Sir John Richardson CB (1787-1865), St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere, Cumbria
Posted by: 
bill&ben
N 54° 27.438 W 003° 01.423
30U E 498462 N 6034403
A marble memorial tablet to Sir John Richardson, arctic explorer, in St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere.
Waymark Code: WMB6FT
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/11/2011
Views: 3
The tablet to Sir John can be found on the
central wall, adjacent to the lectern. The memorial reads
IN
MEMORY OF
SIR
JOHN RICHARDSON CB
THE
CONSTANT COMPANION
OF
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
IN
ARCTIC EXPLORATION
BORN
AT DUMFRIES 5 NOVEMBER 1787
DIED
AT LANCRIGG 5 JUNE 1865
‘Heroic
sailor- soul’
And
as the greatest only are
in his
simplicity sublime
Sir John Richardson was an eminent naval surgeon, naturalist and
arctic explorer. He was born in Dumfries on November 5th 1787 and studied
medicine at Edinburgh University. He became a
surgeon in the navy and travelled with John Franklin in search of the Northwest
Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of 1819-1822. Richardson wrote sections of
the official account of the voyage, covering geology, botany and ichthyology.
Franklin and Richardson returned to Canada for an overland expedition to the
Arctic Ocean in 1825. This expedition made a significant contribution to the
natural history of the region.
Richardson was knighted in 1846 for his work. He joined the unsuccessful
search for Franklin in 1848, writing “An Arctic Searching Expedition”
on his return in 1851. He retired to the Lake District, where he died on June 5th
1865.