"Admiral Lord Nelson in Context” by Dr. Evan Wilson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson is among the best-known and most-studied figures in naval history. He was voted the ninth greatest Briton by a BBC poll in 2002 and memorials to him can be found all over Britain and its former empire. Yet too often we read about Nelson the hero without any understanding of what made his career unique. This lecture will put Nelson in the context of the officer corps from which he emerged. By looking at the thousands of other officers who fought alongside Nelson, we can uncover a more complete picture of him and the navy in which he served.
Evan Wilson is an assistant professor at The John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research at the U.S. Naval War College. He was recently awarded the Sir Julian Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History by the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London. His research and teaching focus on the relationship between navies and societies in the age of sail, and he seeks to connect naval history to other approaches to national history. He has published articles in leading academic journals, and his first book, “A Social History of British Naval Officers, 1775–1815,” was published in 2017 by The Boydell Press. He has previously held positions at Yale University and the National Maritime Museum in Britain.
All lectures are free and open to the public, no reservations are required.