The Nelson Legacy Conference Series home page

The bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson was commemorated across the country and beyond in 2005.

Two hundred years ago the pivotal nature of the event was only just beginning to be understood and a further ten years of warfare and sacrifice passed before Britain emerged triumphant from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with France. The final victory established Britain as the world superpower for the next century and it became clear that Trafalgar had secured the Royal Navy’s pre-eminence that in many respects it still holds today. Nelson’s death and remarkable career soon entered the national psyche.

The Nelson Legacy Conference Series seeks to burnish this legacy by exploring and illuminating the effects of Nelson, his battles and his era on Britain and the world into the twentieth century. It will do this not only from a military point of view, but also from the wider social, cultural, political and economic perspectives.

The new series is inspired by Nelson; but it is not about him. That more direct focus was successfully realised with the seven Nelson Decade bicentenary conferences, which began in 1997 with The Battle of Cape St Vincent 200 Years and concluded in 2005 with The Battle of Trafalgar Conference. The new series builds on their success.

Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB ADC, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, has kindly agreed to be patron of The Nelson Legacy Conference Series, inaugurating the first conference on the anniversary of Lord Nelson’s birthday in 2007 and was the guest of honour at the conference dinner aboard HMS VICTORY.

We regret to announce the cancellation of the 2009 Conference