A
LIFE AT SEA
Horatio Nelson left the Paston School in 1771 when he went to sea
as a Midshipman, and the start of his illustrious career on ‘the perilous
ocean’.
In 1777, Nelson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and then to Post-Captain
two years later. By this time he had seen service in the East Indies and Caribbean,
as well as Canada and in the Arctic. In 1793, at the outbreak of war with
France, he received the posting he desired most – a command with the
Mediterranean fleet.
When laying siege to Calvi, Corsica, in 1794, Nelson received the first of his injuries, the loss of sight in his right eye. A shell-burst nearby threw stones into his face. He reported afterwards: “I got a little hurt this morning, not much”. Three years later, during the battle to capture the port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, he was hit by enemy fire as he landed on the shore. With his right arm shattered, Nelson was returned to his ship and his arm amputated. “I am become a burthen [burden],” he wrote to his Commanding Officer, “to my friends and country... I hope you will give me a frigate and return my carcass to England.”
There were other battles of course. The Battle of the Nile, 1798, the Battle of Copenhagen in 1800, but the battle off Cap Trafalgar was to be the last of the great sea battle of the French wars and the most decisive of Nelson’s victories, but at a price.
TRAFALGAR
We remember the boy, the man, the Admiral of the Fleet, who had
so many victories over the enemies of our country. Commanding a fleet of some
27 ships of the Royal Navy against a combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 men-of-war,
he adopted a strategy that resulted in 18 enemy ships being captured and three
totally destroyed. But victory came at a price.
At his finest hour, during the closing broadsides at the Battle of Trafalgar, Horatio Nelson was shot by a French sharpshooter (some say a stray shot) and fell on the quarterdeck of his flagship HMS Victory. He was carried below-decks to the cockpit where he later died of his wounds.
Thus ended
the life, and career, of a remarkable man, and Pastonian – our proudest
boast!
Picture credits: Top; Nelson Toby Jug by Wood, Potters of Burslem, Staffordshire, England. Middle; Nelson Centenary postcard, 1805–1905, by kind permission of George Gosling. Lower; Battle Order Flags, England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty, by kind permission of George Gosling. Below, right; The Paston School Song, by kind permission of Herb Symonds.
ADMIRAL
LORD NELSON OF TRAFALGAR
(1758–1805)
OUR PROUDEST BOAST
Norfolk’s Most Famous Son
’Twere
long to tell of all who came,
Of Tenison, Wharton, Hoste;
Their names are on the roll of fame,
and never shall be lost.
But stand and shout as the last we bring,
HORATIO NELSON: of him we sing,
For he is our proudest boast.
UPON MY ARRIVAL at the Paston School in September 1952, together with other new ‘first-formers’, I was presented with a copy of the school song – with instructions from the Form Master to “learn it off by heart”. I have to confess, at that time, I wasn’t too sure who ‘Tenison, Wharton and Hoste’ were, but was left in no doubt whatsoever about the last – Horatio Nelson. Like ourselves, a Norfolk lad, he was a past pupil of that famous school, and well known to us all!
The Paston School, for most purposes – especially sports – was divided into four ‘houses’, each named after one of the famous celebrities mentioned above in the school song. I was wholly proud to belong to Nelson, of course!
Horatio, the fifth son of Rev’d Edmund Nelson – the rector of Burnham Thorpe – and Catherine Nelson, became a scholar at the Paston School in North Walsham in the year 1769, and was tutored by the Headmaster, the Rev’d John Price Jones. Known as ‘Classic’ Jones, it seems the Welshman had somewhat a reputation of a ‘flogger’, being one of birch-loving fame, although, in his own words he believed his “natural disposition being one of mildness rather than severity”.
As a boy, Horatio Nelson
became very well liked and gained the respect of the masters and fellow-scholars
alike, and I would like to recall
a popular story that was often told to ‘first-formers’ –
though, sadly, I cannot vouch for its authenticity.
A
PERILOUS QUEST
There were some exceptionally fine pears on a tree belonging to the headmaster,
Rev’d Jones, but the tree was tall and the climb was fraught with danger
for any pupil being foolhardy enough to make the perilous ascent. In fact,
although many boys fancied the big juicy pears, not one was brave enough
to make the attempt – except Horatio, that is. Seeing
all his fellow-scholars afraid at the prospect of climbing the tree, he
offered to do so, though he had no particular wish to sample the forbidden
fruit.
At the dead
of night, he lowered himself down from the dormitory window, descending a
length of knotted sheets until he reached the pears, at some considerable
risk to life and limb. Upon his safe return he shared the fruits amongst his
friends, though kept not the one for himself.
WILL THE CULPRIT BE CAUGHT?
The next morning, the plundered pear tree was discovered and a reward was
offered in an attempt to catch the culprit. But even the tempting offer of
five guineas was insufficient for any boy to betray Horatio – such was
their love of him.
A
nice tale, but is it true? One would like to think so, but of one thing you
can be sure, Horatio certainly left his mark at Paston.
When at the grammar school, I can remember being shown the ‘Nelson brick’, with his initials ‘HN’ inscribed on it. It was always kept in the Nelson Room with other trophies and memorabilia – however, by the time I left in 1957, I can recall having seen ‘quite a few’ similar bricks in the wall adjacent to the ‘school yard’ – never, ever call it the playground!
There was also a pencil box in the collection, claimed to have belonged to Norfolk’s most famous son. On it is a brass plate that reads: ‘Box used by Horatio Nelson at his School at North Walsham, Norfolk, 1770’. This box may have been given to Captain Hardy RN (of the Victory) as a keepsake, as it is known to have belonged to him, and he may have been responsible for affixing the brass plaque.
Horatio Nelson, the Paston School’s proudest boast, from a Toby Jug by Wood, Potters of Burslem.
Nelson and Hardy were walking on the quarter-deck, when Nelson fell, supporting his slight body with his one remaining arm, on the very spot his secretary had been killed a short while before.
It is said that Nelson had been been shot by a French sniper from the mizzenmast of the Redoutable, although another theory is that it may have been a stray round.
As he lay dying he instructed his flag-captain Hardy to anchor HMS Victory .
England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty.
For those of you who may be interested – Old Pastonians and others –
here’s a chance to see the School Song as sung by countless years of
scholars at the Paston School. Written by Louis N Parker, with music by A
S Wilde.
Back in those heady, far-off days, when I joined the Paston School as a young first-former, I, and the rest of the new intake for 1952 were presented with the little green booklet that contained the words of the school song, with instructions to learn them off by heart! Even after all this time those words remain with me to this day.
Anno Domini Sixteen Six,
As the tale was told to me,
Is a solemn date for us to fix
Deep in our memory.
Sir William Paston , he up and said,
“The Norfolk lads, I am sore afraid,
Have overmuch liberty.
Come hither, Reverend Michael Tylles,
And into their heads we’ll hammer
Godly learning to guide their wills,
Arithmetic, Writing and Grammar.
This was the Paston School.
This is the Paston School.
And we shall see
That this shall be
For ever the Paston School.
’Twere long to tell of all who came,
Of Tenison, Wharton, Hoste;
Their names are on the roll of fame,
And never shall be lost.
But stand and shout as the last we bring,
Horatio Nelson: of him we sing,
For he was our proudest boast.
His eye was clear, his head was cool,
His glory is our star;
For what he learnt at the Paston School,
He taught at Trafalgar.
This was the Paston School.
This is the Paston School.
And we shall see
That this shall be
For ever the Paston School.
As those who went before us strove
To hold our banner high,
In peaceful academic grove,
On fields where heroes die,
Or in the common daily round,
Unpraised, unsung, but, haply, crowned
With immortality,
So will we strive, so will we dare,
In all we say or do,
From good to better everywhere:
“De Mieux En Mieux Pour Tout.”
This was the Paston School.
This is the Paston School.
And we shall see
That this shall be
For ever the Paston School.
If
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Copyright © Ashley Gray 2008
The Webmaster would like to thank the Author of www.landofnurseryrhymes.co.uk and www.ukmagic.co.uk for kindly allowing music to be used from his sites.
Thanks also to the Old Pastonians Society for certain information researched from ‘Trafalgar 200’ on the life of Horatio Nelson.
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