146 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS.' 



mother. He brought up his children with gentleness and religious instruction 

 and followed them with frequent letters. To his boys he used to say: "Remem- 

 ber, I leave it to your honor." He won respect and affection from all. He was 

 of a contented nature, but somber rather than jolly. Ambition, drive, dash, 

 statesmanship were not his traits. His constitution was weak and sickly. His 

 only brother died unmarried; one of his sisters married Rev. John Goulty, rector 

 of Hilborough, and their grandson was Robert Monsey, Lord Cranworth, a leading 

 legal light, noted for his sound sense. The father's father, Edmund Nelson (1693- 

 1747), was rector of Hilborough, Norfolk, and was without distinctive char- 

 acteristics. Two of Horatio's first cousins on the Nelson side were clergymen. 

 The father's mother was Mary, daughter of John Bland of Cambridge, gentleman, 

 and sister to a chaplain of the Duke of Encaster. Thus, the paternal side shows 

 no example of the striking traits revealed by the great admiral. 



Let us examine the maternal side. His mother was Catherine Suckling, 

 a woman of "some force of character" (Moorhouse, 1913, p. 9). Her brother, 

 Captain Maurice Suckling, was an ambitious naval fighter; as we have seen, 

 he married a distant cousin, Mary Walpole, but I have no record of any children. 

 Another brother, William, had a grandson, William B. Suckling, who became a 

 rear admiral. 



The mother's father was Rev. Maurice Suckling, D. D., of whom I have no 

 further data. His brother Robert had a great grandson, Maurice, who was in the 

 Royal Navy. 



The mother's mother was Anne Turner, of whose traits there is no infor- 

 mation, but her mother was Mary Walpole, the sister of Sir Robert Walpole (1676- 

 1745), England's great prime minister, created first Earl of Orford. On this side, 

 then, we find ambition, great capacity for work, and the hyperkinetic drive. 

 Another brother of Mary was Gilfridus Walpole (1683-1726), who commanded 

 the Lion, of 60 guns, in a gallant action in the Mediterranean, in 1711. He died 

 at the age of 43 years. Here we see a possible nomadic trait, love of adventure, 

 and capacity for naval fighting. 



While the gene for nomadism is sex-linked and may be carried in eggs through 

 generations, but not in male zygotes, this is not true of the genes for hyperkinesis. 

 Since there is no evidence of a hyperkinetic temperament in either parent, or 

 even in the four grandparents, it seems probable that in Nelson that inhibition 

 to danger, which is so marked in other members of the family, was prevented 

 by a dominant mutation that permitted the weakening of such inhibitory 

 mechanism. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF HORATIO NELSON. 



II (M F F F), Robert Suckling, high sheriff of Norfolk. 12 (M F F M), Anne Wode- 

 house. 13 (M M M F), Robert Walpole (1650-1700), a prominent Whig in Parliament. I 4 

 (M M M M), Mary Burwell, daughter of Sir Jeffrey Burwell. 



I 1 (M F F), Robert Suckling, high sheriff of Norfolk. II 2 (M F M), Sarah Skelton. 

 II 3 (M M F), Sir Charles Turner, died 1738. II 4 (M M M), Mary Walpole, died 1711. Fra- 

 ternity of M M M: II, 5 Robert W r alpole, first Earl of Orford (1676(1745), the celebrated prime 

 minister of England. II 6, Horatio Walpole (1678-1757), a diplomat of the first class. II 7, 

 Galfridus Walpole, of the Royal Navy. 



Fraternity of M F: III 1, Robert Suckling. Ill 2, Dorothy Berney. Ill 3 (M F), Rev. 

 Maurice Suckling. Ill 4 (M M), Anne Turner, died 1768. Ill 5 (F F), Rev. Edmund Nelson 

 (1693-1747). Ill 6 (F M), Mary Bland. Fraternity of F M: III 7, Rev. John Bland. Ill 8, 

 Bryant Bland. 



