Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gosselin, Thomas le Marchant

1200563Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 22 — Gosselin, Thomas le Marchant1890John Knox Laughton

GOSSELIN, THOMAS LE MARCHANT (1765–1857), admiral, second son of Colonel Joshua Gosselin of the militia, entered the navy in 1778 on board the Actæon with tain Boteler, whom he followed to the Ardent, and was captured with her off Plymouth by the combined fleets of France and Spain on 16 Aug. 1779. In October 1780 he was appointed to the Barfleur, flag-ship of Sir Samuel (afterwards Lord) Hood [q. v.], and was present in her in the several actions in North America and West Indies, and notably in that off Dominica on 12 April 1782. He was promoted to be lieutenant in 1787, and while serving with Commodore Cornwallis in the Crown, on the East India station, was promoted to command the Dispatch brig on 23 April 1793. In March 1794 he was moved into the Kingfisher sloop, and in her assisted in the capture of a small French convoy off Belleisle. In July 1794 he was posted into the Brunswick. In 1795 he was appointed to the Diamond, and from her to the Syren, which he commanded during the operations on the coast of France under Sir Richard John Strachan [q. v.] In March 1798 he went in charge of a convoy to Jamaica, and assisted in the reduction of Surinam in August 1799. During the summer of 1804 he commanded the Ville de Paris as flag-captain to Admiral Cornwallis, and in 1805, in the Latona, had command of the inshore squadron off Brest. In February 1806 he was appointed to the Audacious, one of the squadron under Sir Richard Strachan, and afterwards, in 1807, of the Channel fleet. In 1808, with Sir Harry Burrard and his staff on board, he convoyed a large force of troops to the Tagus, and covered the embarkation of the army at Corunna in January 1809, a service for which he received the thanks of parliament. He had no further service afloat, but became rear-admiral on 4 June 1814, vice-admiral on 27 May 1825, admiral on 23 Nov. 1841, and died (the senior admiral of the red) in 1857. He married in 1809 Sarah, daughter of Jeremiah Hadsley of Ware Priory, Hertfordshire, and left issue.

[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. xii. (vol. iv. pt. ii.) 416; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Gent. Mag. (1857) new ser. ii. 732.]

J. K. L.