Edward Thornbrough

Sir Edward Thornbrough
Admiral Edward Thornborough (Samuel Lane, 1821)
Born	27 July 1754 Plymouth Dockyard, Devon
Died	3 April 1834 (aged 79) Bishopsteignton Lodge, Devon
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1761 to 1818
Rank	Royal Navy Admiral
Commands held	The Downs Cork Station Portsmouth Command
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War • Battle of Bunker Hill • Action in Cape Ann Harbour •Capture of Nymphe • Wreck of HMS Blonde French Revolutionary Wars • Glorious First of June • Invasion of Quiberon Bay • Battle of Donegal Napoleonic Wars
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

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.

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.