The entire school gathered this morning to remember our most famous ON, Horatio Nelson, at the annual Trafalgar Day Service. There were various addresses by pupils from Nelson house and staff, with singing by the Chapel Choir in the Cathedral, before the school moved outside. Wreaths were laid below Nelson’s statue in The Close by the Head Master, Head of School and Head of Nelson House. Even our youngest pupils (aged 4) gathered around the statue of Lord Nelson and stood in silence as trumpeters played the Last Post and Reveille.
The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the Napoleonic Wars. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive naval battle of the war, conclusively ending French plans to invade England. During the battle, Nelson was shot by a French musketeer; he died shortly thereafter, becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes.