Emma Hamilton Dress Rehearsal
Emma Hamilton is one of the most extraordinary female figures in English history.
Emma grew up with almost nothing in the way of material possessions, born into great poverty in the North-West. What she did own, however, was a luminous dark beauty and a vivacious personality, both of which were evident as a young girl and through the vast majority of her adult life. Armed with these, she put her old life behind her, and moved to London where she took on the new name of Emma Hart abandoning her birth name of Amy Lyon.
The artist George Romney was entranced by her and painted her many times, causing a stir in society when she was seen upon the walls of the Royal Academy. It was that head-turning beauty that rescued her from a brothel and thrust her into the life of a wealthy woman. She became the live-in mistress of more than one rich and powerful individual before finally becoming the wife of the British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sicily – Sir William Hamilton. The Kingdom of Sicily was vast, containing much of southern Italy, Sicily and Malta, with its court in the great city of Naples, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
Hamilton had Emma properly educated so she spoke more than one language and taught her of the Classical world of which he was a world renowner scholar. Then she met Admiral Nelson and they fell madly in love as their extant letters prove. At that time Nelson was England’s greatest hero and she was England’s greatest beauty – now famous across Europe, with women copying her unique style.
Emma, her husband and Nelson all lived in the same house at one point as her husband was not prepared to lose her. Nelson hardly acknowledged his wife Fanny at this time and the scandal was considerable, especially after Emma bore Nelson a little girl, who she called Horatia.
Hamilton died in 1803, and after the loss of Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, Emma fell into drink and gambling. She spent time with Horatia in a debtors’ prison and ended her days having escaped to a single poor room in Calais, in bed and drunk. She died at 49 years of age, and is buried in Calais.
Lesley Smith plays Emma in full costume. The performance is set after Nelson’s death, as she tries desperately to hang onto the life she had known, and retells the story of her meteoric rise in society as it crashes down around her.
Emma grew up with almost nothing in the way of material possessions, born into great poverty in the North-West. What she did own, however, was a luminous dark beauty and a vivacious personality, both of which were evident as a young girl and through the vast majority of her adult life. Armed with these, she put her old life behind her, and moved to London where she took on the new name of Emma Hart abandoning her birth name of Amy Lyon.
The artist George Romney was entranced by her and painted her many times, causing a stir in society when she was seen upon the walls of the Royal Academy. It was that head-turning beauty that rescued her from a brothel and thrust her into the life of a wealthy woman. She became the live-in mistress of more than one rich and powerful individual before finally becoming the wife of the British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sicily – Sir William Hamilton. The Kingdom of Sicily was vast, containing much of southern Italy, Sicily and Malta, with its court in the great city of Naples, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
Hamilton had Emma properly educated so she spoke more than one language and taught her of the Classical world of which he was a world renowner scholar. Then she met Admiral Nelson and they fell madly in love as their extant letters prove. At that time Nelson was England’s greatest hero and she was England’s greatest beauty – now famous across Europe, with women copying her unique style.
Emma, her husband and Nelson all lived in the same house at one point as her husband was not prepared to lose her. Nelson hardly acknowledged his wife Fanny at this time and the scandal was considerable, especially after Emma bore Nelson a little girl, who she called Horatia.
Hamilton died in 1803, and after the loss of Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, Emma fell into drink and gambling. She spent time with Horatia in a debtors’ prison and ended her days having escaped to a single poor room in Calais, in bed and drunk. She died at 49 years of age, and is buried in Calais.
Lesley Smith plays Emma in full costume. The performance is set after Nelson’s death, as she tries desperately to hang onto the life she had known, and retells the story of her meteoric rise in society as it crashes down around her.
Where is it happening?
The Old Stables, Lichfield, United Kingdom
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherLesley Smith Historians
