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  of the war between England and France in the beginning of 1793. In July he was appointed to the Regulus, which ill-health compelled him to leave after a few months. In July 1794 he was appointed to command the Pelter gunboat, in which he ‘performed a variety of dashing exploits,’ capturing or destroying numerous vessels along the French coast, even under the protection of batteries. In July 1795 he was publicly thanked by Sir John Borlase Warren [q. v.] on the quarterdeck of the Pomone for his service in rescuing a party of French royalists after the failure of the attempt at Quiberon.

On 30 Nov. 1795 he was promoted to the command of the Suffisante sloop, in which, in the following May, he captured the French national brig Revanche; and through the summer took or destroyed several privateers, armed vessels, storeships, and traders—a season of remarkable activity and success. The ‘Committee for Encouraging the Capture of French Privateers’ voted him a piece of plate value 50l.; so also did the ‘Court of Directors of the Royal Exchange Assurance;’ and on 12 Dec. 1796 he was advanced to post rank. In the following year, being unable to get employment from the admiralty, he fitted out a privateer, in which he made several rich prizes; but being reported to the admiralty as having used the private signals to avoid being overhauled by ships of war, his name was summarily struck off the list on 20 Nov. 1798. In 1801 he was permitted to serve as a volunteer in the fleet going to the Baltic with Sir Hyde Parker, and, being favourably reported on by him, was restored to his rank in the navy, with seniority, 22 Sept. 1801.

From July 1803 to June 1809 he commanded the Sea Fencibles on the coast of Essex; in the summer of 1809 he fitted out and commanded a division of fireships for the operations in the Scheldt. On returning to England he resumed the command of the Fencibles till they were broken up early in 1810. He had no further employment, but was put on the retired list of rear-admirals on 22 July 1830. He was transferred to the active list on 17 Aug. 1840, and was promoted to be vice-admiral on 23 Nov. 1841. He died at his house near Lewes on 6 March 1847. He married, in 1794, Elizabeth, second daughter and coheiress of Ralph Ward of Forburrows, near Colchester, and had a large family.

Two of Tomlinson's brothers also served in the navy, and retired with the rank of commander after the war. Philip died in 1839; Robert, at the age of eighty-five, in 1844. Each of the three brothers attained the grade of lieutenant in 1782.

[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. iii. (vol. ii.) 437; O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Navy Lists.]

TOMLINSON, RICHARD (1827-1871), actor. [See .]

TOMOS, GLYN COTHI (1766-1833), Welsh poet. [See .]

TOMPION, THOMAS (1639–1713), ‘the father of English watchmaking,’ is said to have been born at Northhill, Bedfordshire, in 1639, but the statement cannot be authenticated, as the registers of Northhill go back only to 1672. Tompion, at his death, owned land at Ickwell in this parish. E. J. Wood (Curiosities of Clocks and Watches, 1866, p. 293) quotes from Prior's ‘Essay on Learning’—a work that cannot be identified—the statement that ‘Tompion, who earned a well-deserved reputation for his admirable improvements in the art of clock and watch making but particularly in the latter, originally was a farrier, and began his great knowledge in the equation of time by regulating the wheels of a jack to roast meat.’

Tompion was apprenticed in 1664 to a London clockmaker, and was made free of the Clockmakers' Company on 4 Sept. 1671. The statutes of the Clockmakers' Company compelled every member to work as a journeyman for two years after completing his apprenticeship. But within three years of his setting up in business for himself Tompion had attained so high a reputation that when the Royal Observatory was established in 1676 he was chosen to make the clocks, on whose accuracy important calculations depended. One of these clocks was presented to the Royal Society in 1736; it bears this inscription: ‘Sir Jonas Moore caused this movement to be made with great care Anno Domini 1676 by Thomas Tompion.’ It is a year-going clock. Under the direction of Robert Hooke [q. v.] he made in 1675 one of the first English watches with a balance spring. It was presented to Charles II, inscribed, ‘Robert Hooke inven. 1658. T. Tompion fecit 1675.’ When Edward Barlow, alias Booth [q. v.], applied for a patent for repeating watches, the watch produced in court in March 1687 was made by Tompion for Barlow. Britten says: ‘The theories of Dr. Hooke and Barlow would have remained in abeyance but for Tompion's skilful materialisation of them. When he entered the arena the performance of timekeepers was very indifferent. The principles upon which they were constructed were defective,