Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1190

1176 THOMSON. 

entered the Navy, in Aug. 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 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 50, in the Bay of Biscay, until Sept. 1815; he then joined the  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 40, Capt. Sir John Louis, and  28, Capt. Thos. Alexander. On 22 Oct. 1823 he was officially promoted. His last appointment was to the 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. 

entered the Navy, 22 Sept. 1797, as Midshipman, on board the, 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 74, Capt. Wm. Mitchell, he joined, in the course of 1800, the 44, Capt. John Griffin Saville, and  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 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 74, Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane, and 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 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 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 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 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 38, Capt. Anselm John Griffiths, on the coast of Ireland – 2 Feb. 1813, for four months, to the  38, Capt. John Quilliam, at Newfoundland in May, 1814, again as First, to the  16, Capt. Chas. Fred. Payne, off the Scheldt – and 9 May, 1815, for a very brief period, to the 110, as Flag-Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Sir Rich. Strachan at Plymouth. In 1822-3 he commanded the 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. 

entered the Navy, 21 Oct. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 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  50, Capt. Edw. Galwey, 50, Capt. Woodley Losack,  36, Capt. E. Galwey,  32, Capt. Robt. Scallon, and 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, 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. 

, born 1 March, 1795, at Portsmouth, is only surviving child of the late Admiral Sir Edw. Thornbrough, G.C.B.Sir Edward Thornbrough was born 27 July, 1754, at Plymouth Dock. He entered the Navy 20 June, 1761, on board the 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 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  of 42 guns and 259 men, Capt. Wm. Peere Williams Freeman, at the capture of 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  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 32,  frigate,  64,  28,  74, and  98. In the, 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, one of the finest frigates in the British Navy, he commanded from Oct. 1783 until Oct. 1789. While commanding the 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, 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 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 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 One of his ancestors was Bishop of Worcester in 1634.

