A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Burnham, Thomas
BURNHAM. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 12; h-p., 29.)
Thomas Burnham entered the Navy, 1 June, 1806, as Third-cl. Vol., on board the Bustler 12-gun brig, Lieut.-Commander Rich. Welsh, lying in the Downs; attained the rating of Midshipman 1 July, 1807; and, on 26 Dec. 1808, was wrecked on the coast of France. He then became attached to the Cordelia 10, Capt. Thos. Fortescue Kennedy, also in the Downs, but, in March, 1809, rejoined Lieut. Welsh in the Surly cutter, on the Guernsey station, where, in company with the Trim and scp, he assisted in capturing, 20 April, 1810, the French privateer Alcide, of 4 guns and 30 men. He continued in the Surly, latterly commanded at Portsmouth by Lieut. Mark Robinson Lucas, until 31 Oct. 1815, when he removed, as Master’s Mate, to the Tagus 38, Capt. Jas. Whitley Deans Dundas. He was soon afterwards promoted to his present rank, by commission dated back to 6 of the last-mentioned month; and, from 24 Sept. 1828 until 1831, was next employed in the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, Capt. Hugh Pigot. He has since been on half-pay.