Sir Thomas Livingston KB (1769–1853) was a Scottish Royal Navy officer during the

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 ...

who rose to the rank of Admiral

Life

HMS Diadem at capture of Good Hope-Thomas Whitcombe-2

He was born on 20 November 1769 the son of

Sir Alexander Livingston ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, whose ancestors, the Livingstons of Bedlormie, had bought the Westquarter estate in 1701. The family, as Jacobite sympathisers, lost their lands after the uprising of 1715. Thomas's father laid claim to the historic title of

Earl of Callendar Earl of Callendar was a title in the Peerage of Scotland.Also spelt "Calendar" and "Calender" It was created in 1641 for James Livingston, 1st Lord Livingston of Almond, a younger son of Alexander Livingston, 1st Earl of Linlithgow, along with th ...

in 1784. He did not pursue this but was successful in regaining the ancestral home of

Westquarter Westquarter is a village in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The village is west of Polmont and south-east of the town of Falkirk. Westquarter can be accessed from the north via the A803 road The A803 is a road in central Scotland. It ...

house (near

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

). He is first recorded in 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 ...

in November 1790 as a Lieutenant on HMS Brilliant moving to HMS Camel in April 1791. In December 1796 he was given command of HMS Echo. However, this notional command was simply to sail this battle damaged ship (which had helped to capture the Dutch fleet at

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Mu ...

) to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

to be paid off and broken in October 1797. In July 1798 he was given command of HMS Expedition in place of Captain

Home Riggs Popham Rear Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham, KCB, KCH (12 October 1762 – 20 September 1820), was a Royal Navy commander who saw service against the French during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is remembered for his scientific accomplishme ...

. The ship's first duties were in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

before going to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in 1801 as part of the Egypt Campaign against the French fleet. Livingston possibly left before the ship joined this campaign, being given command of the 64-gun

HMS Diadem Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Diadem'', after the diadem, a type of crown: * was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1782. She became a troopship in 1798 and was broken up in 1832. * HMS ''Diadem'' (1801) wa ...

as captain and Commander in January 1800, but appears to have had dual command of the ships. Diadem was posted to

Quiberon Bay Quiberon Bay (french: Baie de Quiberon) is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département. Geography The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to t ...

on the west coast of France, seeing battle action in June 1800. In March 1801 the ship was part of the attack on

Aboukir Bay The Abū Qīr Bay (sometimes transliterated Abukir Bay or Aboukir Bay) (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Khalīj Abū Qīr) is a spacious bay on the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria in Egypt, lying between the Rosetta mouth of the Nile a ...

. Livingston was replaced by Captain John Larmour at some point during 1801 to take the ship back to Britain to repair battle damage. Leaving the Diadem he took command of the captured French ship HMS Athenian, which was relaunched at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

after repairing battle damage. However, his role with this ship was to sail her to Britain (

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 ...

docks) to re-equip to Royal Navy standards. He enjoyed two years of shore leave before being given command of the 44-gun

HMS Mediator Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Mediator'': * was a 10-gun sloop purchased in 1745 and captured that year by a French privateer. * was a 44-gun fifth rate launched 1782. She became the storeship HMS ''Camel'' in 1788, and ...

in August 1804. Mediator had previously been a merchant ship called "Ann and Amelia" launched in 1781 and pressed into Royal Navy service. Livingston was her first commander in this new guise, launched in August 1804. In January 1805 he transferred to the captured French ship HMS Renommee. On 17/18 July 1805 under his command Renommee was part of a ten ship attack on a group of five French ships off the French coast at

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

. From 1807 until October 1821 Livingston has no recorded activity but then spent a three-year command of the 74-gun HMS Genoa (a French ship captured at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

in 1814). During his command the ship mainly served as a guardship protecting

Chatham Docks Medway Ports, incorporating the Port of Sheerness and Chatham Docks is part of Peel Ports, the second largest port group in the United Kingdom. The Ports authority is also responsible for the harbour, pilotage and conservancy matters for of ...

. Livingston retired in 1824 and was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White in July 1830. He retired to the family estate of

and died there on 1 April 1853 aged 83. Thomas was childless and after a period of vacancy Westquarter passed to Thomas Fenton Livingstone in 1884 and extensively rebuilt.

Family

He married Janet Stirling, eldest daughter of

Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet Sir James Stirling, 1st Baronet of Larbert and Mansfield (c. 1740 – 17 February 1805) was a Scottish banker who served three consecutive terms as Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Life He was born in Edinburgh in 1740 or early in 1741, the son of A ...

.Kay's Originals: Sir James Stirling 1810

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Thomas 1769 births 1853 deaths Royal Navy officers