Author: Thruston, Charles T.
Biography:
THRUSTON, Charles Thomas (1785-1858: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 11 Nov. 1785 and baptised on 5 Jan. 1786 at St. Mary’s, Market Weston, Suffolk, the second son of Framingham Thruston (1749-89), who had inherited the Market Weston estate, and Frances Holworthy (1754-1843), who had married in 1776. He entered the navy as a volunteer on 19 Dec. 1798 and served briefly in the West Indies before returning home in July 1799. He then served for two years in the North Sea and was promoted to Midshipman in 1801. He survived wreckage off Cape St. Vincent in 1803 and served for over two years in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1806. He was present at the attack on Copenhagen in 1807 and from 1809 served off the coasts of northern Spain, learned Spanish, and often acted as interpreter. In 1811 he was made acting commander of the sloop Hester, saw action in Java, and received the surrender of Coupang in East Timor in 1812, after which he returned home on sick-pay and saw no further action. He was promoted to Captain on 11 Mar. 1844 by which time he had retired to Talgarth House, Merionethshire, Wales, the family home of the heiress Frances Edwards (1790-1828) whom he married on 21 Oct. 1815 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London. They had one son. After her death he married Eliza Sotheby (1801-40), second daughter of Admiral Thomas Sotheby, on 5 Sept. 1829 at Meesden, Hertfordshire. They also had one son. They lived on the Pennal Tower estate, Merionethshire. He died on 24 July 1858 at Norris Street, Haymarket, London, and was buried at Pennal, leaving an estate of £4000. The Sister’s Tragedy (1834) is based on Tennyson’s “The Sisters” in Poems (1833) and contains prefatory lines by Joanna Baillie (qq.v.). (W. R. O’Byrne, A Naval Biographical Dictionary [1849], 1179; ancestry.co.uk 21 Feb. 2024; findmpast.co.uk 21 Feb. 2024; Illustrated London News 21 Aug. 1858; N&Q 16 Aug. 1856, 129-30, 31 Mar. 1860, 255; OJ 9 Feb. 1828; London Courier 11 Sept. 1829; Hereford Times 16 May 1840) AA
Other Names:
- C. T. Thruston