THOMSON. (Lieut., 1823. f-p., 10; h-p., 26.)
Robert Kennedy Thomson entered the Navy, in Aug. 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. He was present in that frigate, we believe, at the capture and destruction, 2 Nov. following, of 10 gun-boats and 22 richly-laden feluccas, defended by a strong tower and two batteries in the harbour of Palinuro, on the coast of Calabria, where the British were opposed by a land force of 700 men; also at the destruction, 27 June, 1811, of a French convoy, and of the batteries, at Languelia and Alassio, and in a spirited skirmish fought, 17 Aug. in the same year, with a powerful Neapolitan squadron in the Bay of Naples; and, in 1813-14, at the capture of Port d’Anzo and in the operations against Leghorn and Genoa. He continued to serve with Capt. Duncan as Midshipman in the Glasgow 50, in the Bay of Biscay, until Sept. 1815; he then joined the Bulwark 74, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Rowley at Chatham; and he was next, from March, 1816, until June, 1819, and from June, 1822, until he invalided in May, 1823, employed, at Halifax and in the East Indies, the latter part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Forth 40, Capt. Sir John Louis, and Alligator 28, Capt. Thos. Alexander. On 22 Oct. 1823 he was officially promoted. His last appointment was to the Revenge 76, Capt. Norborne Thompson; in which ship he served in the Mediterranean from 16 Sept. 1828 until about the close of 1829.
Lieut. Thomson is a Captain in the Ayrshire Militia.
THOMSON. (Commander, 1832.)
William Augustus Thomson entered the Navy, 22 Sept. 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Hebe, Capt. Wm. Burchall; and in the following year accompanied a force sent under the direction of the late Sir Home Popham and Major-General Coote, to destroy the locks and sluice-gates of the Bruges Canal. After cruizing for some months in the Channel in the Resolution 74, Capt. Wm. Mitchell, he joined, in the course of 1800, the Experiment 44, Capt. John Griffin Saville, and Florentina frigate, Capt. John Broughton – the former employed under Sir John Borlase Warren in the expedition to Ferrol, the latter in the operations connected with the expulsion of the French from Egypt in 1801. Returning to England at the peace of Amiens in the Egyptienne 40, Capt. Chas. Ogle, he did not again go afloat until 1803; in the autumn of which year he was received in succession on board the Northumberland 74, Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane, and Arab 22, Capts. Lord Cochrane and Keith Maxwell. In the vessel last mentioned he was for upwards of 18 months employed as Master’s Mate and Acting-Lieutenant off Boulogne (where he came into frequent contact with the enemy’s batteries and flotilla) and on the coasts of Holland, Denmark, and Norway. He was then again placed under the command of Lord Cochrane as Master’s Mate in the Pallas 32; in command of one of the boats belonging to which frigate we find him, on the night of 5 April, 1806, entering the river Gironde, for the purpose of uniting in an attempt to cut out two French brig-corvettes, which lay 20 miles above the shoals and between two heavy batteries. One of these, La Tapageuse of 14 long 8-pounders and 95 men, although fully prepared, was most gallantly boarded and carried. The strength of the flood-tide preventing the boats or the prize from ascending the stream in quest of the remaining brig. La Tapageuse at daybreak made sail. On her way down, however, she was followed and attacked by her late consort, who, after an hour’s firing, was compelled to sheer off. On 20 Sept. following Mr. Thomson was made liieutenant into the Meteor bomb, Capt. Jas. Collins; and in that vessel, in which he remained until he invalided in Nov. 1807, he was again in action with the enemy in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, and was present under Sir John Duckworth at the passage of the Dardanells. His next appointments were – 22 May, 1809, to the Tisiphone sloop, Capts. Wm. Williams Foote and Wm. Love, on the Guernsey station, where he cruized in command of a tender – 16 April, 1810, to the Tweed 18, Capt. Thos. Edw. Symonds, which vessel, employed on the North Sea and Baltic, his health obliged him to leave in the following Dec. – 2 May, 1812, as First-Lieutenant (a rank he had for some time held on board the Tweed) to the Leonidas 38, Capt. Anselm John Griffiths, on the coast of Ireland – 2 Feb. 1813, for four months, to the Crescent 38, Capt. John Quilliam, at Newfoundland in May, 1814, again as First, to the Cretan 16, Capt. Chas. Fred. Payne, off the Scheldt – and 9 May, 1815, for a very brief period, to the San Josef 110, as Flag-Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Sir Rich. Strachan at Plymouth. In 1822-3 he commanded the Earl Moira Revenue-cruizer, and another vessel of the same description, whose name we do not possess. Since he attained his present rank, 15 Feb. 1832, he has been on half-pay.
THORLEY. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 32.)
Robert Thorley entered the Navy, 21 Oct. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Princess of Orange 74, Capt. Joshua Sydney Horton; attained the rating of Midshipman in July, 1807; and from the following Dec. until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 18 Feb. 1815, was employed, part of the time in the capacity of Master’s Mate, in the Antelope 50, Capt. Edw. Galwey, Isis 50, Capt. Woodley Losack, Dryad 36, Capt. E. Galwey, Quebec 32, Capt. Robt. Scallon, and Bonne Citoyenne 20, Capt. Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford. In the above ships he served on the Downs, Mediterranean, Lisbon, St. Helena, North Sea, Channel, Newfoundland, and Irish stations. The Dryad, while he was in her, accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren; co-operated, in 1810, with the patriots on the north coast of Spain; and destroyed, 23 Dec. 1812, a French national brig of 22 guns, near Ile Dieu. Since his promotion Mr. Thorley has been on half-pay.
THORNBROUGH. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 13; h-p., 28.)
Edward Le Cras Thornbrough, born 1 March, 1795, at Portsmouth, is only surviving child of the late Admiral Sir Edw. Thornbrough, G.C.B.[1] One of his ancestors was Bishop of Worcester in 1634.
- ↑ Sir Edward Thornbrough was born 27 July, 1754, at Plymouth Dock. He entered the Navy 20 June, 1761, on board the Arrogant 74. Cnpt. John Amherst; attained the rank of Lieutenant 16 April, 1773; took part in several of the operations connected with the war of independence in America (where he was present as First of the Falcon sloop, Capt. John Linzee, at the battle of Bunker’s Hill, and was wounded in a desperate boat-attack upon an enemy’s schooner); and for his dashing conduct as Senior of the Flora of 42 guns and 259 men, Capt. Wm. Peere Williams Freeman, at the capture of La Nymphe French frigate of 32 guns (pierced for 40) and 291 men, was promoted, in Aug. 1780, to the rank of Commander, and appointed to the Britannia armed ship. He acquired Post-rank 24 Sept. 1781, and between that period and the date of his promotion to Flag-rank 1 Jan. 1801, he commanded the Blonde 32, Hebe frigate, Scipio 64, Latona 28, Robust 74, and Formidable 98. In the Blonde, which ship was ultimately wrecked in the Bay of Biscay, he succeeded, 8 May, 1782, in compelling seven privateers (one of 24, three of 20, two of 16, and one of 12 guns) simultaneously to strike their colours. The Hebe, one of the finest frigates in the British Navy, he commanded from Oct. 1783 until Oct. 1789. While commanding the Latona he distinguished himself by the ardour with which he went in pursuit, in Nov. 1793, of a French squadron, consisting of six ships of the line, two frigates, a brig, and a schooner; and by the important service he rendered to Lord Howe in the actions of 28 May and 1 June, 1794. In 1795, being then in the Robust, he co-operated, under Sir John Borlase Warren, with the royalists on the coast of France; and on 12 Oct. 1798, he contributed to the capture of the French 74-gun ship Le Hoche, one of asquadron commanded by Commodore Bompart, and destined for the invasion of Ireland. The Robust on that occasion sustained a loss of 10 killed and 40 wounded. In Feb. 1799, Capt. Thornbrough was nominated a Colonel of Marines. On the occasion of his promotion, as above, to the rank of Rear-Admiral, be hoisted his flag on board the Mars 74, and assumed command of the in-shore squadron off Brest, where he remained during the war. On the renewal of hostilities he was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Downs; he was ordered shortly after-
