Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson's Death at the Battle of Trafalgar: A Neurosurgeon's Forensic Medical Analysis

Abstract

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, the greatest British naval hero, was fatally wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar. Conventional theory holds that he died mainly of an injury to a major blood vessel in the chest. However, a review of the empirical evidence-with the benefit of modern medical science-, suggests that the primary cause of death was a spinal neurogenic shock from transection of the mid thoracic spinal cord. These conditions do not necessarily exclude each other.

Revisiting the death of Lord Nelson

“…During 2005, this postulate was agreed to by various specialists and two acknowledged experts on Nelson’s wounds (the late Professor LP Le Quesne and Surgeon Vice-Admiral Sir James Watt). As recently as 2017, this explanation was further supported by a publication from the USA which also emphasised some other bodily dysfunctions occurring with this form of spinal trauma 5…”