A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mainwaring, Thomas Francis Charles
MAINWARING. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 17; h-p., 37.)
Thomas Francis Charles Mainwaring, born in 1780, is eldest son of the late Chas. Henry Mainwaring, Esq., by Julia, daughter of the Rev. Philip Wroughton; and grand-nephew of Edw. Mainwaring, Esq., of Whitmore Hall, co. Stafford, whose grandson is the present Capt. Rowland Mainwaring, R.N. His only brother, George, an officer in the Royal Artillery, died in 18.38.
This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy in Feb. 1793; and embarked, 5 Nov. 1796, as a Volunteer, on board the Clyde 38, Capt. Chas. Cunningham. After serving for three years on the Home station he proceeded as Midshipman of the Lancaster 64, flag-ship of Sir Roger Curtis, to the Cape of Good Hope, where, having previously acted for several months as Lieutenant, he was confirmed to that rank, 11 July, 1800, in the Adamant 50, Capt. Wm. Hotham. On his return to England about Dec. 1801, he joined the Fisguard 38, Capts. Michael Seymour and Jas. Wallis; the latter of whom, in Sept. 1802, he accompanied into the Naiad 38, commanded subsequently by Capt. Thos. Dundas, and employed as one of Lord Nelson’s repeaters in the battle of Trafalgar. Being awarded a second promotal commission 21 Jan. 1806, Capt. Mainwaring assumed command, 23 Dec. following, of the Tartarus fire-ship; and in Aug. 1807 was charged with the landing of the troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley in Wibeck Bay, preparatory to the investment of Copenhagen. In the early part of 1808 he removed to the Vanguard 74, the first ship of her class that ever wintered in the Baltic. After he had commanded her for a period of six months he went back to the Tartarus, in which vessel we find him, in 1810, sinking two French privateers off Pillau,[1] and then conveying Gustavus, the ex-King of Sweden, from Riga to England, under circumstances of a particularly difficult and singular nature. He was promoted for the latter service to the rank of Captain 27 Nov. 1810; and was intrusted, during the last two years of the war, with the command of the Royal George 100, on the Mediterranean station. He accepted his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
Rear-Admiral Mainwaring married, first, in 1811, Mary Anne, daughter of Bacon Frank, Esq., of Campsall, near Doncaster; and (having been left a widower in 1840) secondly, 14 Dec. 1841, Cecilia Charlotte, only daughter of the late Dean of Durham and the Hon. Mrs. Hall. By his first wife he has issue.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1663.