| George Tobin | |
| Birth Date: | 13 December 1768 |
| Death Date: | 10 April 1838 |
| Birth Place: | Salisbury, England |
| Death Place: | Teignmouth, England |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
| Rank: | Rear-admiral |
| Commands: | HMS Princess Charlotte |
| Battles: | French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
Rear-Admiral George Tobin (13 December 1768 – 10 April 1838) was an English Royal Navy officer and artist.
The second son of James Tobin of Nevis in the West Indies, and his wife Elizabeth Webbe, he was elder brother of John Tobin and James Webbe Tobin. He was born in England at Salisbury on 13 December 1768, and studied at King Edward VI School, Southampton. He entered the navy in 1780 on board, in which he later went out to the West Indies, being present at the Battle of the Saintes during April 1782.[1] [2]
After the peace of 1783 Tobin was for some time in:, guardship at Plymouth; on the Halifax, Nova Scotia station, and in . From 1788 to 1790 he made a voyage in Sulivan, a ship of the East India Company. On his return he was for a few weeks on board during the Nootka Crisis, and on 22 November he was made a lieutenant.[1] [2]
During 1791–1793 Tobin was in, Captain William Bligh, on its voyage to Tahiti and the West Indies. He kept an illustrated journal, covering in particular Tahiti and Tasmania. It is now in the State Library of New South Wales.[1] [2] On his return to England Tobin learned that by his absence he had avoided being appointed third lieutenant of, captain Horatio Nelson: Nelson through his wife was connected with Tobin's family. He was instead appointed second lieutenant of the frigate, captain Alexander Cochrane, which he considered a better outcome. Nelson, however, regretted it, writing of Tobin, on 12 July 1797, "The time is past for doing anything for him. Had he been with me, he would long since have been a captain, and I should have liked it, as being most exceedingly pleased with him."[1]
Tobin was made a commander on 12 July 1798. He was advanced to the rank of captain in the major promotion of the Peace of Amiens, 29 April 1802; and in September 1804 was appointed to . It was the flagship of his old chief Cochrane, off Ferrol and then in the West Indies. In September 1805 Tobin was moved into HMS Princess Charlotte, a 38-gun frigate, and in her, off Tobago, captured the French corvette Cyane.[1]
After much convoy service Tobin, still in the same frigate, renamed HMS Andromache in 1812, co-operated during 1813–14 with the army in Peninsular War operations in the north of Spain and the west of France. In July 1814 Andromache was paid off, and Tobin had no further service at sea.[1]
On 8 December 1815 Tobin was nominated a C.B. He became a rear-admiral on 10 January 1837, and died at Teignmouth on 10 April 1838.[1]
Tobin married, in 1804, Dorothy, daughter of Captain Gordon Skelly of the navy, widow of Major William Duff of the 26th Regiment. They had one son and one daughter.[1]