Thomas Hastings

Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings KCB DL (3 July 1790 – 3 January 1870) was an innovator, instructor, and distinguished officer of the Royal Navy. He was renowned as an expert gunner, and some believe him to be the first officer to take a truly scientific approach to gunnery.

Biography

Hastings was born on 3 July 1790, the third son (and fifth child) of Rev. James Hastings (later Rector of Martley, Worcestershire) and Elizabeth (née Paget). He was brother to Sir Charles Hastings (founder of the British Medical Association). Another brother, Francis Decimus Hastings (1796–1869), also served in the Royal Navy from the age of twelve, reaching the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1859 having been obliged to relinquish active service because of his wounds, hardships and length of service.

On 29 April 1812, Hastings participated in an attack led by Captain Thomas Ussher on French privateers of Málaga, in which he performed admirably, commanding twenty men in the attack.

In 1814, as a first lieutenant of the Undaunted, he escorted Napoleon into his exile on Elba, and was one of three officers responsible for the arrangements for the arrival of Napoleon. From 14 November 1828 until 22 July 1830, he commanded Ferret in the Mediterranean with the rank of commander. He was then promoted captain.

On 13 April 1832, Captain Hastings took command of the sixth-rate training ship Excellent. As far back as 1817 General Sir Howard Douglas had submitted plans to remedy the obvious deficiencies of British naval gunnery. Nothing was done until 1830 when Commander George Smith was appointed to "superintend the practice of Sea Gunnery" on board that ship at Portsmouth. The gunnery school was put on a permanent basis by Captain Thomas Hastings (known at the time as "Old Sting").