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Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Bart
5 April 1769 - 20 September 1839
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy
Place of birth	Dorset
Place of death	Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Vice-Admiral
Battles/wars	War of 1812 Napoleonic Wars :Battle of Trafalgar
Awards	GCB
Other work	Governor of Greenwich Hospital

This article is about the naval officer. For other people with the same name, please see Thomas Hardy (disambiguation).

Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Baronet GCB (5 April 1769 – 20 September 1839), was a British naval officer. He served as Flag Captain to Admiral Lord Nelson, and commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson was shot as he paced the decks with Hardy and as he lay dying, Nelson's famous remark of "Kiss me Hardy" was directed at him (although these were not Nelson's last words, as is sometimes claimed).

During the War of 1812, Hardy led the fleet that escorted and transported the army commanded by John Coape Sherbrooke that captured significant portions of eastern coastal Maine (then part of Massachusetts), including Eastport, Machias, Bangor, and Castine.^[1] Hardy would later serve as First Sea Lord and Governor of Greenwich Hospital.

Hardy was born to Joseph and Nanny Hardy in 1769 in Dorset, either at Kingston Russell House in the parish of Long Bredy, 3 miles west of their home in Portesham, or at Martinstown, 2 miles east where he grew up. There is a monument to him (the Hardy Monument) within walking distance of his home at Portesham House in the village. Hardy Bay and the District of Port Hardy, on Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Hardy Island on the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia, Canada are named after him. Hardy was created a Baronet, of the Navy, in 1806. He died in September 1839, aged 70. The title became extinct on his death.

John McCabe's biography of Laurel and Hardy, Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy, contains a statement by Oliver Hardy that he was a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Hardy; the relationship has not been otherwise documented.

• The Trafalgar Captains, Colin White and the 1805 Club, Chatham Publishing, London, 2005, ISBN 1-86176-247-X

• A page on Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy from dukesofbuckingham.org, a copyleft site developed by Andy Boddington
• Animation of the Battle of Trafalgar
• Research article on birth place of Thomas Hardy

v • d • e First Sea Lords of the Royal Navy

The Earl Howe • Sir Peter Parker • Prince William, Duke of Clarence • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Thomas Hardy • The Hon. George Heneage Dundas • Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir Charles Adam • Sir George Cockburn • Sir William Parker • Sir Charles Adam • James Whitley Deans Dundas • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • Hyde Parker • The Hon. Maurice FitzHardinge Berkeley • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • William Fanshawe Martin • The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas • The Hon. Sir Frederick Grey • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Sydney Dacres • Sir Alexander Milne • Sir Hastings Yelverton • George Wellesley • Sir Astley Cooper Key • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Lord John Hay • Sir Arthur Acland Hood • Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton • Sir Anthony Hoskins • Sir Frederick Richards • Lord Walter Kerr • Sir John A. Fisher • Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson • Sir Francis Bridgeman • Prince Louis of Battenberg • The Baron Fisher of Kilverstone • Sir Henry Jackson • Sir John Jellicoe • Sir Rosslyn Wemyss • The Earl Beatty • Sir Charles Madden, Bt • Sir Frederick Field • The Lord Chatfield • Sir Roger Backhouse • Sir Dudley Pound • The Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope • Sir John Cunningham • The Lord Fraser of North Cape • Sir Rhoderick McGrigor • The Earl Mountbatten of Burma • Sir Charles Lambe • Sir Caspar John • Sir David Luce • Sir Varyl Begg • Sir Michael Le Fanu • Sir Peter Hill-Norton • Sir Michael Pollock • Sir Edward Ashmore • Sir Terence Lewin • Sir Henry Leach • Sir John Fieldhouse • Sir William Staveley • Sir Julian Oswald • Sir Benjamin Bathurst • Sir Jock Slater • Sir Michael Boyce • Sir Nigel Essenhigh • Sir Alan West • Sir Jonathon Band •

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