Henry Thomson, R.A.

By descent in the Shorthall of Ballylorcan family.

R. Quarm in Nelson & Napoléon, M. Lincoln (ed.), exh. cat., London 2005, pp. 218–19, no. 266, reproduced in colour.

London, National Maritime Museum, Nelson & Napoléon, 7 July – 13 November 2005, no. 266.

Henry Parker entered the Navy on 27 January 1801 as a First Class Volunteer in Belleisle and became a midshipman in June of that year. He served in the ship for six and a half years; at first stationed in the Channel, he later accompanied Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (1758–1805), to the West Indies and back in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and Spain. On 21 October 1805, he was signal mid-shipman and aide-de-camp to Captain William Hargood (1762–1839) at the Battle of Trafalgar, during which he had the honour of nailing the colours to the stump of the mizenmast when five of the enemy's line-of-battle ships were firing into the dismantled ship. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in April 1808 and served on the North American station, taking part in the various operations during the war.

Captain Parker was flag-lieutenant to Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet (1753–1822), the Commander-in-Chief on the North American station, and became a commander at the peace of 1814. In 1853, after a service in the Irish Coastguard, he was appointed – in reward for his services – a commander of Greenwich Hospital.