George Tobin

Son of James Tobin (q.v.) and inheritor of Stony Grove on Nevis. He has an entry in the ODNB as 'naval officer and artist', which describes his father a 'a sugar planter and merchant of Nevis in the West Indies and Bristol.'

1. George Tobin "was born in Salisbury, England on 13 December 1768, second of the six sons of James Tobin, a merchant and plantation owner on Nevis in the West Indies, and Elizabeth, née Webb[e]". Elizabeth's father was George Webbe, a slave-owner of Nevis. In 1804 George married Dorothy nee Skelly, the daughter of Captain Gordon Skelly, R.N. and the widow of Major William Duff, of the 26th regiment. They had two children a son and a daughter. Their son’s name was George Webbe Tobin, Esq. who was for a time a member of the second dragoon guards.

2. Tobin was a "natural history painter and naval officer". His active navy career spanned from 1780 to 1814 when he retired. He joined the navy in June 1780 as a midshipman on the Namur. In 1782, under the command of Captain Fanshawe, the ship was involved in action in the West Indies from 9 to 12 April with Tobin as aid-de-camp to the captain. Tobin later served on ships on voyages to Nova Scotia and China before joining Captain Bligh’s expedition to carry breadfruit from the South Pacific to the British Caribbean. He next served on the Thetis which was stationed in Halifax. He was promoted to Post Captain in 1802 and took command of the Princess Charlotte in 1805, serving in the West Indies, Spain and France. He retired in 1814 to Teignmouth. He was then “made a Commander of the Bath in 1831 and attained the rank of Rear-Admiral of the White in 1837”. He died in 1838.

3. His will was proved on 01 September 1838.

4. George Tobin's son George Webbe Tobin Esquire "of the 2nd Regiment of Dragoon Guards or Queen's Bays" married Susannah Christian, only daughter of the late John Cobham [q.v.] of the island of Barbados in Teignmouth, Devon, 15/12/1830.

David Small, ‘Tobin, George (1768–1838)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27484, accessed 6 Oct 2016].

1. Graeme Phipps and Joan Kerr (1992 and 2011) George Tobin's Biography, Design and Art Australia Online, https://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-tobin/biography/ [sourced 15/10/2015].

2. The Obituary of George Tobin The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 5, July to December 1838, pp. 100 - 102, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AsQhAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [sourced 15/10/2015].

3. PROB 11/1901/129, The National Archives.

4. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 18/12/1830.

We are grateful to Peter Selley for his assistance with compiling this entry.