Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/291

 to L. a Kinschot), and it was published in that year at Leyden. The first London edition appeared in 1627, and a convenient pocket edition was issued at Utrecht in 1644. On 26 Feb. 1625 he completed a poem of 142 hexameter lines entitled ‘Hyems,’ dedicated to Constantine Hygins, which is sometimes printed with the ‘Hymnus.’ A manuscript volume of his poems in the British Museum (Sloane MS. 1768) contains one copy of Greek verses and numerous Latin poems, of which the most interesting are lines on the execution of Sir Walter Ralegh, an address ‘ad regem Angliæ’ in 1619, ‘De pietate Merici Casauboni,’ an epitaph for William Camden the herald, an epistle to Baudius, verses for the albums of friends, verses on Rondeletius the naturalist and on Lobelius, an epitaph for the heart of Anna Sophia (daughter of Christopher Harley), and what is probably the original copy of Book I of his poem on tobacco. Lobelius the botanist, Nathaniel Baxter [q. v.], the poet, Sir Robert Ayton [q. v.], Meric Casaubon [q. v.], Sir Theodore Mayerne [q. v.], and William Halliday were his friends. He had a son John, besides three other children who died young. He died of the plague in his own house in London in the summer of 1625.

[Munk's Coll. of Phys. i. 109; Sloane MS. 1768 in British Museum; Works.]  THORKILL. [See .]

THORN, NATHANIEL (d. 1857), lieutenant-general, was commissioned as ensign in the 3rd (buffs) on 15 Oct. 1802, and became lieutenant on 25 June 1803. He went with his regiment to Madeira in December 1807, and thence to Portugal in August 1808. The buffs did not take part in the advance into Spain under Moore, but they formed part of Wellesley's army in 1809. They were the first troops to cross the Douro, and at Talavera they were hotly engaged as part of Hill's division, Thorn being in command of the light company.

He was promoted captain on 4 Jan. 1810, and in March he was appointed deputy-assistant quartermaster-general to the 2nd division. He held this post till the end of the war. He was present at Busaco, the first siege of Badajos, Albuera, Arroyo de Molinos, Almaraz, Vittoria, the battles of the Pyrenees, the Nivelle and the Nive, Garris, Orthes, Aire, and Toulouse. He was wounded at the battle of St.-Pierre (13 Dec. 1813), and General W. Stewart strongly recommended him for promotion, as that was the fourth time he had brought his services to notice in the course of that campaign. He received a brevet majority on 3 March 1814, and ultimately the silver medal with ten clasps.

In July 1814 he was appointed assistant quartermaster-general to one of the brigades sent from Bordeaux to Canada, and he was present at the affair of Plattsburg in September. He was made brevet lieutenant-colonel on 21 June 1817. On 14 Aug. 1823 he was placed on half-pay, but on 29 June 1826 he was appointed to the permanent staff of the quartermaster-general's department, on which he served for twenty years. He was promoted colonel on 10 Jan. 1837, major-general on 9 Nov. 1846, and lieutenant-general on 20 June 1854. On 25 July in the latter year he was given the colonelcy of the Buffs. He was made C.B. in 1831, K.H. in 1832, and K.C.B. in 1857. He went to Windsor for the installation on 24 Jan., caught cold, and on his return home died suddenly at Upcott House, Bishop's Hull, near Taunton, Somerset, on the 28th. He was buried at Halse in that county, where there is a fine window to his memory. He was married, and his wife survived him.

[Gent. Mag. 1857, i. 363; Wellington Despatches, Suppl. vol. ix.; Somerset County Herald, 31 Jan. and 4 Feb. 1857.]  THORN, WILLIAM (fl. 1397), historian. [See .]

THORN, WILLIAM (1781–1843), soldier and military historian, was born in 1781. He purchased a cornetcy in the 29th, afterwards the 25th, light dragoons, on 17 March 1799, and joined the regiment in India. He was promoted to be lieutenant on 26 Jan. 1801. He served with his regiment under Lord Lake [see, first ] in the Maratha war which broke out in August 1803, took part in the action of Koel (29 Aug.), the capture of Alighar (4 Sept.), the battle and the capture of Delhi (11 Sept.), and the capture of Agra (18 Oct.). Thorn greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Laswari or Leswarree (1 Nov.), when the British cavalry, having penetrated the enemy's line, immediately reformed and charged three times backwards and forwards with surprising order and effect, amid a continuous fire of cannon and an incessant discharge of grape and chain shot. He had one horse killed under him in the morning at the commencement of the action and another wounded; in the evening he was himself, in the moment of victory, severely lacerated by a grape shot, which fractured the lower part of his face. Thorn also took part in the movements under Lake for the relief of Delhi in October 1804, in the capture of Díg on 24 Dec. in the same year,