Captain Sir Thomas Byard (bapt. 25 September 1743 – 30 October 1798) was an officer of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

. He is best known for his service in two significant battles, fighting at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and the Battle of Tory Island in 1798. In these engagements Byard was highly praised for his conduct and he contributed materially to both victories. He was also knighted in 1789 for his service to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, personally steering the King's

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

at the fleet review at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in that year.

Life

He was born in September 1743 in

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. Th ...

the son of Ann and Henry Byard. He was christened at St Modwen's, Burton upon Trent on 25 September. He passed the lieutenant's exam for the

in 1762. However, he was not commissioned until 1773 and only in 1782 received his first command: the

fireship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

HMS Spitfire Ten ships of the Royal Navy have carried the name HMS ''Spitfire'', while an eleventh was planned but renamed before entering service. All are named after the euphemistic translation of '' Cacafuego'', a Spanish treasure galleon captured by Sir F ...

. Byard was promoted to

post captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

in 1783 at the end of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, and remained in service during the ten year Peace of Paris. By 1789, he had become flag captain of the new

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

HMS ''Impregnable'' and in this role was tasked with escorting

and the royal party during the fleet review. Byard took personal command of the King's

during the review, steering it himself. So pleased was King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

with his treatment during the day that Byard was knighted as a reward. The following year, Byard was sent to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

in ''Impregnable'' under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton and remained there after Bickerton's death in 1792 under Admiral Phillips Cosby. In 1793, ''Impregnable'' returned to British waters, and Cosby and Byard joined HMS ''Windsor Castle'' before moving to HMS ''Alcide'' and returning to Britain themselves. By 1797, Byard was in command of HMS ''Bedford'' and took part in October in the Battle of Camperdown, at which a Dutch fleet was defeated off the Dutch coast. Byard was praised for his conduct in the battle and soon afterwards moved to the new 80-gun HMS ''Foudroyant'', participating in the October 1798 campaign against a French invasion of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

that was defeated at the Battle of Tory Island. ''Foudroyant'' was too slow to participate in most of the battle, but did engage a number of French ships during the course of the engagement, and Byard was again praised. He died on board ''Foudroyant'' on 31 October 1798 and is buried at

St Budeaux St Budeaux is an area and ward in the north west of Plymouth in the English county of Devon. Original settlement The name St Budeaux comes from Saint Budoc, the Bishop of Dol (Brittany). Around 480, Budoc is said to have founded a settlemen ...

Church, in Plymouth.''The United Service's Magazine'', 1851, Part I, p. 319

Family

In 1773 at Stoke Damerel Church he married Susanna Tickell, by whom he had three daughters. The family lived at Mount Tamar near Yelverton. The eldest was Mary Ann Stuart; in 1797 she married George Sheppard, a clothier from

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

. Two of her sons, Thomas and Alfred, also bore the name Byard, a tradition continued among their descendants.

Notes

References

* Retrieved on 23 January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Byard, Thomas 1743 births 1798 deaths People from Burton upon Trent Royal Navy officers Knights Bachelor Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars