A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Thomson, Robert Kennedy
THOMSON. (Lieut., 1823. f-p., 10; h-p., 26.)
Robert Kennedy Thomson entered the Navy, in Aug. 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan. He was present in that frigate, we believe, at the capture and destruction, 2 Nov. following, of 10 gun-boats and 22 richly-laden feluccas, defended by a strong tower and two batteries in the harbour of Palinuro, on the coast of Calabria, where the British were opposed by a land force of 700 men; also at the destruction, 27 June, 1811, of a French convoy, and of the batteries, at Languelia and Alassio, and in a spirited skirmish fought, 17 Aug. in the same year, with a powerful Neapolitan squadron in the Bay of Naples; and, in 1813-14, at the capture of Port d’Anzo and in the operations against Leghorn and Genoa. He continued to serve with Capt. Duncan as Midshipman in the Glasgow 50, in the Bay of Biscay, until Sept. 1815; he then joined the Bulwark 74, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Rowley at Chatham; and he was next, from March, 1816, until June, 1819, and from June, 1822, until he invalided in May, 1823, employed, at Halifax and in the East Indies, the latter part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Forth 40, Capt. Sir John Louis, and Alligator 28, Capt. Thos. Alexander. On 22 Oct. 1823 he was officially promoted. His last appointment was to the Revenge 76, Capt. Norborne Thompson; in which ship he served in the Mediterranean from 16 Sept. 1828 until about the close of 1829.
Lieut. Thomson is a Captain in the Ayrshire Militia.