Horatio Nelson's Mother, Catherine Suckling. Artist: British School, 19th century. From Nelson - A Biography by Richard Hough, page 12. This portrait, painted when she was just 18, shows Horatio Nelson's mother before she met Reverend Edmund Nelson, rector of a Norfolk congregation. A woman of strong character, she bore him eight children. Catherine died young, in 1767, leaving young Horatio, his two elder and two younger brothers and three sisters, to be brought up by their widowed father. *** Local Caption *** 6409