A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Tomlinson, Robert Cosby
TOMLINSON. (Lieut., 1813. f-p., 10; h-p., 33.)
Robert Cosby Tomlinson, born in 1790, at Exeter, is son of Retired-Commander Philip Tomlinson, R.N. (Lieut. 1782), who died in 1839; and nephew of the late Vice-Admiral Nicholas Tomlinson, and the late Capt. Wm. Godfrey, R.N., C.B. (1809), who served as Midshipman of the Culloden 74 in the action of 1 June, 1794, was Senior-Lieutenant of the Prince 98 at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805, and was promoted to Post-rank for his conduct in command of the Aetna bomb at the destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads. One of his brothers, Philip, a Master’s Mate, was mortally wounded at the siege of Copenhagen 31 Aug. 1807; and another, a Lieutenant, was accidentally killed on board the Bombay 74.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1804, as Midshipman, on board the Unité 36, stationed as a block-ship in the river Thames. Being discharged about June, 1805, he next, in Feb. 1806, joined the Lion 64, Capts. Henry Heathcote and Robt. Rolles. After having escorted convoy to and from the East Indies and China, he removed as Master’s Mate, in June, 1810, to the Aetna bomb. While in that vessel, which was commanded in succession by Capts. Wm. Godfrey, Peter Lawless, and John Bowker, he bore a warm part in Lord Cochrane’s celebrated attack upon the French squadron in Aix Roads, accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren, and, uniting in the defence of Cadiz, was present (during the investment of Fort Matagorda by Marshal Soult) at the bombardment of Trocadero. In Oct. 1810, at which period he had been serving for four months off Cadiz and Lisbon in the Tonnant 80, Capts. Hassard Stacpoole and Sir John Gore, he was received on board the Statira 38, also commanded by Capt. Stacpoole, under whom he was for exactly two years employed on the West India and North American stations, the latter part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant. In Aug. and Sept. 1812 he witnessed the capture of three privateers, the Buckskin, Regulator, and Bunker’s Hill, In Dec. of the same year he was again ordered to act as Lieutenant in the Loup Cervier, alias Peacock 18, Capts. Chas. Gill and Wm. Bowen Mends, also on the coast of North America. He was officially promoted 14 July, 1813; and in the spring of 1814 he returned home with Capt. Mends in the Terpsichore frigate. The state of his health has not permitted him to serve since.
In Dec. 1843 Lieut. Tomlinson resigned the appointment, which he had for some time held, of Inspector of Weights and Measures for co. Essex. He married, in 1S38, Mary Penelope, eldest daughter of the late Rev. Moses Dodd, Rector of Fordham, co. Essex.