A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Colby, Thomas
COLBY. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 17; h-p., 33.)
Thomas Colby, born 6 Jan. 1782, at Great Torrington, co. Devon, is second son of an eminent surgeon, now deceased, by Mary Copplestone, of the ancient Devonshire family of that name; and brother of Mr. Henry Colby, midshipman R.N., who perished, 19 Feb. 1809, in a prize belonging to the Sheldrake sloop.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 March, 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Bedford 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Byard, part of Admiral Duncan’s fleet in the memorable victory achieved off Camperdown, 11 Oct. 1797. On subsequently accompanying Sir T. Byard into the Foudroyant 80, he witnessed the defeat of Commodore Bompart’s squadron on the coast of Ireland, 13 Oct. 1798; after which he joined in succession the Hazard sloop, Capt. Wm. Butterfield, Prince and Prince George 98’s, flag-ships of Sir Chas. Cotton in the Channel, St. Fiorenzo 36, Capt. Joseph Bingham, with whom he sailed for the East Indies, and Centurion 50, Capts. Jas. Lind and John Sprat Rainier. On 18 Sept. 1804, he bore a part in the gallant and successful defence made by the latter ship, when attacked in Vizagapatam Roads by the French 80-gun ship Marengo, bearing the flag of Admiral Linois, and frigates Atalante and Semillante, all of whom sheered off after maintaining a furious cannonade of nearly two hours. Having been promoted, 8 April, 1805, to a Lieutenancy in the Thunderer 74, Capts. Wm. Lechmere, John Stockham (Acting), and John Talbot, he next, on 22 July and 21 Oct. 1805, shared in Sir Robt. Calder’s action and the battle of Trafalgar, and was present, in Feb. 1807, at the passage of the Dardanells, on which occasion he boarded and destroyed one of the Turkish frigates, and received two splinter-wounds.[1] Mr. Colby–who, as we should have previously stated, formed one of a party that boarded and carried a French national lugger in the East Indies in Jan. 1804, and had taken an active part in the defence of Gaeta in 1806–further assisted in the expedition, of 1807, to Egypt, where he was for three weeks employed in an open boat on the river Nile. In July, 1809, he joined the Cadmus 10, Capt. John Williams, through whose directions he brought out, 4 Oct. following, a national armed transport from under the batteries in Quiberon Bay. We subsequently find him appointed–14 Dec. 1809, to the Hyperion 36, Capt. Brodie, on the West India station–12 Aug. 1810, to the Rainbow 28, Capt Jas. Wooldridge, in the Mediterranean–19 Aug. 1811, to the Ajax 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie, on the same station–and, 7 March, 1813, to the Prince of Wales 98, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, in which ship he beheld the fall of Genoa in April, 1814. He then returned to England in acting-command of the prize-brig Sphynx; and, on 17 May, was promoted to his present rank. He has not since been afloat.
Commander Colby has received a pecuniary reward from the Patriotic Fund. He married, 26 April, 1826, Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Palmer, of Torrington, and niece of the late Marchioness of Thomond, by whom he has had five children.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 597.