The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-18
Among the Books
Who NelAons OF Burnhnm Thorpc.,

."rhe Nelson's of Burnhnm Thorpe"
By NJ. Eyre Matchnm. John, Lane,
The Bodley Head, London: John Lane
Co, New York City, y. Y. $500 net.
This volume is record of Norfolk
county English family. compiled from
unpublished letters and notebooks NJ
the Rev. Edmund Nelson. rector OF
Durham Thorpe. father Of Lord Mel
son. and the rector's youngest daugh-
ter, Lord Nelson's sister. The book
is dedicated to Horatio. third Earl
Nelson 1t has a photogravure of the
Rev. Edmund Nelson as frontispicce
and fourteen other interesting Illus
trations
The preface of the book informs the
reader that MIR. Nelson had been rec
tor of Burnham Thorpe for thirty
years when his youngest daughter and
last e-bird took flight. and 1t is
chiefly from letters to her after nor
marriage that this account Is formed.
'''AIy dear, one of them begins. 'as
YOU tell me that every letter of mine
is kept prisoner In the pocket till
released by a successor. IL seems full
time to dispatch this act of Grace
which should recomcnd 10 be always
followed by total humiliation By
Fire, least mischief might arise from
liberty But against her fathers
amused advice. Kitty kept and safe
guarded them ALL and her coloured
satin ribbons. dainty as her little self.
still tie them into separate packets"
Edmund Nelson, according to the
book record. was born in 1872. edu-
Gated al Cambridge. and married In
lI40 TO Catherine Sucking. a great
niece of Horace Walpole. who died at
the age of fortytwo. after twelve
years of happy wedlock. The children
OF Edmund and Catherine Nelson were
Maurice, Susanna. Anne. William, Ho-
ratio Edmund. Sucking and Cath
crime. The first chapter takes up the
members OF this special branch of the
Nelson family and their connections
by marriage and otherwise
Then the story goes on with descrip-
lions OF Burnham Thorpe and Barton
Hall. Catherine Nelson's home after
her marriage to George Matcham The
war with France and Captain Nelson's
going to sea preccdes the removal OF
the rector from Burnham Thorpe to
Bath, England
The recounting of a thousand .ntl-
mate and tender details renders this
Nelson family record uniquely Inter
estins, and places in new light the
hero of Trafalgar Here he appears
not so much with the pomp and cir
cumstance of war around him, as ir
the relation of son and brother, among
a group OF those coynected with him
by closest ties of afilIation and af-
fiction.
Left motherless at little over rine
years old" begins the narrative. "the
delicate. warm hearted child responded
readily to his fathers love and conf
dence. When on a snowy day Will
liam and he. having set out for school
on their ponies. returned home to re-
port the difficulties OF their road, it
was the rector who urged them to
make another attempt The little lads
set out again. and bad as the travel
ing was, the younger stood out sturdily
against giving in. I'VE have no ex-
cuse,' he said; remember. brother. IL
was left to our honour
BY 1857, the reader learns, Horatio
Nelson was in command OF the Boreas
on the Lecward Isles station He was
married at ST. Kits March H. 1857.
TO Mrs. Frances Herbert Nisbet. daugh-
ter of William Woodward. senior Judge
OF the Island OF Nevis.
Catherine Nelson, Horatio Nelson's
youngest sister, and an object of spe-
cial devotion to her kinsfoIk, was
married to George Matcham during.
the winter of 17S6-'S7, and Barton
Hall Norfolk, became her frst mar
ried home and the place where many
OF the letters forming the ground
work of family history were received
and read. The next year, 17ss-'S9, tho
diary and letters Of Edmund Nelson,
the father show that Horatio Nelson
was in close contact with his family,
tightening their troubles and straight
cning out tho difficulties OF Maurice
his eldest brother. The Ave years