The victory and death of Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) at the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, and his solemn state funeral on 9 January 1806 sealed his fame as a national hero. Eager to capitalise on the considerable public interest, Earl Nelson commissioned an official biography of his late brother. It was entrusted to the founding co-editors of the Naval Chronicle, the most prestigious maritime periodical of the time. James Stanier Clarke was chaplain and librarian to the Prince of Wales, later George IV (r.1820-1830). John McArthur was the former secretary of Admiral Samuel Hood under whom he and Nelson had served in the Mediterranean. The biography was conceived on an ambitious scale and required a subscription. Clarke obtained the blessing of the Prince of Wales who headed the 15-page-long list of distinguished subscribers together with his brother, the Duke of Clarence, who would suceed him as William IV (r.1830-1837). While Prince George admired Nelson, the future ‘sailor king’ had befriended the admiral during their service with the Royal Navy in the West Indies.

Clarke and McArthur’s aim was to examine ‘the private feelings and motives of this extraordinary man as well as the great principles of his public and professional character’ (p. vi). For this purpose, they consulted a large amount of original material, including Nelson’s manuscripts by then in his brother’s possession, his letters to the Duke of Clarence and Earl St Vincent, and the naval papers of Admiral Hood. They also had access to the correspondence kept by Nelson’s rejected wife Frances (Fanny), ‘kindly though reluctantly granted’ (p. v). It is not surprising that Nelson’s mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, was written out of the narrative; the extra-marital relationship had scandalised Nelson’s patrons, Lord Hood and Earl St Vincent, as well as George III.

Despite the ample original material at their disposal, the official status of the biography and the attendant claims to authenticiy – or beacuse of these – Clarke and McArthur created an enduring legend, often at odds with other first-hand accounts about Admiral Nelson (see RCIN 1027278). Their biased use of the original sources was criticised by contemporaries, including Robert Southey (1774-1843), the Poet Laureate, whose literary feud with James Stanier Clarke led to the publication of his own Life of Nelson in 1813 (see RCIN 1129717). Today, Clarke and McArthur are credited with the fashioning of more myths about the admiral than any of his other biographers. This was due to the patronage and readership of their work as well as its elegant production by Thomas Bensley, one of the foremost printers of the time, for the eminent London publishers Thomas Cadell and William Davies. Printed on high quality paper, the imposing volumes contain detailed plans of battles, facsimiles of Nelson’s letters and specially commissioned engravings after painting by Benjamin West, Richard Westall and Nicholas Pocock. This copy – bound in dark blue goatskin, gold-stamped with the Prince of Wales's coat of arms and maritime motifs – was on the shelves in George IV’s Carlton House, likely placed there by his librarian, James Stanier Clarke.