Born 1738.—Died 1801.—George II.—George III.
This brave General was engaged against Napoleon I. in Holland and Egypt, and always maintained the fame of English arms. He won two battles at Aboukir, in Egypt, the last of which cost him his life. He fought on, though desperately wounded, till the battle was over.
Born 1738.—Died 1805.—George II.—George III.
A soldier who first served under the Marquis of Granby in the Seven Years’ War in Germany. On the breaking out of the American war he was sent there, and at first was very successful, but in 1781 was obliged to surrender at York Town to the United American and French armies. In 1786 he was sent to India, where he took Bangalore and defeated Tippoo Sahib; on returning to England he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and was instrumental in carrying out the Union of England and Ireland. He died of fever in India, whither he was sent as Governor General, on his way to join the army at Ghazepore.
Born 1758.—Died 1805.—George II.—George III.
This most famous of all the English admirals was the son of the rector of Burnham Thorpe, in Norfolk, where he was born, and went to sea first as a midshipman in the _Raisonable_, 64 guns, then in a West Indiaman. He afterwards returned to the Royal Navy, and saw service in the Arctic Ocean, the West Indies, and South America. He was a Commodore at the battle of St. Vincent, when he first boarded the _San Nicholas_, jumping through the cabin window, and then sprang on to the _San Joseph_, crying, “Victory or Westminster Abbey!” In 1798 Nelson fought the battle of Aboukir near Alexandria, in Egypt. The French admiral’s ship, _L’Orient_, blew up, and only two French ships escaped. Nelson was immediately created ‘Lord Nelson of the Nile.’ In 1805 he hoisted his flag on board the _Victory_, and fought the battle of Trafalgar, between Cadiz and Gibraltar. When grappled to the _Redoutable_, whose rigging was full of sharpshooters, a shot was fired through Nelson’s shoulder and spine, and he died three hours afterwards, cheered by the news that the French were totally defeated.
Born 1752.—Died 1806.—George II.—George III.
The second son of Lord Chatham, born at Hayes, in Kent, was a greater statesman even than his father. At the age of twenty-three he became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was Prime Minister almost till his death. His eloquence was brilliant and startling, and in spite of opposition sneers, and the ridicule which nicknamed him “the ambitious young man,” and of being often in a minority, the support of the king (George III.) and of the country, who enthusiastically seconded his opposition to Napoleon Buonaparte and the First Empire, steadily maintained him in power, and he held his ground against Fox and the Coalition ministries. War was declared with France, against all that Fox, Sheridan, and Grey could advance. The battle of Trafalgar raised his hopes of peace, which the news of Austerlitz quenched; and being worn out with gout, toil, and anxieties, the great minister, as has been well said, “died of old age at forty-six,” after nineteen years of public service. He was so thoroughly beloved that the nation voted him a magnificent funeral, burial in Westminster Abbey, and £40,000 to pay his debts.