Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Navarino (Thomas Fynmore, Lieut., R.M.) edge bruising and light contact marks, good very fine £2,400-£2,800

Fred Rockwood Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, October 2014.

Thomas Fynmore ‘entered the Royal Marines as Second Lieutenant, 6 April 1811; and from the following August until the end of the war with France was attached to the Swiftsure 74, Captains Edward Stirling Dickson and William Henry Webley. He assisted during that period in the boats at the capture of a French privateer schooner of 16 guns and 96 men and in other affairs; took part in the action of 13 Feb. 1814, with the French fleet off Toulon; and landed at Mahon in command of a guard to protect the person of the Spanish Governor from the threatened violence of the Walloon Guards.

In 1815 he was nominated extra Aide-de-Camp at Florence to General Count Nugent, the Austrian Commander-in-Chief; and was present at the taking of the city of Naples. From 1816 until 1821 Lieut. Fynmore was on the reduced list by reason of the peace. He served during the next four years in the Aurora 46, Captain Henry Prescott, on the South American station - landing in 1823 for the protection of British property at Lima against the slaves during the civil war. In 1827 he fought in the battle of Navarino, on board the Asia 84, flagship of Sir Edward Codrington. For his conduct on that occasion he received from H.R.H. The Duke of Clarence promotion, which was afterwards cancelled in consequence of his belonging to a gradation corps.

He rose, however, in due course, to the rank of First Lieutenant, 28 April 1829, after having co-operated with the French Army in the reduction of the fortress of Patras and Morea Castle. He served subsequently in the West Indies, in the North Sea during our misunderstanding with the Dutch (on board the Conway 28, Captain Henry Eden), and off Oporto during the civil war between Pedro and Miguel. In 1833 he joined the Royal Marine Battalion at Lisbon, under Colonel Adair. From April 1837, until January 1839 (he was advanced to the rank of Captain, 3 Oct. 1838) he was employed in the Castor 36, Captain Edward Collier, in the Mediterranean and on the S.E. coast of Spain; and from Nov. 1840, until Nov. 1843 in the Caledonia 120, flagship of Sir Graham Moore and Sir David Milne at Plymouth. On 10 Oct. 1837, he landed in command of a detachment on the coast of Albania for the purpose of attacking pirates. He attained the rank of Major in the Army, 11 Nov. 1851, and of Lieut-Colonel in his own corps, 23 Nov. 1852; and retired on full-pay with the brevet of Colonel, 20 Nov. 1854.’ (O’Byrne’s Naval Biography refers).

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