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Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton
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.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
7 people are currently reading
300 people want to read
About the author
Flora Fraser
19 books46 followersFlora Fraser Soros (born 30 October 1958) is an English writer of historical biographies.
She is the daughter of historian and historical biographer Lady Antonia Fraser and the late Sir Hugh Fraser, a British Conservative politician. Her stepfather was the playwright Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, her mother's second husband until his death in 2008. Her maternal grandparents were the late Elizabeth Longford, also an eminent biographer, and the late Lord Longford, a well-known politician, social reformer, and author.
She was named after Scottish Jacobite Flora MacDonald. Using her maiden name Flora Fraser, she has written biographies of Emma Hamilton, Caroline of Brunswick, the daughters of George III, and Pauline Bonaparte.
She is the daughter of historian and historical biographer Lady Antonia Fraser and the late Sir Hugh Fraser, a British Conservative politician. Her stepfather was the playwright Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, her mother's second husband until his death in 2008. Her maternal grandparents were the late Elizabeth Longford, also an eminent biographer, and the late Lord Longford, a well-known politician, social reformer, and author.
She was named after Scottish Jacobite Flora MacDonald. Using her maiden name Flora Fraser, she has written biographies of Emma Hamilton, Caroline of Brunswick, the daughters of George III, and Pauline Bonaparte.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 7, 2010
This was a very readable biography of the famous mistress of Lord Nelson. The book adds a lot of detail about the people and places surrounding her. I read this after reading the novel based on Lady Hamilton and found the same details in both, although the novel is much more interesting to read, of course. This bio does deal a lot more specifically with Lady Hamilton's financial problems; her spendthrift habits are alluded to in the novel which is a much more sympathetic view.
Whether anyone reads the novel or the bio, this woman was quite the interesting character.
Whether anyone reads the novel or the bio, this woman was quite the interesting character.
May 19, 2021
A good biography - I actually enjoyed Flora Fraser's earlier writing style more than her later works, where she sometimes gets lost in the details. Emma, Lady Hamilton had a truly extraordinary destiny from a small village in Wales to London and Naples, becoming the model for a number of masterpieces, confidant to a Queen and Nelson's lover just before his death. Her end was sad and a reminder of how much more harshly women were punished for their perceived moral transgressions than men.
March 20, 2017
I picked this up on a whim after going through the Emma Hamilton exhibit at the Maritime museum (which was really wonderful, atmospheric and engrossing!) but it didn't quite satisfy my want to know a little bit more and get some of the extra detail. It was interesting to see what detail had been left out of the exhibit, though; so it complimented my E.H. experience quite well!
August 22, 2020
This is a fascinating tale. Lady Hamilton seems like she was the Britney Spears or Kim Kardashian of the 18th Century. Amazing rise and sad fall of a very interesting celebrity of her time. The writing can be pretentious sometimes. We could do without the foreign phrases. (She admits as much in her author's note). But it was well-researched and engaging. I honestly wish there were more examples of the paintings she references. I ended up buying an art book to look at them all.
July 26, 2013
I'm not entirely sure if this was the actual book I read, although I did read a biography about Lady Emma Hamilton and found her to be a fascinating woman. I admired her greatly and was saddened a little by the way she was later shunned by society, who regarded her a coarse and common. Would love to see a movie made about her.
August 3, 2010
I am amazed at Emma Smith's strength and her character after all she lost, children and her husband is times of such great trial and stress. This sweet book gave additional insight into her life and strength. what a testimony she had of the Gospel and of her husband's mission in life.
October 13, 2023
Who was Emma Hamilton (née Lyon, née Hart), or what was Emma Hamilton? Was she a courtesan, a gold-digger, or a young woman of very humble origins struggling to achieve the best life she could for herself against the prejudice of the British aristocracy? Why should she not have a seat on the gravy train if all that was required was to indulge a loose-living member of the gentry with the morals of the gutter, or cater to the fantasies of a bereaved older man anxious for love, or play to the sexual ego of a war hero who wanted more adulation than his wife could provide? This biography spells out what evidence there is but refuses to pick sides.
Emma Hamilton's life had its share of high points yet ultimately proved to be a tragedy. She was born Amy Lyon in the tiny village of Denhall, near the almost as small village of Ness on the Wirral Peninsula in Northwest England. Ness is now the home of a very fine botanical garden open to the public. Her father was a blacksmith but he died only two months after Amy's birth leaving the family in poverty. Amy's mother moved to her parents' home at Hawarden in North Wales and so began the girl's life. As she grew up she spent some time in service to earn her keep and then joined her mother in a move to London.
In London she worked as a housemaid and became infatuated with the theatre. She did not become an actress but people, that is men, noted her beauty and there followed a series of affairs and relationships. Sir Harry Fetherstonehaugh – probably pronounced Fanshaw – took her to his Sussex mansion of Uppark and was almost certainly the father of her first daughter, who took the name Emma Carew. George Romney the portraitist may have indulged in closer attentions than simply painting her portrait, over and over again. Then came the Honorable Charles Francis Greville, who provided her with a house on the Edgeware Road then on the outskirts of London, where he could come and stay when he wanted her the pleasure of her company. An uncle of Greville was a fellow antiquarian and collector Sir William Hamilton, a distinguished diplomat. It was the recently widowed Hamilton, who was considerably older than Emma, who took her away from Greville to Naples.
They seem to have genuinely fallen in love but it was six years before Hamilton, a member of the gentry after all, was prepared to marry her giving Emma the title of Lady Hamilton. She made a success of her career as a British diplomat's wife and, though there were many of the aristocratic fraternity who despised her for her lowly origins, there were others who were won over by her charm and personality. It was at Naples that Emma first met Horatio Nelson and it may well have been love at first sight.
Five years later Nelson returned as a hero having defeated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson was injured and ill and it was Emma who took charge of his care. Later when Nelson was recalled to Britain he, with Sir William and Lady Hamilton took a roundabout journey to get there through Austria and Germany. By this time Emma knew she was pregnant again and the father was not her elderly husband.
Once back in London Emma's life remained buoyant only as long as Sir William remained alive and protected her. He even provided for the new child, named Horatia. Nelson, now a vice-admiral, had bought a house called Merton Place near Wimbledon and, when on shore leave, he lived there openly with Emma, Sir William and Emma's mother. It was Emma's tragedy that Nelson's wife would never seek a divorce. Once Sir William died and then Nelson met his end at Trafalgar, Emma was left as an unfaithful widow and the mistress of a hero.
Sir William's money did not last as Emma was quite a spendthrift. She ended her days with few friends. She had been steadily gaining in weight due to her fondness for alcohol and fine food and was far from well. Her days ended in a cheap room in Calais being looked after by her fourteen-year-old daughter Horatia until her death at the age of forty-nine. It all puts a totally different perspective on her life from that famous film with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, That Hamilton Woman. In reality and in the fullness of her youth she would have towered over the little man and perhaps it was her larger than life theatrical personality that carried her all the way from a blacksmith's shop on the banks of the River Dee to being a friend of queens and princes, the wife of a British ambassador, and the lover of Britain's greatest naval hero.
Emma Hamilton's life had its share of high points yet ultimately proved to be a tragedy. She was born Amy Lyon in the tiny village of Denhall, near the almost as small village of Ness on the Wirral Peninsula in Northwest England. Ness is now the home of a very fine botanical garden open to the public. Her father was a blacksmith but he died only two months after Amy's birth leaving the family in poverty. Amy's mother moved to her parents' home at Hawarden in North Wales and so began the girl's life. As she grew up she spent some time in service to earn her keep and then joined her mother in a move to London.
In London she worked as a housemaid and became infatuated with the theatre. She did not become an actress but people, that is men, noted her beauty and there followed a series of affairs and relationships. Sir Harry Fetherstonehaugh – probably pronounced Fanshaw – took her to his Sussex mansion of Uppark and was almost certainly the father of her first daughter, who took the name Emma Carew. George Romney the portraitist may have indulged in closer attentions than simply painting her portrait, over and over again. Then came the Honorable Charles Francis Greville, who provided her with a house on the Edgeware Road then on the outskirts of London, where he could come and stay when he wanted her the pleasure of her company. An uncle of Greville was a fellow antiquarian and collector Sir William Hamilton, a distinguished diplomat. It was the recently widowed Hamilton, who was considerably older than Emma, who took her away from Greville to Naples.
They seem to have genuinely fallen in love but it was six years before Hamilton, a member of the gentry after all, was prepared to marry her giving Emma the title of Lady Hamilton. She made a success of her career as a British diplomat's wife and, though there were many of the aristocratic fraternity who despised her for her lowly origins, there were others who were won over by her charm and personality. It was at Naples that Emma first met Horatio Nelson and it may well have been love at first sight.
Five years later Nelson returned as a hero having defeated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson was injured and ill and it was Emma who took charge of his care. Later when Nelson was recalled to Britain he, with Sir William and Lady Hamilton took a roundabout journey to get there through Austria and Germany. By this time Emma knew she was pregnant again and the father was not her elderly husband.
Once back in London Emma's life remained buoyant only as long as Sir William remained alive and protected her. He even provided for the new child, named Horatia. Nelson, now a vice-admiral, had bought a house called Merton Place near Wimbledon and, when on shore leave, he lived there openly with Emma, Sir William and Emma's mother. It was Emma's tragedy that Nelson's wife would never seek a divorce. Once Sir William died and then Nelson met his end at Trafalgar, Emma was left as an unfaithful widow and the mistress of a hero.
Sir William's money did not last as Emma was quite a spendthrift. She ended her days with few friends. She had been steadily gaining in weight due to her fondness for alcohol and fine food and was far from well. Her days ended in a cheap room in Calais being looked after by her fourteen-year-old daughter Horatia until her death at the age of forty-nine. It all puts a totally different perspective on her life from that famous film with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, That Hamilton Woman. In reality and in the fullness of her youth she would have towered over the little man and perhaps it was her larger than life theatrical personality that carried her all the way from a blacksmith's shop on the banks of the River Dee to being a friend of queens and princes, the wife of a British ambassador, and the lover of Britain's greatest naval hero.
May 12, 2023
Really deserving of 3.5*. A well researched biography but a little too reliant on extracts from lengthy coreespondence and too light on the historical context of Lady Hamilton's life. A story of a poor and anonymous upbringing to spectacular fame and then reviled and diminished destitution. A complicated woman whose beauty and talents lifted to a zenith in the firmament , who thereby gained a taste for luxury and entitlement but who proved unable to cope with the succession of tragic blows that befell her.
July 29, 2018
Meticulously researched, well written and highly readable biography - the best I've encountered about Emma Hamilton so far. I thought that I'd just skim through it, but found myself engrossed and just couldn't put it down.
October 2, 2017
It was dense & monotonous. I got to about page 60& gave up
October 20, 2017
A very detailed book.
Want to read
March 16, 2023130
December 23, 2024
Read this years ago
December 20, 2008
It's interesting to learn more of the woman who captured the attention of Lord Nelson and became the muse for both George Romney and Joshua Reynolds. I wish I had the feminine wiles to pull off that sort of hat trick. Alas, I don't. Maybe because I haven't entirely resigned myself into prostitution (which, apparently, Lady Emma Hamilton wasn't averse to).
December 21, 2015
As this seems to want to be the definitive biography of Emma and compilation of all available sources, it digs into some details that I didn't really need about her household, but it was generally an interesting read -- even for an American who doesn't know anything about her famous companion, the war hero Admiral Nelson.
February 26, 2013
The dustcover blurb did the book justice, and I enjoyed this as much as I would have a novel. As it is the story of a life, from beginning to end, of course there is death at the end of it...and the author is absolutely unflinching in facing all the details.
September 30, 2014
I got bored with the woman.
May 26, 2013
Enjoyed it immensely. Also read Kate Williams biography and a biography of Nelson. If she had been a man she'd have been the nation's hero.
April 23, 2015
Very boring biography. The sentences were so long I had to reread it.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews