Britain’s 19th-century dominion of the seas was secured on 21 October 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar where Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets. The news of the victory helped raise morale at a time when Napoleon was crushing Britain’s allies in Central Europe. Nelson’s bold tactics and death on board his flagship, HMS Victory, created a national martyr for the new state established by the 1801 Act of Union of Britain and Ireland. It was an Ulsterman from Londonderry, William Beatty (1773-1842), who first told the British public the story of Nelson at Trafalgar – in this book. As the Victory’s chief surgeon, Beatty had nursed the wounded admiral during his final hours, preserved his body on the long voyage back home, removed the fatal musket ball (RCIN 61158) during the autopsy on 11 December 1805 and prepared Nelson for the solemn state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral on 9 January 1806 (see RCIN 1047033).

Having established his credentials with brief reports on Nelson’s death sent to the press in the winter of 1805-1806, Beatty was invited to contribute to the official biography of the admiral commissioned by his brother, Earl Nelson. The biography was entrusted to the co-editors of the Navy Chronicle – James Stanier Clarke, librarian and chaplain to the Prince of Wales (later George IV), and John McArthur, former secretary of Admiral Samuel Hood – and was to be published by Thomas Cadell and William Davies. Beatty completed his manuscript account and presented it to the Prince of Wales on 26 July 1806 (RCIN 1047033). Since unofficial biographies and visual misrepresentations of Nelson’s death were already circulating, Beatty decided to capitalise on the growing interest and his high public profile. Rather than wait for Clarke and McArthur’s lavishly illustrated, two-volume biography which would not appear until 1809, he pre-empted it. Beatty’s Narrative appeared in print on 15 January 1807, with the preface to the public stating that it was originally intended for Clarke and McArthur’s Life of Lord Nelson and ‘it will still form part of that work’. Cadell and Davies published Beatty’s Narrative without a subscription, at their own, well calculated risk. Slim and affordable, it was marketed to the wide public. Three illustrations were included to add visual appeal and enhance the claim to authenticity. The frontispiece is an engraving of Nelson’s portrait ‘in the dress he wore when he received his mortal wound’ painted for Beatty by the society artist Arthur William Devis (1763-1822). His sketches served as the basis for the two other illustrations: engravings of the musket ball, shown as extracted by Beatty during the autopsy and as mounted into the locket worn by the surgeon for the rest of his life (RCIN 61158).

Devis had made his sketches in the weeks before Nelson’s funeral when he was allowed on board the Victory in order to gather material for another painting, The Death of Nelson, 21 October 1805, completed in 1807 (National Maritime Museum, BHC2894; for a sketch, see RCIN 405920). Imprisoned for his sister’s debts, the young Devis was after the prize of 500 guineas announced in November 1805 by the publisher Josiah Boydell for the best painting of Nelson’s death to be engraved. Devis’ rival for the prize was Benjamin West (1738-1820), a founding member and President of the Royal Academy. Having interviewed and sketched members of the Victory’s crew, West chose to sacrifice authenticity for an ‘Epic Composition’, as he put it, in order ‘to excite awe and veneration’. His Death of Nelson (Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, WAG 3132), a grandiose drama unfolding on the quarterdeck, emulates his 1771 Death of General Wolfe; West reported that Nelson had admired this monumental rendition of his idol’s heroic end. In contrast, Devis set his Death of Nelson in the dark, crowded cockpit – a scene truthful to Beatty’s account and imbued with biblical symbolism – and won Boydell’s prize. The engraving after West’s painting appeared in 1811, that after Devis’ in 1812 and both were very popular, but Devis’ rendition was considered more authentic.

Beatty’s Narrative was fundamental to the visualisation of Nelson’s death, imprinting a heroic word-image in the national memory. It was also instrumental in establishing the surgeon as a member of the naval elite. In September 1806, Beatty was appointed Physician to the Channel Fleet, based at Plymouth. From 1822 until his retirement in 1838, he served as Physician to Greenwich Hospital. Since few naval surgeons rose to the rank of physician, this was a remarkable advance for the 33-year-old Ulsterman. He was prominent in London’s business and scientific circles as a Fellow of the Royal Society, director of the Clerical and Medical Insurance Company, and director of the London to Greenwich Railway. He built a substantial library through his wealth and connections. In the 1820s, Beatty was physician extraordinary to George IV (1762-1830) in Scotland and, by 1828, physician extraordinary to the Duke of Clarence, soon to be William IV (1765-1837). Beatty was knighted in 1831, appearing in the coronation honours list of Nelson’s old friend, the ‘sailor king’. Sent to the Royal Navy at the age of 13, William IV had met Nelson while both were serving under Samuel Hood in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. Following his accession to the throne in 1830, William IV promoted naval officers, naval literature and art, and established Trafalgar Square as a focal point for the strong maritime identity of the new British nation – an identity that Beatty’s Authentic Narrative had helped create.

Main reference: Laurence Brockliss, John Cardwell and Michael Moss, Nelson’s Surgeon: William Beatty, Naval Medicine and the Battle of Trafalgar, Oxford, 2005