Edward Thornbrough

Admiral Sir Edward Thornbrough, GCB (27 July 1754 – 3 April 1834) was a senior, long-serving veteran officer of the British Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He saw action in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, being wounded several times and once captured by American forces after a shipwreck. During the wreck, his conduct towards American prisoners aboard his ship was considered so exemplary that the American authorities later released him without parole or exchange.

During the later conflict, Thornbrough won praise for taking his frigate into the thick of the action at the Glorious First of June, towing the shattered HMS Bellerophon to safety after she was isolated by several French ships of the line. Later, Thornbrough became a senior admiral in both the Channel Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet under Cuthbert Collingwood, who held him in high esteem. He retired in 1818 and settled in Devon with his third wife, dying in 1834.

Early career Thornbrough was born in 1754, the son of Commander Edward and Mary Thornbrough. With a father in the Navy, young Edward's career was destined, especially given his close proximity in his early life to the sea; he was born on Plymouth Dock. Thornbrough joined his father at sea in 1761, as captain's servant on HMS Arrogant, and spent two years in the Mediterranean becoming used to the sea. Aged nine in 1763, he attended school whilst being on the books of HMS Firm. He returned to the sea in 1768 aboard HMS Temeraire with his father. The ship was commanded by Edward Le Cras. Thornbrough would later marry two of Le Cras's daughters. who became an admiral and four daughters. Also in 1784, Thornbrough's father died. In 1790 during the Spanish armament, Thornbrough briefly took over HMS Scipio. and later was fleet captain to Lord Gardner. In 1805 he was in HMS Kent on his way to join Nelson's fleet off Cádiz when he heard of the Battle of Trafalgar. and he retired for good in 1818 after just under 50 years of service in the Navy, an exceptionally long career.