A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Holbrook, Thomas
HOLBROOK. (Commander, 1828. f-p., 16; h-p., 25.)
Thomas Holbrook, born in Dec. 1792, at Ledbury, co. Hereford, is son of Wm. Holbrook, Esq., a solicitor at that place; brother of Commander Thos. Holbrook, R.N.; and brother-in-law of Capt. J. W. Gabriel, R.N., K.H.
This officer entered the Navy, 24 Feb. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ocean 98, Capt. Fras. Pender, in which ship, and the Ville de Paris 110, bearing each the flag of Lord Collingwood, he served off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, until April, 1809 – the last 20 months in the capacity of Midshipman. After further attachment with Capt. John Rich. Lumley to the Hind frigate,he joined, in April, 1810, the Pomone 38, Capt. Robt. Barrie, under whom, until wrecked, on the Needles Point, 14 Oct. 1811, he cruized with activity, also on the Mediterranean station, where – besides assisting at the destruction of L’Etourdie national brig of 18 guns and 200 men, and being on many occasions employed in the boats – he participated, 1 May, 1811, in a gallant action of an hour and a half in Sagone Bay, in which the Pomone, in company with the Unité 36, and Scout 18, accomplished the annihilation, with a loss to herself of 2 men killed and 19 wounded, of the two armed store-ships Giraffe and Nourrice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and defended by a 5-gun battery, a martello tower, and a body of about 200 regular troops. Being appointed, soon after the loss of the Pomone, to the Alcmène 38, Capt. Edwards Lloyd Graham, he proceeded in that ship to the Adriatic; on which station, in the course of 12 months, he came at least 10 times into conflict with the enemy, either in the boats or on shore. On 22 May, 1812, while the boats under Lieut. Saurin, as alluded to in our memoir of Commander Chas. Holbrook, went in pursuit of an armed convoy, the subject of the present narrative was left with the launch at a neighbouring island for the protection of some prizes already taken. Immediately on hearing the report of firing he hastened to the assistance of his friends, and was of great service in securing their dearly-purchased capture, in towing her during the night, and in attending to the wounded. On 23 Sept. 1812, a few months after he had been appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Alcmène, Mr. Holbrook was nominated to a death-vacancy in the Eagle 74, Capt. Chas. Rowley. In the following April he obtained warm mention for his conduct in the boats of that ship and the Elizabeth 74, at the capture of one and destruction of another of an armed convoy, who had run themselves on shore into a tremendous surf, under the protection of a galling fire from a 2-gun battery, two schooners, and three gun-boats, near Goro.[1] He also, on 8 June, 1813, contributed to the destruction, close to Omago, of a battery of 2 guns, and the bringing off of four scuttled vessels, loaded with wine; and he was next, between the latter period and May, 1814, present at the reduction of Fiume, Trieste, Boca Re, and nearly all the towns and forts on the coast of Istria, and at the mouths of the Po. During his continuance in the Eagle, Mr. Holbrook was likewise concerned in the capture and destruction of about 150 sail of the enemy’s vessels. His subsequent appointments were – 25 July, 1814, to the Wanderer 20, Capts. Fras. Newcombe, John Palmer, and Wm. Dowers, with whom he served in the Channel until Dec. 1815 – 5 Sept. 1818, as Senior Lieutenant, to the Fly 18, Capts. Jas. Tomkinson and John Townsend Coflin, in which sloop he was employed for three years and a half on the West India and Irish stations, where he contributed to the capture of several contraband traders – and, 22 Aug. 1825, to the Dryad 42, Capts. Hon. Robt. Rodney and Hon. Geo. Alfred Crofton. During the protracted illness of the former of those officers, he thrice had command of the Dryad at sea; and on his demise he again had temporary charge of her on the westem coast of Ireland. In Dec. 1827 we find him escorting Mr. Stratford Canning, H.M.’s Ambassador at Constantinople, from the Dardanells to Vorla, Corfu, and Ancona. He was promoted to the rank of Commander, on the representation made of his services by the last-mentioned personage, 6 May, 1828; but he has not been since employed.
Commander Holbrook was a student at the R.N. College, from the summer of 1829 until Dec. 1831. He married, in 1832, Mary, widow of the late Lieut. Wm. Stock, R.N. (1807).
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 1793.