Nelson was a naturally religious man. His father was an English parish priest and the records of the church at Burnham Thorpe show that young Horatio sometimes assisted his father, for example by standing as godfather to children from the village at their baptism. He remained constant in his private religious practice throughout his life.

In 1791 he wrote in his private journal: 'When I lay me down to sleep I recommend myself to the care of Almighty God, and when I awaken I give myself up to His direction amidst all the evils that threaten me'. On 21 October 1805, as the Victory was sailing into action at Trafalgar, Lieutenant Pasco found him in his cabin on his knees at prayer.

Nelson also made sure that religion was practised publicly in all his ships. He obtained bibles and prayer books for his sailors from the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and paid careful attention to the appointment of chaplains.

Rev. Alexander Scott who was his chaplain on board the Victory 1803-05, recorded that Nelson always listened attentively to his sermons and occasionally suggested subjects or lent Scott books of sermons from his own library. He always ordered public services of thanksgiving on his ships after his victories and even asked for special prayers of thanksgiving to be said in his local church following his recovery from the loss of his arm in early 1798.

Nelson's faith was essentially 'patristic' and 'monotheist'. He seldom mentioned Jesus Christ, preferring instead to address all his petitions directly to God. Like many of his contemporaries he believed firmly in predestination. In 1801 shortly after the Battle of Copenhagen 2 April 1801, he wrote to Emma Hamilton: 'I own myself a Believer in God, and if I have any merit in not fearing death, it is because I feel that His power can shield me when he pleases and that I must fall whenever it is His good pleasure'.

Revealingly, the passage came at the end of a letter in which he had told Emma that she was his 'guardian angel' and that he had just celebrated the birthday of 'Santa Emma' at a special dinner party with all his officers.

His sense of having a direct line to God was useful when he had to square his adultery with Emma with his Christian faith. He did so by deciding that God intended her to be his wife: 'Now my own dear wife,' he wrote to her in March 1801, 'for such you are in my eyes and in the face of heaven'. And they acted out this belief on 13 September 1805 when in a moving ceremony in the parish church at Merton, the couple took Holy Communion together privately and then exchanged rings.

Part of the Nelson A to Z, Edited extracts taken from The Nelson Encyclopædia by Dr Colin White, Chatham Publishing London, 2002.