John Richardson (1787–1865)
| Sir John Richardson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1787-11-05 Dumfries, Scotland |
| Died | 1865-06-05 Grasmere, Westmorland, England |
| Occupation | Naval surgeon; Arctic explorer; natural historian |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
Sir John Richardson (5 November 1787 – 5 June 1865 (aged 77)) was a Scottish-born naval surgeon, Arctic explorer, and natural historian, best known for his participation in John Franklin 's Arctic expeditions and his landmark work on the natural history of the Canadian north.[1]
Early life
Richardson was born on 5 November 1787 in Dumfries, Scotland, the eldest of twelve children of Gabriel Richardson, a brewer and provost of Dumfries, and Anne Mundell. The family was closely acquainted with the poet Robert Burns, who was a friend of the household. At the age of fourteen Richardson began an apprenticeship under his uncle James Mundell, and he went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh between 1801 and 1804, completing his surgical qualification by 1807. He served as a naval surgeon during the Napoleonic Wars, seeing service between 1806 and 1814 aboard six ships in the Baltic, Mediterranean, and African theatres.[1]
Arctic expeditions
Richardson's Arctic career began in 1819 when he was assigned to Franklin's first overland expedition as surgeon and naturalist. The party, which also included George Back, Robert Hood, and seaman John Hepburn, covered roughly 1,350 miles in 1820 and descended the Coppermine River in 1821. On the return journey, with the party near starvation, Richardson shot and killed a man he judged to be a murderer threatening the weakened expedition members. The group was ultimately rescued through the efforts of the Yellowknife Cree chief Akaitcho and a relief mission led by Back. The full expedition covered some 5,550 miles.[1]
For Franklin's second overland expedition (1824–1827), Richardson served as surgeon, naturalist, and second-in-command. While Franklin explored the Arctic coast westward, Richardson mapped approximately 900 miles of coastline eastward to the Coppermine River.[1]
His final Arctic expedition (1848–1849) was a search for the missing Franklin party, conducted jointly with John Rae John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company. Leaving Liverpool in March 1848, the party reached the Mackenzie River estuary by August, explored Wollaston Land and Cape Kendall, and wintered at Fort Confidence on Great Bear Lake. Richardson returned to England in the spring of 1849; Rae continued searching and eventually located evidence of Franklin's fate in 1853. Richardson described this expedition in An Arctic searching expedition (1851), which included observations on meteorology, the ethnography of Indigenous peoples, and the physical geography of the region.[1]
Scientific work
Richardson's principal scientific contribution was Fauna Boreali-Americana (1829–1837), a four-volume natural history of the Canadian north produced with collaborators William Swainson and the Reverend William Kirby; Richardson wrote the sections on quadrupeds and fish himself.[2]
During his tenure as senior physician at the Royal Hospital Haslar (1838–1855), Richardson developed the hospital's library and museum into a significant centre for natural history and comparative anatomy. Naval surgeons trained under him went on to serve as naturalists on expeditions commanded by Frederick William Beechey, James Clark Ross, and Edward Belcher. Among those who received instruction at Haslar was the young Thomas Henry Huxley, who subsequently became one of the leading biologists of the Victorian era.[1]
Richardson maintained an extensive correspondence with the leading naturalists of his day, including Richard Owen, Huxley, William Jackson Hooker, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Charles Lyell, Georges Cuvier, Louis Agassiz, John James Audubon, and Charles Darwin. Darwin consulted him on questions of Arctic ecology while preparing The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1836).[1]
Personal life
Richardson married three times. His first wife, Mary Stiven of Leith, Scotland, died before 1833. He then married Mary Booth of Stickney, England, in 1833; she was a niece of Sir John Franklin and died before 1847, having had seven children with Richardson. In 1847 he married Mary Fletcher of Edinburgh, who brought with her the Lancrigg farmhouse in Grasmere, Westmorland, where the couple retired after Richardson left naval service in 1855.[1]
In retirement Richardson served informally on the "Arctic Committee" advising the Admiralty, gave testimony before parliamentary committees on the governance of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1857, and contributed as a reader to the Oxford English Dictionary.[1]
Death
Richardson died on 5 June 1865 at Grasmere, Westmorland, England.[1]
Honours
Richardson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1825, knighted in 1846, appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1850, and awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1856. Several animal and plant species, as well as a number of Canadian geographical features including a river, lake, bay, and mountain, were named in his honour.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 R. E. Johnson."R. E. Johnson, "Richardson, John," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1976.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ John Richardson; William Swainson; William Kirby."Fauna Boreali-Americana."[book].1829.4 vols., 1829–1837.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
Additional sources cited in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography article:[1][2][3][4][5][6]
External links
- ↑ John MacIlraith."The Life of Sir J. Richardson."[book].1868.London.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ C. S. Houston; M. G. Street."The birds of the Saskatchewan River, Carlton to Cumberland."[book].1959.Regina.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ J. J. Keevil et al.."Medicine and the navy, 1200–1900."[book].1957.4 vols., 1957–63.Edinburgh and London.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ J. B. Richardson."A visit to Haslar, 1916."[newspaper].Royal Naval Medical Service Journal.1916.vol. 2 (1916), pp. 329–339.London.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Humphrey Rolleston."Sir John Richardson, C.B., M.D., L.L.D., F.R.S., the naturalist of the Naval Medical Service."[newspaper].Royal Naval Medical Service Journal.1924.vol. 10 (1924), pp. 160–172.London.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ D. A. Stewart."Sir John Richardson, surgeon, physician, sailor, explorer, naturalist, scholar."[newspaper].Canadian Medical Association Journal.1931.vol. 24 (1931), pp. 1–15.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)