chances are sooner rather than later he'd be on track for retirment from active duty and a move to a shore based command... not sure he'd land 1st Sea Lord (military command) or 1st Lord of the Admilralty (semi-civilian head of the navy) but I'd bet he'd end a fair way up the totem pole... probably with another titles or two to boot.

Now, as others have mentioned there were scandels brewing concerning his connection to Emma Hamilton etc. These issues offers every chance of blowing up in his face, likely at horrible cost to his reputation.

So, yeah, in someways Nelson was lucky to kark it when he did.

Edit: please excuse any typos or misspellings... I've had a bit too much good local whisky.
 
Having been made a baron for the Battle of the Nile, and a viscount for the Battle of Copenhagen, the next step up the ladder would have been to make him an earl.

Following Trafalgar, Britain had few engagements in the Mediterranean, and so Nelson's time would presumably be occupied by enforcing the blockade.

By 1805 Nelson was suffering recurrent bouts of ill-health, most likely bouts of malaria, in part exacerbated by the numerous wounds he had suffered. It would not be a great surprise if he, like admirals Collingwood and Cotton, died before 1815.

If he returns to England alive, he probably lives out his days in the Lords, which he frequently attended during a period of recuperation between 1801 and 1803. Politically he seems to have been a Tory, but doesn't appear to have the political abilities or inclinations of Wellington, so is unlikely to ever do more than sit. Also, his scandalous personal life, here not covered behind his martyrdom at Trafalgar, will count against him in political circles, so political figures will distance themselves from him.
 
Yes, going out in a wave of glory helped his reputation immensely. Nili nisi bonum, and all that.

Doesnt Thande have him going to Naples? Fleeing the British scene with or without his mistress is likely the best thing he could do.
 
Yes, going out in a wave of glory helped his reputation immensely. Nili nisi bonum, and all that.

Doesnt Thande have him going to Naples? Fleeing the British scene with or without his mistress is likely the best thing he could do.

Thande also has London falling to an invading French army and Napoleon as a British naval officer. I don't really think it's that useful a comparison
 
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