Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...

Sir Thomas Fellowes (7 January 1778 – 12 April 1853) was an officer of the

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 F ...

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 French First Republic, France against Ki ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Life

Fellowes was the youngest of the five sons of William Fellowes, physician-extraordinary to the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

– one of Thomas's brothers was the physician Sir James Fellowes and James's son was the later Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Hounsom Butler Fellowes. Serving for a while on ships of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, Thomas moved to the Royal Navy in 1797 as the master's mate on HMS ''Royal George''. He then moved to HMS ''Diana'' and then to other ships before the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it se ...

in 1802. When the war broke out again he was deployed to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

under Sir

Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother ...

, rising to lieutenant in 1807 and spending time in the West Indies in HMS ''Northumberland'', Sir

Alexander Cochrane Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captain ...

's flagship. His first command was the brig HMS ''Swinger'' in 1808 as lieutenant-commander, with which he fought at the capture of the island of Deseada. This was followed on 13 November 1808 by command of the brig ''Unique'', from which (on 21 May 1809) he made a landing at

Basseterre Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitt ...

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

, spiking an enemy battery's guns despite being opposed by a large French regular force – he was the only unwounded man to return from the raid. After ''Unique'' was used as a fireship, Fellowes was promoted to commander on 16 September 1809 and put in charge of the gunboats at Cadiz from August 1810 to June 1811, during which time he was promoted to

post rank Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

in March 1811. His next command came on 11 February 1812, with the 20-gun in the West Indies, with which he fought against privateers until November 1814 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1815 and a knight of the Spanish

Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III ( es, Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, originally es, Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) was establ ...

on 22 February 1822, the latter for his command at Cadiz. His next command, however, only came fifteen years after the peace, with the 42 gun HMS ''Dartmouth'', which he commanded from 21 February 1827 to 16 March 1830 in the Mediterranean – there his attempt to remove a Turkish fireship caused the

battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O. S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–29), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied fo ...

on 20 October 1827. His actions in that command gained him the cross of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, the Order of St Anne 2nd class, the cross of the

Order of the Redeemer The Order of the Redeemer ( el, Τάγμα του Σωτήρος, translit=Tágma tou Sotíros), also known as the Order of the Saviour, is an order of merit of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the ...

, a British knighthood, a presentation sword from

William, Duke of Clarence William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

, Lord High Admiral, and a DCL from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. His final seaborne commands were HMS ''Pembroke'' on the Lisbon station (1836–1837) and HMS ''Vanguard'' in the Mediterranean (1837–1840). He then returned to the United Kingdom to superintend

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

's victualling yard and hospital (1843–1846). He was promoted to rear admiral on 26 July 1847 and died in 1853. Along with

Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet (1779 – 16 April 1868) was a British politician and baronet. Background Born in Marylebone, he was the only son of Sir William Abdy, 6th Baronet, and his wife Mary Gordon, daughter of James Gordon. In 1803, he succ ...

, Fellowes co-owned three sugar plantations in

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

and St Vincent. In the 1830s, when the British government emancipated the slaves, Fellowes was compensated to the tune of about £13,000 for the liberation of over 300 slaves.

Marriage and issue

*on 9 November 1813, Katherine Mary (? – October 1817), eldest daughter of Sir William Abdy, 6th Baronet *on 24 August 1819, to Mary Anne Catharine, only child of Colonel Isaac Humphreys, Bengal Artillery, military secretary to the Bengal government; their children included: **Vice-Admiral

Charles Fellowes Vice Admiral Charles Fellowes (19 October 1823 – 8 March 1886) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet. Naval career Fellowes joined the Royal Navy in 1836. He fought in the Second Opium War, and as ...

(1823–1886), who died while commanding the channel squadron. Fellowes is an ancestor of the screenwriter

Julian Fellowes Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, (born 17 August 1949) is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords. He is primarily known as the author of s ...

References

External links

Biography of Thomas Fellowes R.N.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fellowes, Thomas, 1778 1778 births 1853 deaths British East India Company Marine personnel Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the Greek War of Independence English knights Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Legion of Honour Royal Navy rear admirals

Life

Marriage and issue

See also

References

External links