Paternal arms of Admiral Nelson
Augmented arms of Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Baron Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (1758-1805): Or, a cross flory sable surmounted by a bend gules thereon another bend engrailed of the field charged with three hand-grenades of the second fired proper a chief of augmentation wavy argent thereon waves of the sea from which issuant in the centre a palm tree between a disabled ship on the dexter and a battery in ruins on the sinister all proper (Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage,  Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames, 1968, p.822, Earl Nelson). Battery in ruins in this depiction based on East Fort, built by the French Pondicherry Regiment during the period when the French occupied the Cape in the period 1781-3. Traced from photo in File:East Fort 04.jpgJocular verse by w:Wilfrid Scott-Giles (d.1982) upon the many successive augmentations of honour to Admiral Nelson's paternal arms, which ended up obliterating the original cross:[1]


These arms the Nelsons bore in days of old,
A black cross flory on a shield of gold,
And over all a bendlet gules to show 
Due difference from Samson and Lamp'low.
When one Horatio Nelson rose to fame,
With “Sir” and “KB” bracketing his name,
The Kings of Arms his scutcheon did resplend
With three exploding bombs upon the bend.
Later they gave Lord Nelson of the Nile
An augmentation in a lavish style 
A ship disabled and a fort destroyed
Which probably the Baron much enjoyed.
When Viscount Nelson of the Nile at last
Beyond the reach of earthly honours passed, 
His brother (made an Earl) the heralds gave
The golden word TRAFALGAR on a wave.
The shield is a fine biographic gloss,
But where, alas! is Nelson’s ancient cross ?


The implication of Scott-Giles is therefore that in mediaeval times the Nelson family was a feudal tenant and follower of the de Lamplugh family, lords of the manor of w:Lamplugh in Cumbria. Sir Robert de Lamplugh of Lamplugh is recorded in the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189). (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.580). The arms of the Lamplugh family of Lamplugh Hall in Cumbria were Or, a cross flory sable (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.580). To these arms apparently was added overall for difference a bend gules, granted by de Lamplugh to a member of the Nelson family.
The alternative supposed Samson feudal connection implied by Scott-Giles appears to originate in one of the counties of Suffolk, Somerset, Devon, Kent, Yorkshire and Berkshire, where families of that name lived bearing similar arms. (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.894).

Possibly the oldest branch of the Nelson family to have borne the arms Or, a cross flory sable overall a bendlet gules was Nelson of Mawdesley and of Fairhurst, both in Lancashire, (Burke, General Armory, 1884, p.726 [2]). This family originated before the 17th century. For details of the Nelson family of Mawdesley see: 'Townships: Mawdesley', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 96-100 [3]. See also: Lancs. and Ches. Hist. and Gen. Notes, i, 363, 398; also the account of Fairhurst in the parish of Wrightington, in Victoria County History, 'Townships: Wrightington', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 169-178 [4]