A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Revans, Thomas
REVANS. (Commander, 1816. f-p., 19; h-p., 36.)
Thomas Revans, born in Oct. 1781, at Lymington, is son of John Revans, Esq., of that place, formerly of Saxmundham and Woodbridge, co. Suffolk; and is the youngest of six brothers, three of whom, besides himself, were devoted to the service of their country. One of these lost his right arm in action, and was killed at St. Domingo in 1797; and another, a Master R.N., was severely wounded at the reduction of the island of Grenada in 1794.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Dec. 1792, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Lizard 28, Capt. Thos. Williams, under whom he was for nearly 18 months employed in the Channel and North Sea. Re-embarking, 15 Dec. 1797, on board the Sheerness 44, Capts. Jas. Cornwallis and Wm. Hanwell, he served in that ship on the coast of Africa, as A.B. and Master’s Mate, until transferred, in Nov. 1798, to the Hannibal 74, Capts. Edw. Tyrrell Smith and John Loring. In the course of the following year he was slightly wounded in the boats under Lieut. Geo. Fred. Stovin at the capture of a Spanish letter-of-marque oif the Isle of Pines. On his return from the West Indies at the close of 1800 he joined La Déterminée armée en flûte, Capts. John Clarke Searle and Alex. Becher; in which ship, prior to being wrecked off Jersey in March, 1803, he took part in the operations connected with the expedition of 1801 to Egypt, formed one of Lord Elgin’s suite when that nobleman received a diamond decoration from Selim III., and was employed on the coasts of Catalonia and Italy. After the loss of La Déterminée, on the wreck of which he was one of five persons who, with their Captain, remained until the last moment, Mr. Revans was received, as Master’s Mate, on board the Dreadnought 98, bearing the flag in the Channel of Hon. Wm. Cornwallis; under whom, on removing to the Ville de Paris 110, he assisted, 22 Aug. 1805, in driving the French fleet into Brest. In March and May, 1806, having previously served for a few weeks on board the Hibernia 120, flag-ship of Earl St. Vincent, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Révolutionnaire and Minerva frigates, Capts. Chas. Feilding and Geo. Collier; and on 4 Aug. in the same year, after he had a second time officiated as Master’s Mate in the Hibernia, and again acted as Lieutenant in the Ville de Paris and Hibernia, he was confirmed in the latter rank in the Impétueux 74, Capts. John Lawford and David Milne. In that ship he accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren in 1809, and, we are informed, witnessed the destruction, in the same year, of a French frigate off L’Orient. He was also employed in her boats in co-operation with the British army when occupying the lines of Torres Vedras; and afterwards proceeded to the Baltic. In the summer of 1812 he left the Impétueux; and between that period and Nov. 1814 he was further employed under Capt. Milne, as First-Lieutenant, in the Dublin, Venerable, and Bulwark 74’s, on the Home and North American stations. In the Bulwark he was present at the capture of the towns of Castine, Hamden, and Bangor, and at the self-destruction of the U.S. corvette Adams. In Nov. 1814 he was subpoenaed on a trial instituted by the Admiralty, and, being in consequence obliged to leave his ship, he lost the promotion which at the conclusion of hostilities was accorded to such as were recommended by Sir Alex. Cochrane, the Commander-in-Chief. In May, 1816, he became Flag-Lieutenant, in the Leander 50, to his old commander, then Rear-Admiral Milne, under whom he fought in that capacity in the Impregnable 104 at the battle of Algiers, and was there intrusted with the command of a division of the flotilla.[1] He returned with the Rear-Admiral to England in the Glasgow 50, and on his arrival was promoted, 16 Sept. 1816, to the rank of Commander. He has since been on half-pay.
Commander Revans married the only daughter of the late Jas. Scott, Esq., of Kilishandria, co. Cavan, great-grand-daughter of Capt. Thos. Scott, who was killed in command of a troop of dragoons in the reign of William III., and sister of Major W. B. Scott, who fell in command of the 44th Regt. in the retreat from Cabul in Jan. 1842.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1816, p. 1792.