Thomas Louis

Rear-Admiral of the White Sir Thomas Louis, 1st Baronet (1758 – 17 May 1807) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of Horatio Nelson's "band of brothers" in the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, commanding a ship of the line at the Battle of the Nile. Louis subsequently served as second in command at the Battle of San Domingo, for which he was made a baronet. In 1807, Louis died of an unknown ailment aboard his flagship in Alexandria harbour and was buried in Malta.

Early career Thomas Louis was born in 1758 to John and Elizabeth Louis. John was a schoolmaster in Exeter, and family legend maintained that his grandfather had been an illegitimate son of King Louis XIV, although this cannot be verified. In 1800, Minotaur was Lord Keith's flagship at the Siege of Genoa and the following year Louis commanded her at the invasion of Egypt. Following the Peace of Amiens, Louis briefly took command of . Less than a year later he was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the White, raised his flag in the fourth rate , commanded by Francis Austen, and oversaw 40 small craft seeking to disrupt French invasion preparations at the raid on Boulogne in October 1804.

Louis returned with the fleet to rejoin British forces in Alexandria, Egypt, but the unidentified sickness that had plagued him in the West Indies returned and he became gravely ill. He died in May 1807 and his body was transferred to Malta for burial, being interred at Manoel Island. His death was widely mourned in the fleet, particularly among the common sailors, with whom he had always been popular.

Namesakes The Royal Navy has named two ships after Louis. The first was a destroyer launched in 1913 which saw service during World War I before being wrecked in 1915. The second, , was a frigate in commission from 1943 to 1946 which saw service during World War II.

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