John Barrow

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Sir John Barrow, around 1810

Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet FRS FRGS (born June 19, 1764 in Dragley Beck, Ulverston , Cumbria , † November 23, 1848 in London ) was a British civil servant and historian. As the second secretary of the Admiralty , he organized numerous expeditions to various regions of the world, from Africa to the North Sea, in the first half of the 19th century, in order to employ British naval officers who had become unemployed after the victory over Napoleon .

Life

John Barrow was first an executive in an iron foundry in Liverpool and then became a math teacher at a school in Greenwich . One of his students was the son of the diplomat Sir George Staunton (1737-1801). Through Staunton's influence, Barrow was appointed auditor to the first British legation to China under Lord George Macartney . Barrow learned the Chinese language and published articles about it in the Quarterly Review . The Legation report, edited by the Secretary of the Legation, Sir George Staunton, contains many significant contributions on China from Barrow's pen. Although Barrow was no longer officially entrusted with Chinese affairs after his return in 1794, he was still frequently consulted by the British government.

In 1797, Barrow accompanied Lord Macartney as private secretary on his important and delicate mission to establish a government in the newly acquired colony on the Cape of Good Hope . Barrow was entrusted with the task of calming the Boers and the Kaffirs and reporting on the inland conditions. On his return from this trip, during which he had visited all parts of the colony, he was appointed general auditor of the public accounting system. He now decided to settle in South Africa, married Anne Maria Trilter and bought a house in Cape Town in 1800 . He and his wife had four sons and two daughters.

The surrender of the colony at the Peace of Amiens in 1802 thwarted his plans. He returned to England in 1804 and was appointed second secretary to the Admiralty by Lord Melville . He held this office for 40 years under eleven First Lords and especially under King William IV , who - as Lord High Admiral - repeatedly presented Barrow with tokens of personal appreciation.

Barrow's tomb in the London Borough of Camden

As Secretary of the Admiralty, Barrow initiated and promoted several official and semi-official expeditions, particularly to West Africa and the North Polar region. These ventures included the polar expeditions of Sir John Ross , Sir James Clark Ross and Sir John Franklin .

Barrow was a member of the Royal Society and a co-founder of the Royal Geographical Society, founded in 1830 . He received the degree of Doctor of Law from the University of Edinburgh in 1821 . In 1835 King William IV gave him the hereditary title of baronet , of Ulverstone in the County of Lancaster. In 1845 he retired from public life. In retirement he wrote a history of the voyages of discovery into the Arctic, which he had particularly supported - in search of the Northwest Passage - (1846) and his autobiography (published 1847).

John Barrow died suddenly on November 23, 1848 in London. He is buried in the cemetery at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in the London Borough of Camden . In his birthplace Ulverston, a monument in the form of a lighthouse was erected for him in 1850. His eldest son George inherited his baronet title.

Fonts

In addition to 195 articles for the Quarterly Review and his geographical travel reports, Barrow wrote several biographies about British naval persons, a standard work on the mutiny on the Bounty and twelve contributions to the 7th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica .

  • A Description of Pocket and Magazine Cases of Mathematical Drawing Instruments; in which is explained the. use of each instrument,… J. & W. Watkins, London 1792, OCLC 557012599 ( books.google.de - reading sample).
  • An Account of Travels Into the Interior of Southern Africa, in the Years 1797 and 1798: Including Cursory Observations on the Geology and Geography of the Southern Part of that Continent… T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies, London 1801 ( books.google.de - reprint Elibron Classics, 2000, excerpt).
  • John Barrow's journey through China from Beijing to Canton in the wake of the British Legation in 1793 and 1794 . 2 parts (1804/1805). Verlag des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs / Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Weimar / Hamburg (English: Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen , and on a Subsequent Journey Through the Country from Peking to Canton . London 1804. Translated by Johann Christian Hüttner ).
  • A voyage to Cochinchina… Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur / London 1975, ISBN 0-19-580281-0 ( books.google.de - first edition: T. Cadell, jun. And W. Davies, 1806, reprint).
  • Some Account of the Public Life and Selection from the Unpublished Writings of the Earl of Macartney: the latter consisting of Extracts from an Account of the Russian Empire; a Sketch of the Political History of Ireland; and a Journal of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, with Appendixes. T. Cadell & W. Davies, London 1807, 2 volumes.
  • A chronological history of voyages into the Arctic regions: undertaken chiefly for the purpose of discovering a north-east, north-west, or polar passage between the Atlantic and Pacific: from the earliest periods of Scandinavian navigation, to the departure of the recent expeditions , under the orders of Captains Ross and Buchan. John Murray, London 1818.
  • The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences. London 1831 ( archive.org , reprinted by Southport Press, Westport, CT. 2003, ISBN 1-887954-23-6 ).
  • A Memoir of the Life of Peter the Great. John Murray, London 1832 (Reprinted by Elibron Classics, 2001, ISBN 1-4212-6961-9 ).
  • The Life of Richard Earl Howe, KG: Admiral of the Fleet, and General of Marines. John Murray, London 1838 (Reprinted by Elibron Classics, 2001, ISBN 1-4021-7987-1 ).
  • The Life of George Anson, Admiral of the fleet; Vice-Admiral of Great Britain; and First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty; previous to, and during the Seven-Years' War. John Murray, London 1839 (Reprinted by Elibron Classics, 2000, ISBN 1-4021-8604-5 ).
  • Voyages of discovery and research within the Arctic regions, from the year 1818 to the present time: under the command of the several naval officers employed by sea and land in search of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with two attempts to reach the North Pole: abridged and arranged from the official narratives, with occasional remarks John Murray, London 1846 (Reprinted by Elibron Classics, 2000, ISBN 1-4212-4114-5 ).
  • Life & Correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith GCB Richard Bentley, London 1848.

effect

The following are named after Sir John Barrow:

literature

  • George Leonard Staunton: An authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China. London 1797.
  • George Thomas Staunton: Memoir of Sir John Barrow, Bart. London 1852.
  • Christopher Lloyd: Mr. Barrow of the Admiralty. A life of Sir John Barrow, 1764-1948. Collins, London 1970, ISBN 0-00-211528-X .
  • Fergus Fleming : Barrow's Boys. Granta, London 1998, ISBN 1-86207-286-8 . German edition translated by Henning Ahrens . Marebuch, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-936384-70-3 .
  • Barrow, Sir John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 3 : Austria - Bisectrix . London 1910, p. 440–441 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ George Leonard Staunton: An authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China. London 1797.
  2. ^ The London Gazette : 19241, 284 , February 17, 1835.
personal data
SURNAME Barrow, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barrow, Sir John, 1st Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British civil servant and historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH Dragley Beck, Ulverston , Cumbria
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1848
Place of death London