Thomas Herbert (Royal Navy officer)

Thomas Herbert
Born	February 1793 County Kerry, Ireland
Died	4 August 1861 Cadogan Place, London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Vice-Admiral of the White
Wars	Napoleonic Wars War of 1812 First Anglo-Chinese War
Awards	CB KCB China War Medal Naval General Service Medal

Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Herbert, KCB (February 1793 – 4 August 1861), was British Royal Navy officer. He served in the Napoleonic Wars, War of 1812, and First Anglo-Chinese War. From 1847 to 1849, he was commodore of the South East Coast of America Station. Herbert served as Member of Parliament for Dartmouth as a Conservative from 1852 to 1857.

Herbert was born in County Kerry, Ireland, in February 1793 as the second son of Richard Townsend Herbert, esquire of Cahirnane, County Kerry (where the Herbert family had been seated since the reign of King Charles II), and his wife Jane, daughter of Anthony Stoughton, esquire of Ballyhorgan. Among his ancestors was Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook, who was beheaded with his brother William, Earl of Pembroke at Banbury, the day after the Battle of Edgecote Moor on 26 July 1469.

Herbert joined the Royal Navy on 23 July 1803 as a first-class volunteer on board HMS Excellent under Captain Frank Sotheron. In that ship, he went to the Mediterranean and was invested with the rating of midshipman on 1 January 1804. After assisting in the defence of Gaeta and the capture of Capri in 1806, he moved to HMS Blonde under Captain Volant Vashon Ballard, whom he accompanied to the West Indies Station, where he witnessed the reduction of the Danish West Indies and contributed to the capture of five privateers carrying 58 guns and 515 men. On 1 August 1809, as a reward for his conduct as prize-master of L'Alert, containing 20 guns and 149 men, Herbert was nominated by Sir Alexander Cochrane to Lieutenant in his flagship HMS Neptune on the recommendation of Ballard. He was officially promoted on 10 October.

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