On 29th September 1758, Edmund and Catherine Nelson welcomed a son, Horatio, into the world. He was born in the parsonage house of Burnham Thorpe in West Norfolk. Horatio and his siblings enjoyed an idyllic rural country life until Boxing Day, 1767, when Catherine died suddenly. Edmund was left with eight children to look after and very little money to do so. Catherine’s family were well connected; she was a relation of Robert Walpole, the ‘first’ Prime Minister, and her brother Maurice was a famous Sea Captain. He suggested that, to help Edmund out, he should take one of the boys to sea. Everyone was surprised when the sickly Horatio seemed keen. Nelson was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Norwich and then the Paston School, North Walsham. Aged 12, with his education deemed complete, he left Burnham Thorpe to begin his naval career under his uncle Maurice’s care. In 1787, England was at peace. Nelson and his new wife Fanny returned to England and, later, to Burnham. They lived there for five years, during which time Nelson fished, sailed, farmed a few acres and read the papers, hoping for war and a recall to active service. In 1793 with France in the grip of revolution Nelson was recalled, only to lose the sight in his right eye at Calvi and his arm at Cadiz. He made his name at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 after which he returned to England via Yarmouth where he was given the Freedom of the Borough. In 1801 he visited the town twice, before and after the Battle of Copenhagen. Nelson finally lost his life on 21st October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar after hoisting his famous signal “England expects that every man will do his duty”.