Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lloyd, Thomas

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1442255Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 33 — Lloyd, Thomas1893Henry Manners Chichester

LLOYD, THOMAS (1784–1813), colonel, born in 1784, was third son of Thomas Lloyd of Gloucester, King's County, Ireland, M.P. for King's County 1768–90, by his wife Jane, youngest daughter and coheiress of Thomas Le Hunte. On 1 Aug. 1797 he was appointed ensign in the 54th foot in Ireland, and became lieutenant in the regiment on 6 May 1799. He served with it at Ferrol, in the Egyptian campaign of 1801, and at Gibraltar in 1802, during the mutiny in the garrison there, when the steadiness of his regiment elicited the highest praise from the Duke of Kent. He became captain in the 6th battalion of the reserve in 1803, and in 1804 was transferred to the 43rd light infantry, then training under Sir John Moore at Shorncliffe. He served with the regiment at Copenhagen and throughout the Peninsular campaigns of 1808–10. Romantic stories of his address and daring at the outposts were current in the army. On 8 Oct. 1810 he was promoted to major in the old 94th, late Scotch brigade, and became lieutenant-colonel of that regiment on 17 Aug. 1812. He commanded it at the battle of Vittoria, and fell at its head at the battle of Nivelle, 10 Nov. 1813. He appears to have been much beloved by his men (Donaldson, pp. 185–6, 193–5). The historian Napier wrote of him: ‘In him were combined mental and bodily powers of no ordinary kind. Graceful symmetry, herculean strength, a countenance frank and majestic, gave a true indication of his nature, for his capacity was great and exceeding, and his military knowledge extensive, both from experience and study. Of his mirth and wit, well known in the army, it need only be said that he used the latter without offence, but so as to increase his ascendency over those with whom he held intercourse, for though gentle, he was ambitious, valiant, and conscious of his fitness for great exploits’ (Peninsular War, revised edit. v. 383–4).

[Burke's Landed Gentry, 1886, s.v. ‘Lloyd of Gloucester;’ Army Lists; Napier's Hist. of Peninsular War, rev. edit., 1851; Gurwood's Well. Desp. iv. 205; Joseph Donaldson's [q. v.] Eventful Life of a Soldier (London and Glasgow, 1855).]

H. M. C.