Nelson & His World

Doe anyone have any biographical details of Captain Thomas Thrush? He resigned his commission, with a letter addressed to the King on 'the unlawfulness of war', and continued to address the subject throughout his life.

http://openlibrary.org/a/OL361675A/Thomas-Thrush

The Memoir of Thomas Thrush should help.

went through the memoir briefly. He was in his 60s and hadn't been actively employed in well over a decade when he resigned his commission.

Many thanks for the link, Tony, and comments, Bill.

I must say, I was quite touched by Thrush's conviction and sincerity, and his willingness to sacrifice a good part of his income and his naval friendships for a principle. Memoirs at this time rarely told the whole truth, however, and one wonders how wearing and tiresome others found his commitment to, not to say obsession about, his cause.

I still haven't got around to reading the 'Blue Lights' book about evangelicals in the navy and wondered if others had followed Thrush's pacificist route. It seems, though, that other evangelicals found their beliefs compatible with naval service.

Flicking through my notebook, I came across Winston Churchill's definition of a fanatic:

'someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject'.