Susannah Westcott
Meeting with Lord Nelson, Honiton, 1801  [quotation]

On 1 January 1801, Nelson was made vice-admiral, the rank he held until his death. On the 13th, after an angry scene with Lady Nelson in which she told him he must choose between herself and Lady Hamilton, he parted with her for the last time and set out for Plymouth. At Honiton he inquired for Mrs Westcott, the mother of the only captain killed at the Nile. He found her, 'poor thing, except for Government and Lloyd's, in very low circumstances. The brother is a tailor, but had they been chimney-sweeps it was my duty to show respect.' Mrs Westcott confided that she had not received her son's Nile medal: Nelson, with typical generosity, gave her his own...