HAMILTON, EMMA, LADY (c. 1765-1815), wife of Sir William Hamilton (q.v.), the British envoy at Naples, and famous as the mistress of Nelson, was the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith of Great Neston, Cheshire, where she was christened on May 12, 1765. When she went to live with Charles Greville in 1781 she called herself Emily Hart. Under the protection of Greville, whose means were narrowed by debt, she was taught to sing, dance and act with professional skill. In 1782 he introduced her to his friend Romney, whose portraits of her may have some what idealized her apparently robust and brilliantly coloured beauty, but her vivacity and powers of fascination cannot be doubted. She seems to have been sincerely attached to Greville. In 1784 his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, saw—and admired—her. Two years later she was sent on a visit to him at Naples, as the result of an understanding between Hamilton and Greville—the uncle paying his nephew's debts and the nephew ceding his mis tress. Emma at first resented the exchange, but submitted. Her beauty, her artistic capacity, and her high spirits made her a great favourite in Neapolitan society, and Queen Maria Carolina became closely attached to her. She became famous for her "attitudes," a series of poses plastiques in which she represented classical and other figures. On Sept. 6, 1791, during a visit to England, Hamil ton married her, in order to justify her public reception at the court of Naples, where she was the channel of communication between the queen and the British minister—sometimes in opposi tion to the policy of the king. It was claimed that she secured valuable information in 1796, and was of essential service to the British fleet in 1798 during the Nile campaign, by enabling it to obtain stores and water in Sicily. When Nelson returned from the Nile in Sept. 1798 Lady Hamilton subjugated him, and drew him into a most unhappy participation in the domestic troubles of Naples, and when Sir W. Hamilton was recalled in 1800 she travelled with him and Nelson across Europe. In England Lady Hamilton paraded her hold over Nelson. Their child, Horatia Nelson Thompson, was born on Jan. 3o, 1801. On her husband's death in 1803 she received by his will a liferent of £boo, and the furniture of his house in Piccadilly. She then lived with Nelson at his house at Merton. On his death she received Merton, and an annuity of £5oo, as well as the control of the interest of the L4,000 he left to his daughter. But gambling and extravagance kept her poor, and in 1813 she was put in prison for debt and remained there for a year. She died at Calais in distress if not in want on Jan. 15, 1815.
See The Memoirs of Lady Hamilton (anon., 1815) ; and Walter Sichel, Emma, Lady Hamilton (19os) ; J. Turquan and J. d'Auriac, Une aventuriere de haut vol.: Lady Hamilton et la Revolution de Naples 1763-1815 0913). See also the references s.v. NELSON.