Beloved Emma - The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton

Zusatztext “A most appealing book. . . . Succeeds in rescuing Emma from her myth and restoring her to her substance.” — The Washington Post Book World “Bewitchingly readable! authoritative.” — The Times (London) “[Fraser] achieves fully realized portraits of great conviction.” — Vogue “Excellent reading. . . . There can be little left to say after a biography of this length and thoroughness.” — Sunday Telegraph “Fraser [has a] gift for penetrating analysis.” — The New York Times Book Review Informationen zum Autor Flora Fraser is the author of a biography of Queen Caroline, The Unruly Queen , and a forthcoming book on the daughters of George III. She lives in London with her husband and three children. Klappentext From her humble beginnings as the daughter of a countryside blacksmith, Emy Lyon went on to claim the undying love of naval hero Admiral Nelson, England's most famous native son. She served as model and muse to eighteenth-century Europe's most renowned artists, and consorted with kings and queens at the royal court of Naples. Yet she would end her life in disgraced exile, penniless and alone. In this richly drawn portrait, Flora Fraser maps the spectacular rise and fall of legendary eighteenth-century beauty Emma, Lady Hamilton—as she came to be called—a woman of abundant affection and overwhelming charm, whose eye for opportunity was rivaled only by her propensity for overindulgence and scandal. Wonderfully intimate and lavishly detailed, Beloved Emma brings to life the incomparable Lady Hamilton and the politics, passions, and enchantments of her day.CHAPTER ONE From Hawarden to Sir Harry Emma Hamilton began life as Emy Lyon on 26 April. That, at least, is the date she always celebrated as her birthday. As no record of her birth survives, the year of her birth is not known for sure, but her parents, Henry and Mary Lyon, were married on 11 June 1764. Emy was baptized on 12 May 1765. It seems reasonable to assume she was born in the year of her baptism. She was born in Ness, near Denhall, on the windy Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, overlooking the Dee estuary. The parish of Neston wa described in 1809 as one of the most miserable townships on the Peninsula, a collection of hovels inhabited only by colliers. The pit at Denhall had been opened in 1750, and Henry Lyon was identified on Emy's baptismal certificate as smith 'of Ness'. Probably he worked in connection with the pit. A tall building, known as Swan Cottage, still stands on a bank at Denhall. From the uppermost rooms, there is a fine view across the wide estuary to the northern coast of Wales. No hovel, by reason of its commanding height it was later used as a shipping beacon. However, it is reputed to have been the smith's house at this date. At the back of the house is a plaque inscribed 'I.L. S.L. 1724', so there may have been Lyons living here before Henry. In this house we may see Emma Hamilton's birthplace. Of Henry Lyon little is known. As he signed his marriage certificate with a cross, the illiterate's mark, we may safely dismiss more romantic tales which sprang up in the Victorian times. Emm Hamilton's great-grandson believed Henry was the estranged son of a nobleman, beating out his anger against his sire on the anvil. Henry died from unknown causes and was buried on 21 June, being named then as smith 'of Denhall', barely two months after his daughter's birth. We need linger no further in squalid Denhall. Tradition has it that his widow immediately took her infant across the estuary to Hawarden in Wales, where her parents lived. Mary Lyon's parents, Mr and Mrs Kidd, lived in a small 'cruck' cottage, distinguished from the other thatched and whitewashed dwellings in the village by a set of red sandstone steps. Mary had at least one brother, William, and three sisters, who were to...

Product details

• Authors: Flora Fraser
• Publisher: Anchor Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 10.02.2004
• EAN: 9781400075140
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-7514-0
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 201 mm x 24 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > History