Thomas Totty

An Admiral who served with Lord Nelson.

Born:

1746

Place of Birth:

Baptised in Holywell but lived at Cornist Hall, Flint

Biography:

Lord Nelson wrote of Thomas, 'I feel indebted to you as an Admiral for your truly officer-like manner of conducting the King's service and also for the truly kind and handsome manner you have ever expressed yourself towards myself.'

Thomas was baptised in Holywell Parish church on January 24, 1746/47, writes researcher Paul Evans who contributed this article. Thomas's father John was a mine owner and ironmonger. His mother, Mary, was a Lloyd of Cornist in Flint and it was through her family that Thomas inherited what is now the Cornist Hall Hotel.

Thomas was one of 22 children 18 of whom survived to maturity. His youngest brother Hugh was a chaplain to George IV and died at the age of 101. Thomas joined the Navy around 1760; he would have needed six years' service before taking his Lieutenant's Examination, which he did in 1766.

On April 30, 1775, during the second week of the American War of Independence, Thomas was promoted to 1st Lieutenant whilst serving aboard HMS Mercury in Boston Harbour. This ship may well have taken part in the bombardment of American positions before the famous battle of Bunker Hill.

On February 17, 1778, Thomas was appointed Master and Commander and promotion to Post Captain followed on 31 January, 1782. His first command was HMS Sphinx, a 20-gun 5th-rate ship with approx 160 men.

Early in 1796 he was appointed Captain of HMS Alfred, a 74 gun 3rd-rate with 650 men and stationed in the West Indies. Whilst here he took part in several actions involving troop landings at St Lucia and Puerto Rico and in January and February 1798 he captured three French ships. He also presided over a court-martial of mutineers, sentencing one of them to death.

On January 1, 1801, Thomas is made a Rear Admiral and in the February he became Port Admiral at Chatham. In March 1801 Thomas sailed from Gt Yarmouth in HMS Invincible 74 to join the Baltic fleet as third in command under Admiral Hyde Parker and Admiral Lord Nelson. The Invincible ran aground off Yarmouth and went down with the loss of more than 400 men. Thomas and his surviving officers were found not guilty of negligence.

Thomas eventually arrived in the Baltic on his new flagship HMS Zealous 74. This was the time he came into contact, probably for the first time in his career, with Horatio Nelson. Nelson ended one letter to Thomas with the following words.

"Allow me now, my dear Sir, both as a public and private man to express to you how much I feel indebted to you as an Admiral for your truly officer-like manner of conducting the King's service and also for the truly kind and handsome manner you have ever expressed yourself towards myself. For believe me, my dear Sir, that with the very highest respect for your character, I feel myself your most obliged and affectionate servant."

In December 1801 Thomas set sail for the Caribbean as Commander in Chief of the Leeward Islands Station. Unfortunately, he contracted yellow fever and died on June 2, 1802. He was buried with full military honours at Portsmouth Garrison Chapel and his brother, William, had a memorial erected in Westminster Abbey in honour of his brother.

your comments

Paul Evans
Message for Peter Totty. I would be interested in the details of Thomas's grave. I checked the website of the garrison chapel and although many memorials and graves were mentioned Thomas's was not.
Mon Mar 31 09:54:42 2008

Peter Totty from Hampshire
For Richard James Totty. I have a lot of information about parts of the Totty family and have found the admiral's gravestone. You can contact me via this site.
Tue Feb 5 16:43:41 2008

Linda Roberts, nee Ratcliffe, Flint
I was brought up in one of the houses that are attached to the back of Cornist Hall. At that time (1960s and 70s) it was administered by Flint Council, and had a live in caretaker, Mr Parkin, who lived in one of the upstairs flats with his wife. There was also another couple living in the other flat (which is now the main kitchen area, overlooking what was at that time the fish pond), Mr and Mrs Cotgreave. My father used to do odd jobs for them, such as chopping wood and bringing coal. I used to go to visit them regularly and remember so well the wonderful dark wainscotting of the main corridor of the flat - it seemed so grand to a young child of nine years old! There was a door leading to a flight of stairs, which went up to the attics, and now and again, Mrs Cotgreave let my younger brother and I play up there. Sadly, Mr Cotgreave died. Mrs Cotgreave continued to live in the flat, and I continued to visit her, but lost touch with her in my teens, when she moved. I recall she had a son called John, who I think was married to a lady called Evelyn. I often wondered what happened to her, and her family, though I expect she has now sadly passed away. Is there anyone out there who rememebers the Cotgreaves or their son John?
Tue Nov 27 09:20:04 2007

Stephen Rainford, Chester
I don't know much about the history of Cornist Hall but my grandmother worked there for years she always said it was haunted by a lady dressed in white. She saw this figure and she claimed in late February every year she walks through the hall then outside and makes her way down the steps to the pond in the woods, where she disappears. I knew the pond as the white lady before my grandmother told me this story. She also said story had it the woman killed herself in that water.
Mon Aug 20 10:29:48 2007

Richard James Totty from London
To James Totty, I was interested to hear from my mother that there was an Admiral Totty, my uncle has recently had an extensive genealogical investigation of our Totty family tree made (the details of which I have not seen yet) which may link back to Admiral Thomas Totty - I'm not sure. If you want to contact me to check it out let me know.
Mon May 21 10:32:15 2007

Paul Evans, Kinmel Bay
As far as I am aware Cornist was a farm and there was more than one with that name. The present hotel was known as lower Cornist. The house was greatly rebuilt by Richard Muspratt c.1884 but he died in the following year with much of the work unfinished. At a later date the Summers family moved in and also made alterations to the building.To those with interest on Thomas's life and career if they contact me I can send the full article including the pictures from my visit to Norfolk to see the grave site in Happisburgh churchyard containing over a hundred bodies from the Invincible. And James Totty yes you probably are related to Thomas if you are from the Holywell area or you know that your family were. There were Tottys in Holywell as far back as the mid 1600s.
Tue Apr 10 09:25:29 2007

Ex-Cornist Hall Staff
Cornist Hall is apparently haunted. Years ago when Cornist Hall was a residence, apparently a girl had a favourite doll, but her father hated it because it had a china face. He always said it stared at him and made him feel uncomfortable. One day he was walking up the main staircase to the now Summer's Room and at the top he tripped over the doll. He was that shocked by the creepy doll he threw it out the window. His daughter had seen him throw it out and being young and naive she dived out the window to catch it and instantly died. I worked in The Cornist Hall for a long period of time and I had witnessed poltergeist activity within the Summer's Room in the storage room. I was in there getting out extra function chairs for a Christmas function and the door would keep closing on me and I saw a little girl dressed in old fashioned clothes in the linen room adjacent to the Summer's Room. Scared the hell out of me! Shortly after I quit because I was petrified.
Tue Mar 6 08:34:10 2007

James Totty
I'm not sure if he is directly related to me, I hope so.
Wed Jan 17 07:21:01 2007

Colin Rutter. March, Cambridgeshire
How would I find the ship's logs and more info on his life? I have been looking into the loss of HMS Invincible.
Thu Jan 4 13:15:29 2007

Becky off Flint
I am desperate to find the history of Cornist Hall! I have read in so many different places that Thomas Totty inherited it in the 1700s however I have heard from several different people that it was built especially for the Summers! Can anyone give me the real information please... and Elise are you sure that the whole building was built and not just renovated?
Mon Nov 27 09:02:19 2006

Elise Flint
I worked at Cornist Hall for many years and can confirm that it was occupied by the Summers family and was built by them for their residence in 1889. I have seen copies of hand written receipts for materials used in the build which were kept in the loft hidden for years dated to this period of time. Also the date of build is carved into a beam in the cellar, being 1889. The Hall was home to Mr and Mrs Summers, their children a nanny, also cooks and servants who resided in the attic space. The descendants of the Summers family have been to visit on occasions and have named the family with great accuracy! I have never heard of a T. Totty living in Cornist Hall and it definitely wasn't built in 1801.
Wed Oct 25 08:00:53 2006

John
I heard Cornist hall was built by John Summers, the fellow who owned the Steel Mill formerly British Steel now CORUS, as it use to be called John Summers Steel.
Tue May 16 14:29:37 2006

Kelvin Parsonage
We know T. Totty lived at Cornist Hall but can anyone supply details of who built and lived at Cornist first?
Tue Apr 11 17:10:03 2006

Brian Litttlewood of Stafford
I am researching a history of the Stapleton sugar plantations [later owned by Catherine Stapleton of Bodrhyddan]. Her plantation manager for many years was Walter Nisbet; who was involved in a divorce which involved Thomas Totty around 1783. It is documented in the trial of Ann Nisbet for committing adultery with Thomas Totty Esq; a Captain in the Navy and Commander of HMS Sphinx [British Library & National Library of Scotland].
Sat Mar 11 13:15:26 2006

Chris
So that's conclusive proof that the last time anyone saw Totty at cornist hall was in 1801.
Fri Dec 9 13:08:20 2005

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