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Historical person

Horatio Nelson

1758–1805

Horatio Nelson was a Royal Navy officer whose victories made him Britain’s most celebrated commander of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He lost an eye and an arm in service, destroyed French naval power at the Nile, fought at Copenhagen and defeated the combined French and Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805.

Nelson was killed during that battle. His relationship with Emma Hamilton and mastery of public reputation contributed to his lasting legend. Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe and died in Cape Trafalgar.

David Donachie’s A Divided Command puts John Pearce on private missions for Nelson in the Mediterranean, where the admiral’s correspondence and operational priorities entangle Pearce’s personal crisis with fleet politics. Dewey Lambdin’s A King’s Commander places Alan Lewrie under senior officers including Nelson during operations around Corsica and the French coast. G. A. Henty’s By Conduct and Courage carries its fictional sailors through Nelson’s era to Trafalgar, using the admiral as the historical figure who connects their service with the decisive battle. Donachie’s Droits of the Crown places HMS Hazard under Nelson and draws Pearce into a clash with Spanish frigates and the evacuation of Corsica. Robert Harvey’s The War of Wars then sets Nelson’s naval victories within the wider Revolutionary and Napoleonic struggle in which British sea power repeatedly frustrated French strategic ambitions.

Periods

Periods linked to Horatio Nelson

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Horatio Nelson (12 series)

Richard Bolitho in Order

by Alexander Kent 28 books 4.5(44,733)

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Wellington and Napoleon Quartet in Order

by Simon Scarrow 4 books 4.6(5,527)

The quartet traces the parallel lives of Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon Bonaparte from their births in 1769 to the Battle of Waterloo. It follows their military education, political ambition and campaigns across Europe, India and the Mediterranean as two very different officers become the defining commanders of the…

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Morland Dynasty in Order

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 36 books 4.4(27,265)

The Morland Dynasty is a thirty-six-book family saga tracing the fictional Morlands of Yorkshire from 1434 to the approach of the Second World War. Beginning with the marriage of Robert Morland and Eleanor, a ward of the Beaufort family, the sequence follows successive generations as Morland Place grows…

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Nathaniel Drinkwater in Order

by Richard Woodman 14 books 4.4(2,498)

The Nathaniel Drinkwater series follows a Royal Navy officer from his first service during the American Revolutionary War to a final mission in early Victorian Britain. Drinkwater rises from vulnerable midshipman to experienced captain while operating across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, Arctic, Pacific and China seas. The fourteen…

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Poldark in Order

by Winston Graham 12 books 4.4(68,383)

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The Lord Ramage Novels in Order

by Dudley Pope 18 books 4.5(8,858)

The Lord Ramage Novels follow Nicholas Ramage from an unexpected lieutenant's command in 1796 to command of a seventy-four-gun ship of the line in 1806. Across eighteen novels he serves through the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, fighting in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, dealing with mutiny and court…

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Nelson and Emma Trilogy in Order

by David Donachie 3 books 4.6(61)

The Nelson and Emma trilogy fictionalises the parallel lives of Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton from their difficult beginnings to the height of Nelson’s naval fame. It follows his formation in the Royal Navy and her ascent from poverty through modelling, patronage and marriage into the diplomatic society…

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Thomas Kydd in Order

by Julian Stockwin 27 books 4.2(24,001)

The Thomas Kydd series follows a Guildford wig-maker pressed into the Royal Navy in 1793 and traces his rise from inexperienced landsman to admiral. Across twenty-seven novels, Kydd learns the work of the lower deck, crosses to the quarterdeck and commands increasingly important ships during the French Revolutionary…

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Hornblower Saga in Order

by C. S. Forester 12 books 4.3(138,286)

The Horatio Hornblower novels follow a Royal Navy officer from his first service as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars to senior command after the defeat of Napoleon. The books combine shipboard life, naval combat, intelligence work, diplomacy and the practical burdens of command with Hornblower’s private…

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John Pearce in Order

by David Donachie 18 books 4.2(6,934)

The John Pearce series follows a radical Londoner who is illegally pressed into the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. Pearce and the fellow captives he calls the Pelicans must learn shipboard warfare while resisting abusive officers, pursuing freedom and protecting one another across an expanding conflict.…

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Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures in Order

by Dewey Lambdin 25 books 4.3(61,103)

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Sharpe in Order

by Bernard Cornwell 26 books 4.3(358,248)

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Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Horatio Nelson (1 book)

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Horatio Nelson (8 books)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.