"England expects that every man will do his duty" was a signal sent by Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson from his flagship HMS Victory as the Battle of Trafalgar was about to commence on October 21, 1805. Trafalgar was the decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. It gave the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland control of the seas, removing all possibility of a French invasion and conquest of Britain.

Signals during the battle

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As the British fleet closed with the opposing combined fleets of France and Spain, Lord Nelson signalled all the necessary battle instructions to his ships. However, aware of the momentousness of events to come, Lord Nelson felt that something extra was required. He instructed his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco, to signal to the fleet, as quickly as possible, the message "England confides is confident that every man will do his duty." Pasco suggested to Nelson that expects be substituted for confides, since the former word was in the signal book, whereas confides would have to be spelt out letter-by-letter. Nelson agreed to the change (even though 'expects' gave a less trusting impression than 'confides'). Thus, at 11:45 on October 21, 1805, the most famous naval signal in British history was sent.

The signal was relayed using the numeric code devised by Sir Home Popham. This code assigned the digits 0 to 9 to ten signal flags. These flags in combination represented code numbers which were assigned meanings by a code book, distributed to all Royal Navy ships and weighted with lead for disposal overboard in case of capture. The code numbers were hoisted on the mizzenmast, one after another, with the "telegraph flag" also being flown to show that the signals employed Popham's code. The word "duty" was also not in the codebook and had to be spelt out, so the whole message required twelve "lifts". (The word "duty" was coded as shown due to the numbers 1-25 standing for the letters A-Z, without J. Moreover, in the alphabet of that time V preceded U.) This is believed to have taken about four minutes. A team of four to six men, led by Lt Pasco, would have prepared and hoisted the flags onboard Lord Nelson's Flag Ship HMS Victory.

The message "engage the enemy more closely" was Nelson's final signal, sent before a single British cannon had been fired at the enemy . This message was signalled using flags 1 and 6. Nelson ordered this signal hauled up and kept aloft. It remained up until shot away during the battle. In honour of Nelson, this specific signal is retained as a code in the NATO Allied Tactical signals publication, though it has no relevance in modern naval warfare.

After the battle

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The phrase has become well known in England because of Lord Nelson's fame and the importance of the Battle of Trafalgar in British history. Generations of English schoolchildren have been taught about Trafalgar, alongside other seminal moments of English history such as the Battle of Hastings, Magna Carta, the Gunpowder Plot, and the Blitz. The phrase is known so widely in England that it has entered the English popular consciousness. Today "England expects…", as an abbreviated version of the phrase, is often adapted for use in the media, especially in relation to the expectations for the victory of English sporting teams.

Almost immediately, the signal began to be misquoted. A number of ships in the fleet recorded the signal as "England expects every man to do his duty," (omitting "that" and replacing "will" with "to"). This version became so prevalent that it is recorded around the base of Nelson's Column, on his tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral, and on the memorial built in 1807 by his friend and agent, Alexander Davison. However, the Victory's log and the accounts of signal officer John Pasco and Henry Blackwood (captain of the frigate Euryalus), both present at the preparation of the signal, agree on the form given here.

The signal is still hoisted on the Victory at her dry dock in Portsmouth on Trafalgar Day (21 October) every year, although the signal flags are displayed all at once, running from fore to aft, rather than hoisted from the mizzenmast in the order actually used in the battle.

Similar signals

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Nelson's famous signal has been imitated in other navies of the world. Napoleon ordered the French translation, "La France compte que chacun fera son devoir", to be displayed on French vessels. Also, before the Battle of Tsushima, Japanese Admiral Togo (who had studied naval science in England from 1871 to 1878) signalled to his fleet: "The fate of the Empire depends upon today's battle: let every man do his utmost".

References in popular culture

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• James Joyce's Ulysses contains numerous repetitions of Nelson's message, including several that are deliberately fragmented or misquoted. Nelson, and the statue of him in Dublin's O'Connell Street, were viewed by the Irish as symbols of British oppression.

• In chapter 43 of Martin Chuzzlewit, Charles Dickens wrote: ..."as the poet informs us, England expects Every man to do his duty, England is the most sanguine country on the face of the earth, and will find itself continually disappointed."

• In Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, the Bellman says:

For England Expects — I forbear to proceed:

'Tis a maxim tremendous, but trite.

• England Expects is the name of a BBC Scotland television drama filmed on the Samuda Estate, Isle of Dogs, the Robin Hood Estate, Poplar and other locations in London's East End. ^*

• In the 1991 TV movie Ironclads, the captain of the CSS Virginia said to his crew before the first battle of Hampton Roads: "The Confederacy expects every man to do his duty". In the next scene, on board the USS Congress, the captain said to his crew "The Union expects every man to do his duty".

• An episode of BBC comedy show Rutland Weekend Television claimed that Nelson had ordered the signal to be "England expects that every man will do his duty, including all the carrots" but they had no flag for carrot and so left that bit out.

• United States former Secretary of the Navy Gordon England wears a tie with the flags reading out the famous quote when he visits naval vessels.

• In John Birmingham's Axis of Time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill quotes Nelson, saying that "England expects that every man, and woman will do their duty" to Captain Karen Halabi, RN

• British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously referenced the message when she attempted to appease those rioting over the implementation of the Poll Tax. Her "England expects..." speech tried, and failed to convince the demonstrators to respect the sovereignty of Parliament and accept the legislation.

References

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• Iron Admirals, Ronald W Andidora, page 5. ISBN 0313312664.