Lieut. John Irving, R.N., of H.M.S. Terror, in Sir John Franklin's Last Expedition to the Arctic Regions
A Memorial Sketch with Letters

This 'memorial sketch' of Lieutenant John Irving of H.M.S. Terror, lost on Franklin's 1845 expedition, was published in 1881.

Benjamin Bell (Author)

9781108071857, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2014

192 pages, 4 b/w illus. 1 colour illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14.1 x 1.2 cm, 0.26 kg

John Irving (1815–1847?) was a lieutenant on board H.M.S. Terror during Sir John Franklin's fateful expedition, and had the melancholy distinction of being the first identifiable body to be found by a subsequent search party - that of the US officer Frederick Schwatka - in 1878. Irving was identified by a silver medal, won for mathematics in 1830. His remains were brought back to Britain and reburied in his home town, Edinburgh, and at the request of Irving's father this 'memorial sketch', including some of the young lieutenant's letters to his family, was published in 1881 by Benjamin Bell (1810–83), great-grandfather of the surgeon Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle's model for Sherlock Holmes. As well as the touching memoir, the work includes details of the various search and rescue attempts, and a reconstructed chronology by Clements Markham of the Franklin expedition up to its disastrous end.

Prefatory note
1. 1815–34
2. 1834–7
3. 1837
4. 1838–42
5. 1843–4
6. 1844–5
7. 1845–8
8. Officers of H.M.S. Terror
Appendix.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]