# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Laugharne, Thomas Lamb Polden

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​LAUGHARNE. (Capt., 1832. f-p., 24; h-p., 25.)
Thomas Lamb Polden Laugharne was born in June, 1786.
This officer entered the Navy, 8 April, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Van Tromp 50, Capt. Rich. Hill, on the Irish station; removed, as Midshipman, in March, 1799, to the Agincourt 64, flagship at Newfoundland of Hon. Wm. Waldegrave; and, from 1800 until April, 1805, served on the Home and Halifax stations in the Active 38, Capt. John Giffard, Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, and Cambrian 40, Capts. Wm. Bradley and John Poo Beresford. He then became Acting-Lieutenant of the Bermuda 10, Capt. Keilly, and, after a servitude of seven months in that vessel, proceeded in the Driver sloop, Capt. John Simpson, to the West Indies, where, on joining the Northumberland 74, flag-ship of Hon. Alex. Cochrane, he took part in the action off St. Domingo 6 Feb. 1806. In the course of the following month he received an order to act as Lieutenant of the Unicorn 32, Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman, in which frigate (being confirmed to her on 8 of the following Aug.) he continued to serve until June, 1809, witnessing during that period the siege of Monte Video, the embarkation of the army after the battle of Corunna, and the destruction of the French shipping in Basque Roads. Sailing next for the Cape of Good Hope in the Camel store-ship, Mr. Laugharne there, in Nov. 1809, joined the Nereide 36, Capt. Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, under whom, it appears, he was present in a dashing attack made on the enemy’s batteries and troops at Jacotel, in the Mauritius, 1 May, 1810, as also at the capture, in the following July, of the Ile de Bourbon. On 13 Sept. 1810, being then Senior of the Boadicea 38, Capt. Josias Rowley, we find him recommended to the favourable notice of the Commander-in-Chief for the steadiness and zeal he manifested at the re-capture of H.M.S. Africaine in the presence of two French frigates; and on 21 of the same month he presents himself to our notice as contributing to the capture, after a spirited action of 10 minutes, and a loss to the Boadicea of 2 men wounded, and to the enemy of 9 killed and 15 wounded, of La Vénus, of 44 guns and 380 men, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Hamelin, and of her prize the Ceylon 32. Being again strongly recommended for his able assistance in taking charge of and conducting into port both the Africaine and La Vénus, Lieut. Laugharne was promoted, 11 Oct. 1810, to the acting-command of the Otter sloop, and ordered to England with despatches announcing Vice-Admiral ​Bertie’s intention of resuming the blockade of Port Louis. His advancement to the rank of Commander took place 12 Feb. 1811. After nearly 12 months of half-pay Capt. Laugharne was next, 6 Feb. 1812, appointed to the Alert sloop (formerly a Newcastle oollier), mounting 14 18-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes, with a complement of 86 men. On 13 of the ensuing Aug. this vessel, at the time in search of the U.S. ship Hornet fell in with and most gallantly bore down upon the Essex frigate, of 46 guns and 328 men, by whom, however, she was in 15 minutes unfortunately taken captive, with seven feet water in her hold and three of her men wounded. By a court-martial which, on 8 of the proximate Oct., assembled at Newfoundland, Capt. Laugharne was of course most honourably acquitted of all blame in the loss of his ship. His last appointment afloat was to the Achates 18, in which sloop he cruized in the Channel until Nov. 1815. He became an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard in Nov. 1823, and on 4 April, 1832, as a reward for his exertions in that service, he was advanced to Post-rank. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Laugharne has had his skuJll severely fractured and trepanned in two places – the first time through a fall in a gale of wind when Midshipman of the Theseus 74, in Aug. 1802; and the second, in the same part of the head, when cutting out, with the Unicorn’s boats, in July, 1808, an armed schooner from the harbour of St. Sebastian, on the north coast of Spain. On the latter occasion he also lost a great portion of the upper jaw. Among the numerous other boat affairs in which Capt. Laugharne took part, we may instance his capture of a French national schooner when in command of the boats of the Boadicea. In consideration of his wounds he is allowed a pension of 91l. 5s. He married, in Feb. 1820, Mary Amelia, eldest surviving daughter of Sir Stewkely Shuckburgh, Bart., of Shuckburgh Park, co. Warwick, by whom he has issue two children.