GREATNESS AND INCHES

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13819, 8 October 1918, Page 4

GREATNESS AND INCHES

; -NELSON, WELLINGTON,, AND j ! NAPOLEON. j ! ' A C^istchurah resident wrote to London soima tim© as*o to obtain- mv formatioirii•■.oonioßrniiig 1 the height of. ' Nelson., Wellington, aud Napoleon— ■, a point that was about that time be- j ing discussed hare. v ' | The Librarian uif the- Royal Ilni't- ' ed Service Institution, Mr. A. D. L. j Gary, amd the Admiralty Librarian, j Mr. L, G. Caar-Laughton, were a,p- s ■ plied to, and they furnished the : Lonto Offioa.cf. "The Press" with, i tihta information contained in. the fol-: .lowingl letters: —« : ■ Mr. Carr-Laiugihtoin wrote!-. "I do I not remember tihiat Lord Nelson's ; •j height is on. record, Amtemporaries ■■ ■ sometimes referred to ham as being 1 i of 'diminutive: figure,' but it is not. f I-necessary to decide that this means S he was noticeably short. There is no i doubt that hei was of a slight ..-figure, but as to his height thet best evidemoe I have notic&d is that of Li* nephew, Mr. Matsham. who, in a j leibtor published in 'Times'-of Novj embar 6th. 1861 (quoted in. Mahan's 'Life of Nelson' 11., 156), says: >'Ha was not, as dtesoribed, -a little man, | but oit* ifo® middle height and of a i frame adapted to activity and oxerj tion.' The impression I hafve formed is that hlis height was probably about sft 6 or 7im Therei is siuoh a ma.ss cf Nelson literature thait it is imrpossible, to be sure that Ms height has not beeri reoordod somewhere, \ but had it becmi w- 1 think I would haiVa bean! likely to 1 hasve noticed. it." Mr. Gary'si letter was as follows: j —"Your letter of August Otih tohand. As regards the height.-of Napoleon a 'nost interesting correspondence on the subject was carried on in the Literary Suppiomenlb to 'The > Times' % ■.March-' and April ID*l7.An.temma;rcih!ii, the skivled anatomist at St. Helena, measured tho corpse, and ga,v6 it ac sft Gpn Darling's , (undertakei*) meiasurement was s£t.

■Tw, 'but it must always-"-bo remem*bered that "tihe b&% is* a fettle linger than the li\dng :p?«rs-oii Montholon lecordfi ,his measuranenti as sft 6'ira in his sociks. "iline. ,Tussaud*s estimate of sft 4|in is described as 'plainly . Wellington _wtu? almost sft lOin,. I Lave coiisulted several lives of. Nelson, but all to no puarpose."