A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Thompson, Thomas Raikes Trigge
THOMPSON, Bart. (Captain, 1837.)
Sir Thomas Raikes Trigge Thompson, born 1 April, 1804, is only son of the late Vice-Admiral Sir Thos. Boulden Thompson,[1] Bart., G.C.B., by Anne, eldest daughter of Robt. Raikes, Esq., of Gloucester. This officer entered the Navy 5 Feb. 1818; passed his examination in 1824; was made Lieutenant, 8 April, 1825, into the Revenge 76, flag-ship of Sir Harry Burrard Neale in the Mediterranean; and was next, 2 March, 1826, appointed to the Ganges 84, fitting for the flag of Sir Robt. Waller Otway, Commander-in-Chief in South America; where he was promoted, 19 Jan. 1828, to the command of the Cadmus 10. He paid that vessel off on her return to England 7 May, 1830; was advanced to his present rank 10 Jan. 1837; and was lastly, from 20 April, 1842, until 1847, employed, again in South America, in the Talbot 26. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
- ↑ Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson was born 28 Feb. 1766. After assisting in the Hyaena, at the relief of Gibraltar, under Sir Geo. Rodney, also at the defeat of Don Juan de Langara, and at the capture of Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 14 Jan. 1782. He was made commander, in 1786, into the Nautilus sloop, on the coast of Africa; and was advanced to Post-rank 22 Nov. 1790. While commanding the Leander 50, he was wounded in the attack upon Teneriffe in 1797, fought with conspicuous valour at the battle of the Nile, and_was captured, 18 Aug. 1798, by the French 74-gun ship Généreux, at the end of a close and bloody conflict of six hours, in which the Leander, besides being totally dismasted, and otherwise dreadfully shattered, sustained a loss, out of 282 men, of 35 killed and 67 (including himself) wounded; and the enemy, whose force originally consisted of 936 men, of 100 killed and 188 wounded. In 1799 he received the honour of knighthood and a pension of 300l. per annum. At the battle of Copenhagen, in 1801, he commanded the Bellona 74, and lost a leg; and his pension was increased in consequence to 500l., an allowance which, in 1815, was augmented to 700l. After he left the Bellona he served for a considerable time in the Mary yacht. In 1806 he was appointed comptroller of the Navy and raised to the dignity of a Baronet; he succeeded Sir John Colpoys as Treasurer to Greenwich Hospital in 1816; and he was created a Rear-Admiral 25 Oct. 1809, a Vice-Admiral 4 June, 1814, a K.C.B. 2 Jan. 1815, and a G.C.B. 14 Sept. 1822. He represented the city of Rochester in Parliament for several years, and died 3 March 1828, at Hartsbourne, Manor Place, Herts.