Book details:
Book Title: A Most Unsettled Man
Author: Lily Style
Publication Date: July 23rd, 2024
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages:362
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George Matcham, dubbed the most unsettled man alive, was born in East India Company controlled Bombay and undertook three epic overland treks between Asia and England before marrying the favourite sister of the not yet famous Horatio Nelson. Intimate details about George's life have been preserved because of his close relationship with Nelson and his famous paramour Emma Hamilton, whose rises and falls he observed first-hand.
Packed with period press clippings and eyewitness accounts, A Most Unsettled Man provides an unprecedented glimpse into the private life of a modest 18th century English gentleman, as well retelling the enduring love story of Nelson and Emma from an entirely new perspective.
On the 6th of November 1805, the ring of church bells, near and far, grew and grew like a storm that must soon break. Then did.
George’s copy of the Gazette Extraordinaire bore news that rocked his whole family to the core. Britain’s navy had annihilated the French and Spanish fleets at Cape Trafalgar, off the southern tip of Spain, but Horace’s resounding victory had cost him his life.
Kitty collapsed and, after this, George junior noted that the news of Horace’s death had made his mama very ill.
Details of Horace’s last moments flew around England with great gusto. Brave Lord Nelson had ignored the tradition by which naval officers saved their skins by leading from behind. He’d instead insisted on wearing his full Royal Navy admiral’s uniform on HMS Victory’s open deck, complete with his array of medals and sun-catching gewgaws. Bold and bright, leading from the front, Horace’s uniform had made him an easy mark for a sniper perched on a French tall ship’s mast.
George later reflected that, from Horace’s physical frailty and proneness to melancholy, “it might have been imagined that he was ill-fitted for war & hardship. But … He went a willing victim to his country's safety and renown”.
George, Kitty and Susanna Bolton, distraught themselves, sped to Merton to support the heart-broken Emma.
Lily Style is the direct descendant of famed lovers Admiral Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton and also Nelson's sister, Kitty Matcham (because their grandchildren married).
Lily is the founder of Emma Hamilton Society and writes regularly for Nelson-related publications. She is also a keen genealogist with an interest in piecing together real human stories lying behind dry facts.
One of these stories is of her 4th great-grandfather, George Matcham, whose story she's traced from his mid eighteenth-century birth in East India Company controlled Bombay through to his intimate involvement with Nelson and Emma's rise and fall.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.lilystyle.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilystyleauthor
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lily-Style/author/B088BZRK4Y
Tour hosted by: The Coffee Pot Book Club
Thank you very much for hosting Lily Style with her fascinating book, A Most Unsettled Man, today. Take care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club