Fic Post
Hornblower rated G. Any resemblence between Archie Kennedy and a certain Russian princess is entirely coincidental
It is only with passing interest that Hornblower receives the news of the current Lord Kennedy’s death. He has spent the past three decades exerting great effort to avoid the Kennedys at any and all social functions.
Hornblower has long doubted his ability to look any of them in the eye.
Hornblower finds he feels something akin to relief in the weeks that follow Lord Kennedy’s death. With the death of Archie’s brother it is over, he can lock his memories of Archie tight inside his mind for they belong to him alone now. The Kennedy clan now consists primarily of a younger generation who barely remember ever clapping eyes on their Uncle Archie.
~
They are currently residing at their country residence, Barbara and he. He has made himself scarce for the afternoon as Barbara is being visited by one of her friends from London. On his return from his walk propriety demands he enter the drawing room to greet the ladies. They barely notice as they are too engrossed in their conversation, eventually Barbara looks up.
“Did you hear the news, darling? It appears your mutineer is back from the dead.”
Hornblower’s expression must remain blank so Barbara explains with a hint of irritation in her voice, “Kennedy, Horatio. There is a man claiming to be Archie Kennedy in London.”
Her friend interrupts at that, “Convenient he returns when there is a title and fortune to be claimed, Lord Kennedy had only daughters, if a brother was still alive his claim would supersede the other male relations.”
Barbara’s reply is wry, “You have a very cynical mind, my dear. Whoever he is he’s taking a risk, I suppose he is relying that his conviction will be ruled unsafe, after all one of his judges was soon proved to be a traitor.” She turns her attention back to Horatio, “Will you go to London to see him? You may be the best person to identify him as an imposter.” Barbara turns back to her friend, “Horatio was on Renown you know…”
Hornblower does not hear the rest of his wife’s elaboration on the link between himself and Archie Kennedy. He leaves the room. At this moment he knows little, it is as if he has been told the sea is now dry, but he does know he will not go to London.
~
There is barely a letter that crosses Hornblower’s threshold that does not mention ‘Archie Kennedy’s’ return. He holds the letters up to peer at them, hope and fury vying to be his dominant feeling on the subject. Several implore him to come to London to see the man for himself and offer an opinion on his legitimacy. Barbara had been correct in her assumption; the Admiralty had promptly overturned Archie’s conviction. There were rumours of renewed outrage directed from Culzean and Hornblower had surmised the Admiralty had seen a way to extract themselves from a potentially embarrassing situation. Hornblower sees it as simply another chip of the gold that once covered the Admiralty breaking away and revealing the cheap tin underneath. It rendered everything Archie had suffered meaningless.
~
When the girl arrives to see him Hornblower can tell from across the room she must be a Kennedy by blood if no longer by name. Her features are indistinct to him but he would recongise that exact shade of blonde hair he spent his youth running his fingers through anywhere.
The girls stands when she sees him, “Lord Hornblower? I am Catherine Buchanan, my father was Alastair Kennedy…”
Hornblower interrupts her with a scowl and gesture for her to sit back down, he remains standing, “I can see who you are Mrs. Buchanan. I expect you are here concerning this foolishness with the man claiming to be your uncle.”
The girl is abrupt, it is not an unfamiliar tone to Hornblower, “My sisters and I believe him and I do not doubt for a moment that my father would have welcomed him home with open arms. He knew my father, his recollections of their childhood match the stories Papa told perfectly. My aunt and cousins refuse to acknowledge what is plain truth put before them for they fear my cousin will loose the title and all that comes with it, Archie doesn’t want any of that though, he wants only his name back. ” There is a pause before she continues, “Sir, my sisters and I wish you to come to London to testify that Uncle Archie is who he says he is.”
Hornblower snorts at that, “Uncle Archie? Mrs. Buchanan I saw your Uncle Archie die in front of my own eyes. This man is an imposter, most likely a charlatan who knew Archie from Drury Lane. He may say now he does not wish the title, but wait until a legal right to it has been established for him and you will see his true character then I wager. Your aunt must have met Archie, I would trust her judgment.”
The girl rises at that. “She met him on one or two occasions years ago! Why will you not do this one thing for us? If he is not who he says he is then you have nothing to fear, but perhaps that is the problem. You fear he is Archie Kennedy and you fear the consequences of that you miserable, crawling. Wellesley sycophant…” She stops at that, seemingly realising her loss of temper does her cause no favours. Hornblower is not as offended as she fears though, he merely smiles, it may be the first genuine smile that has alighted his face since this whole business began.
“I have no doubt, Mrs. Buchanan, that you are a Kennedy. Please take some refreshments before you being your journey back to London.” With that Hornblower turns and departs.
~
They are lying on their own sides of the bed in the darkness; Barbara and he. Hornblower is looking into blackness, he finds it soothing. In the absence of light he has the perfect excuse as to why he cannot see clearly. Barbara’s voice cuts through his respite.
“Why do you not go to see him?”
“Why should I go to see a man I do not know?”
“Are you not curious? Perhaps you will recongise him, perhaps he was a rating on the Indefatigable or Renown. They say he is quite convincing, he’s certainly fooled those girls; they are quite devoted to him by all accounts.”
Hornblower gives voice to that thought that he keeps returning to, “He must be very convincing, Catherine Buchanan did not strike me as a fool, yet she seems completely taken in by him…”
“That is easily explained.” Barbara’s tone is dismissive, “They have just lost their father, and suddenly they are presented with a substitute to dote on. They believe what they wish to.”
“Perhaps.”
Barbara sits up at that, “It is clear that you are troubled, Horatio, that you have been since this man appeared. Why not go to London, expose him as an imposter and then let that be the end of the matter?”
She lies back down at that and says no more.
~
Hornblower nods at the housekeeper who opens the door to the Buchanan’s drawing room for him. His arrival was not expected and he has been informed most of the household are out. ‘Mr. Kennedy’, however, had remained at home.
“Horatio?”
It is like being plunged in ice for it is his voice, of that Hornblower has no doubt. But he knows it is an easy trick, the mimicking of a voice, for those that are skilled at it. Hornblower peers across the room, but where there once was gold there is now only white. His eyes are not sharp enough to discern the features clearly of the man who has risen from his chair.
Hornblower can hear the strained levity in the other man’s voice, as his eyes had faded his ear had finally become tuned, “I was wondering when you would visit me.”
Hornblower looks across the room, unsure of what to say, what do you say to a dead man? The man steps forward, “Will you not sit down, Horatio? You must have so many questions…”
Hornblower turns on his heel, interrupting the man mid sentence and departs. He ignores Archie’s voice calling his name.
~
Barbara ignores the fact that Hornblower is attempting to hide from her and enters the study without waiting for an invitation, “So have you seen him? Is it Kennedy?”
Hornblower does not answer and Barbara demands, “Well is it!”
“I do not know.” It is the only honest answer Hornblower can give. He is irritated by Barbara’s intrusion, as if Archie is a trivial piece of gossip.
He expects Barbara to leave in exasperation that Horatio has not brought back a better anecdote, but she does not, instead there is an accusation, “You call his name in your sleep you know, not often, but you do. I am not the fool poor Maria was, I know there has always been something amiss between us. For years I believed it was the fact I could not give you a child… but it was the fact I was not him.”
Hornblower knows he should offer a denial, but he is consumed by one though, his voice hoarse, “I cannot be sure it is him, my eyes…if only my sight was clear
Barbara’s reply is scathing, “If it is only with your eyes you can recognise him, Horatio than I have fretted for no reason all these years.” With that comment she departs.
~
Hornblower calls on the Buchanans as early as he dares. The household are at breakfast and he waits in the morning room. When the man comes through Hornblower crosses the floor to peer at him while the man says nothing. Before he can dwell on if it is an appropriate action or not he lifts his fingers to the man’s face and traces from the eye sockets to the jaw bone. The man remains passive at first before sighing and turning his head slightly. The action causes the man’s lips to brush against Hornblower’s wrist.
In that moment Hornblower recognises Archie with a sense that is not sight.
~
Postscript: Article published 22 November 2010
The Death and Life of Archie Kennedy
One of the most infamous scandals of 1830’s London reached a somewhat delayed conclusion this week. In April this year permission was finally obtained from Lord William Hornblower to open up the grave of his ancestor, celebrated nineteenth century naval hero Admiral Lord Horatio Hornblower. The first Lord Hornblower however was not the prize that was sought by a team from Kings College London seeking DNA material. Within Hornblower’s grave is a man whose friends and supporters claimed was Archie Kennedy but whose detractors argued was really Christopher Ballantyne, a former Drury Lane bit player.
Archie Kennedy, a nephew of the Earl of Cassilles was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who served with Hornblower at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1802 he was convicted of mutiny (a conviction which was later overturned) and believed to have died of a festering gunshot wound, until the reappearance of a man claiming to be him in 1836.
It was also in 1836 that Lady Barbara Hornblower, Hornblower’s wife and sister of the Duke of Wellington, departed for Italy never to return. She lived the remainder of her life there with an Italian Count ten years her junior while Hornblower lived with ‘Kennedy’ in London. The disintegration of the Hornblowers marriage, and the probable cause of it, was the main topic of conversation in drawing rooms and coffee houses throughout London for many months.
While one branch of the Kennedy family staunchly supported Hornblower’s companion’s claim to the identity of Archie Kennedy another branch fiercely contested it, claiming they had evidence that he was in fact Ballantyne. This evidence was never produced in court, nor was any proof that Archie Kennedy has survived his first death in 1802. Plans for Kennedy’s identity to be established in a court of law were abandoned at the insistence of Wellington who wished no further embarrassment brought on his family.
Hornblower never wavered in his conviction that the man he lived with was Archie Kennedy. On his death in 1852 his will stated that he should be buried with Kennedy who had died the previous year.
At press conference yesterday morning Professor Nicola Bryson announced the conclusions of the DNA tests ran using material from Hornblower’s grave and a donation from Margaret Hamilton, a matrilineal descendent of Archie Kennedy’s mother.
It is Professor Byrson’s opinion that the man that shared Hornblower’s bed and now his grave is undoubtedly Archie Kennedy. How he came to survive his ‘death’ remains unexplained. Professor Bryson's request to examine prviate letters belonging to the estate of Admiral Sir Edward Pellew between Pellew and a man known as only as 'Mr. K' residing in Boston between 1805 and 1818 have so far been refused.
It is only with passing interest that Hornblower receives the news of the current Lord Kennedy’s death. He has spent the past three decades exerting great effort to avoid the Kennedys at any and all social functions.
Hornblower has long doubted his ability to look any of them in the eye.
Hornblower finds he feels something akin to relief in the weeks that follow Lord Kennedy’s death. With the death of Archie’s brother it is over, he can lock his memories of Archie tight inside his mind for they belong to him alone now. The Kennedy clan now consists primarily of a younger generation who barely remember ever clapping eyes on their Uncle Archie.
~
They are currently residing at their country residence, Barbara and he. He has made himself scarce for the afternoon as Barbara is being visited by one of her friends from London. On his return from his walk propriety demands he enter the drawing room to greet the ladies. They barely notice as they are too engrossed in their conversation, eventually Barbara looks up.
“Did you hear the news, darling? It appears your mutineer is back from the dead.”
Hornblower’s expression must remain blank so Barbara explains with a hint of irritation in her voice, “Kennedy, Horatio. There is a man claiming to be Archie Kennedy in London.”
Her friend interrupts at that, “Convenient he returns when there is a title and fortune to be claimed, Lord Kennedy had only daughters, if a brother was still alive his claim would supersede the other male relations.”
Barbara’s reply is wry, “You have a very cynical mind, my dear. Whoever he is he’s taking a risk, I suppose he is relying that his conviction will be ruled unsafe, after all one of his judges was soon proved to be a traitor.” She turns her attention back to Horatio, “Will you go to London to see him? You may be the best person to identify him as an imposter.” Barbara turns back to her friend, “Horatio was on Renown you know…”
Hornblower does not hear the rest of his wife’s elaboration on the link between himself and Archie Kennedy. He leaves the room. At this moment he knows little, it is as if he has been told the sea is now dry, but he does know he will not go to London.
~
There is barely a letter that crosses Hornblower’s threshold that does not mention ‘Archie Kennedy’s’ return. He holds the letters up to peer at them, hope and fury vying to be his dominant feeling on the subject. Several implore him to come to London to see the man for himself and offer an opinion on his legitimacy. Barbara had been correct in her assumption; the Admiralty had promptly overturned Archie’s conviction. There were rumours of renewed outrage directed from Culzean and Hornblower had surmised the Admiralty had seen a way to extract themselves from a potentially embarrassing situation. Hornblower sees it as simply another chip of the gold that once covered the Admiralty breaking away and revealing the cheap tin underneath. It rendered everything Archie had suffered meaningless.
~
When the girl arrives to see him Hornblower can tell from across the room she must be a Kennedy by blood if no longer by name. Her features are indistinct to him but he would recongise that exact shade of blonde hair he spent his youth running his fingers through anywhere.
The girls stands when she sees him, “Lord Hornblower? I am Catherine Buchanan, my father was Alastair Kennedy…”
Hornblower interrupts her with a scowl and gesture for her to sit back down, he remains standing, “I can see who you are Mrs. Buchanan. I expect you are here concerning this foolishness with the man claiming to be your uncle.”
The girl is abrupt, it is not an unfamiliar tone to Hornblower, “My sisters and I believe him and I do not doubt for a moment that my father would have welcomed him home with open arms. He knew my father, his recollections of their childhood match the stories Papa told perfectly. My aunt and cousins refuse to acknowledge what is plain truth put before them for they fear my cousin will loose the title and all that comes with it, Archie doesn’t want any of that though, he wants only his name back. ” There is a pause before she continues, “Sir, my sisters and I wish you to come to London to testify that Uncle Archie is who he says he is.”
Hornblower snorts at that, “Uncle Archie? Mrs. Buchanan I saw your Uncle Archie die in front of my own eyes. This man is an imposter, most likely a charlatan who knew Archie from Drury Lane. He may say now he does not wish the title, but wait until a legal right to it has been established for him and you will see his true character then I wager. Your aunt must have met Archie, I would trust her judgment.”
The girl rises at that. “She met him on one or two occasions years ago! Why will you not do this one thing for us? If he is not who he says he is then you have nothing to fear, but perhaps that is the problem. You fear he is Archie Kennedy and you fear the consequences of that you miserable, crawling. Wellesley sycophant…” She stops at that, seemingly realising her loss of temper does her cause no favours. Hornblower is not as offended as she fears though, he merely smiles, it may be the first genuine smile that has alighted his face since this whole business began.
“I have no doubt, Mrs. Buchanan, that you are a Kennedy. Please take some refreshments before you being your journey back to London.” With that Hornblower turns and departs.
~
They are lying on their own sides of the bed in the darkness; Barbara and he. Hornblower is looking into blackness, he finds it soothing. In the absence of light he has the perfect excuse as to why he cannot see clearly. Barbara’s voice cuts through his respite.
“Why do you not go to see him?”
“Why should I go to see a man I do not know?”
“Are you not curious? Perhaps you will recongise him, perhaps he was a rating on the Indefatigable or Renown. They say he is quite convincing, he’s certainly fooled those girls; they are quite devoted to him by all accounts.”
Hornblower gives voice to that thought that he keeps returning to, “He must be very convincing, Catherine Buchanan did not strike me as a fool, yet she seems completely taken in by him…”
“That is easily explained.” Barbara’s tone is dismissive, “They have just lost their father, and suddenly they are presented with a substitute to dote on. They believe what they wish to.”
“Perhaps.”
Barbara sits up at that, “It is clear that you are troubled, Horatio, that you have been since this man appeared. Why not go to London, expose him as an imposter and then let that be the end of the matter?”
She lies back down at that and says no more.
~
Hornblower nods at the housekeeper who opens the door to the Buchanan’s drawing room for him. His arrival was not expected and he has been informed most of the household are out. ‘Mr. Kennedy’, however, had remained at home.
“Horatio?”
It is like being plunged in ice for it is his voice, of that Hornblower has no doubt. But he knows it is an easy trick, the mimicking of a voice, for those that are skilled at it. Hornblower peers across the room, but where there once was gold there is now only white. His eyes are not sharp enough to discern the features clearly of the man who has risen from his chair.
Hornblower can hear the strained levity in the other man’s voice, as his eyes had faded his ear had finally become tuned, “I was wondering when you would visit me.”
Hornblower looks across the room, unsure of what to say, what do you say to a dead man? The man steps forward, “Will you not sit down, Horatio? You must have so many questions…”
Hornblower turns on his heel, interrupting the man mid sentence and departs. He ignores Archie’s voice calling his name.
~
Barbara ignores the fact that Hornblower is attempting to hide from her and enters the study without waiting for an invitation, “So have you seen him? Is it Kennedy?”
Hornblower does not answer and Barbara demands, “Well is it!”
“I do not know.” It is the only honest answer Hornblower can give. He is irritated by Barbara’s intrusion, as if Archie is a trivial piece of gossip.
He expects Barbara to leave in exasperation that Horatio has not brought back a better anecdote, but she does not, instead there is an accusation, “You call his name in your sleep you know, not often, but you do. I am not the fool poor Maria was, I know there has always been something amiss between us. For years I believed it was the fact I could not give you a child… but it was the fact I was not him.”
Hornblower knows he should offer a denial, but he is consumed by one though, his voice hoarse, “I cannot be sure it is him, my eyes…if only my sight was clear
Barbara’s reply is scathing, “If it is only with your eyes you can recognise him, Horatio than I have fretted for no reason all these years.” With that comment she departs.
~
Hornblower calls on the Buchanans as early as he dares. The household are at breakfast and he waits in the morning room. When the man comes through Hornblower crosses the floor to peer at him while the man says nothing. Before he can dwell on if it is an appropriate action or not he lifts his fingers to the man’s face and traces from the eye sockets to the jaw bone. The man remains passive at first before sighing and turning his head slightly. The action causes the man’s lips to brush against Hornblower’s wrist.
In that moment Hornblower recognises Archie with a sense that is not sight.
~
Postscript: Article published 22 November 2010
The Death and Life of Archie Kennedy
One of the most infamous scandals of 1830’s London reached a somewhat delayed conclusion this week. In April this year permission was finally obtained from Lord William Hornblower to open up the grave of his ancestor, celebrated nineteenth century naval hero Admiral Lord Horatio Hornblower. The first Lord Hornblower however was not the prize that was sought by a team from Kings College London seeking DNA material. Within Hornblower’s grave is a man whose friends and supporters claimed was Archie Kennedy but whose detractors argued was really Christopher Ballantyne, a former Drury Lane bit player.
Archie Kennedy, a nephew of the Earl of Cassilles was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who served with Hornblower at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1802 he was convicted of mutiny (a conviction which was later overturned) and believed to have died of a festering gunshot wound, until the reappearance of a man claiming to be him in 1836.
It was also in 1836 that Lady Barbara Hornblower, Hornblower’s wife and sister of the Duke of Wellington, departed for Italy never to return. She lived the remainder of her life there with an Italian Count ten years her junior while Hornblower lived with ‘Kennedy’ in London. The disintegration of the Hornblowers marriage, and the probable cause of it, was the main topic of conversation in drawing rooms and coffee houses throughout London for many months.
While one branch of the Kennedy family staunchly supported Hornblower’s companion’s claim to the identity of Archie Kennedy another branch fiercely contested it, claiming they had evidence that he was in fact Ballantyne. This evidence was never produced in court, nor was any proof that Archie Kennedy has survived his first death in 1802. Plans for Kennedy’s identity to be established in a court of law were abandoned at the insistence of Wellington who wished no further embarrassment brought on his family.
Hornblower never wavered in his conviction that the man he lived with was Archie Kennedy. On his death in 1852 his will stated that he should be buried with Kennedy who had died the previous year.
At press conference yesterday morning Professor Nicola Bryson announced the conclusions of the DNA tests ran using material from Hornblower’s grave and a donation from Margaret Hamilton, a matrilineal descendent of Archie Kennedy’s mother.
It is Professor Byrson’s opinion that the man that shared Hornblower’s bed and now his grave is undoubtedly Archie Kennedy. How he came to survive his ‘death’ remains unexplained. Professor Bryson's request to examine prviate letters belonging to the estate of Admiral Sir Edward Pellew between Pellew and a man known as only as 'Mr. K' residing in Boston between 1805 and 1818 have so far been refused.