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Authorised form of nameBarrow; Sir; John (1764 - 1848)
Dates1764 - 1848
NationalityBritish
Place of birthDragley Beck, in the parish of Ulverston, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Date of birth19 June 1764
Date of death23 November 1848
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
Pratt Street, Camden Town
ActivityCareer:
Time-keeper at an iron foundry, Liverpool; voyaged to the Arctic in a whaler; taught maths in a school, Greensich; Private Secretary to George, Lord Macartney (FRS 1792); learned Chinese; published 'Travels in China' (1804); accompanied Macartney to Cape Colony [Cape of Good Hope, South Africa]; Second Secretary to the Admiralty (1804-1845); Point Barrow, Cape Barrow and Barrow Strait in the Arctic were named after him; as a geographer he was responsible for promoting the dispatch of naval vesels to seek the North West Passage and to navigate towards the North pole; founder of the Royal Geographical Society
Honours:
Bt 1835
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election04/07/1805
Age at election40
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
VP 1839-1841
RelationshipsMarried (1798) Anne Maria, daughter of Peter John Truter , of Cape of Good Hope; four sons and two daughters; father of John Barrow (FRS 1844); father-in-law of Robert Batty (FRS 1822)
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/68925163
CodeNA2824
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1805/06Barrow, Sir John: certificate of election to the Royal Society
MM/15/3Letter from Fearon Fallows, Cape Town, to Sir John Barrow10 January 1824
DM/2/108Copy of letter from John Barrow, Admiralty Office, to Stephen Lee4 July 1825
DM/4/127Letter from John Barrow, Admiralty, to P M Roget, Secretary, Royal Society30 December 1828
DM/3/92Copy of a letter from Rev Thomas John Hussey, Rectory, Chislehurst, to John Barrow9 April 1831
DM/4/126Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to W T Brande, Secretary, Royal Society1 November 1828
MC/4/26Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr [Peter Mark] Roget, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society]29 May 1844
MC/3/125Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society]10 December 1840
MM/10/172'Proposal for an attempt to complete the Discovery of a North-West Passage', by John BarrowDecember 1844
MC/3/96Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society22 May 1840
MC/4/47Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to the Marquis of Northampton, [President of the Royal Society]11 December 1844
IM/000272Barrow, Sir Johnnd
DM/4/105Letter from John Barrow, Admiralty, to the Secretary, Royal Society8 December 1830
IM/000271Barrow, Sir John2001
DM/3/120Letter from John Barrow, Admiralty Offices, to W T Brande, Secretary, Royal Society3 April 1824
DM/3/93Letter from John Barrow (for Admiralty), Admiralty Office, to the Duke of Sussex, President, Royal Society12 April 1831
NLB/18/142Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Rev R B Raffles, 86 St Stephen's Avenue, Shepherd's Bush, W.23 January 1899
DM/3/122Letter from WE Parry, Admiralty, to John Barrow, Admiralty10 January 1826
PT/15/27Paper, 'On the effects produced in the rates of chronometers by the proximity of masses of iron' by Peter Barlow[1821]
PT/17/8/2Plate, longitudinal coordinate planes overlaid on a ship of war by unknown artist[1824]
PT/14/10Letter, introducing accompanying paper on shipbuilding from John Barrow to Sir Joseph Banks1 February 1820
PT/14/20Letter, introducing George Fisher's paper 'On the errors in longitude as determined by the chronometers at sea, arising from the action of the iron in the ships upon the chronometers' from John Barrow to Wm [William] Thos [Thomas] Brande6 May 1820
PT/15/27/1Manuscript, 'On the effects produced in the rates of chronometers by the proximity of masses of iron' by Peter Barlow[1821]
PT/17/8/1Plate, coordinate planes overlaid on a ship of war by unknown artist[1824]
PT/15/27/2Plate, diagrams of chronometer parts by unknown artist[1821]
MS/426/112Copy letter from Lord Northampton [Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton] President of the Royal Society; to the Earl of Haddington [Thomas Hamilton]12 December 1844
PT/17/8/4Plate, horizontal coordinate planes overlaid on a ship of war by unknown artist[1824]
PT/17/8/3Plate, coordinate planes overlaid on the upper, middle, and lower decks of a ship of war by unknown artist[1824]
PT/19/1Paper, 'Observations made with the invariable pendulum No 4 (Jones), at the Royal Observatory Cape of Good Hope for the purpose of determining the compression of the earth' by Fearon Fallows[1830]
PT/17/8/5Plate, horizontal section of ship showing middle tier of tanks by unknown artist[1824]
MC/1/247Letter from Dr. Peter Mark Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society], to [Sir John Barrow]15 July 1830
MC/1/243Letter from Sir John Barrow, [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office, to William Thomas Brande7 July 1830
MC/1/306Letter from Sir John Barrow [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society10 May 1831
MC/1/319Letter from Sir John Barrow [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office, to [Dr. Peter Mark Roget], Secretary of the Royal Society15 July 1831
MC/1/326Letter from Sir John Barrow [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society]30 August 1831
MC/1/328Letter from Dr. Peter Mark Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society to Sir John Barrow, [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office2 September 1831
MC/2/17Letter from Sir John Barrow, [Second Secretary to the Admiralty], Admiralty Office, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society4 February 1832
MC/2Volume 2 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1832-1838
MC/2/22Draft letter from Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society] to [Sir John] Barrow, [Second Secretary to the] Admiralty10 February 1832
MC/3Volume 3 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1839-1843
MC/3/18Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to the Marquis of Northampton, President of the Royal Society15 April 1839
MC/3/29Letter from John Barrow, Admiralty, to the Secretary of the Royal Society13 June 1839
MC/3/112Letter from Mr Raudon, Gibraltar, to Dr. [John] Barrow 9 November 1840
MC/3/134Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society]20 January 1841
MC/3/154Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society24 April 1841
MC/3/177Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society 26 June 1841
MC/3/303Letter from Thomas Kerigan, 9 St Paul's Square, Southsea, Portsmouth, to the Secretary of the Royal Society5 October 1843
MC/3/313Letter from Sir John Barrow, Admiralty, to Dr. [Peter Mark] Roget, [Secretary of the Royal Society]22 November 1843
MC/1Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1800-1831
MC/4Volume 4 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1844-1850
PT/14/18Paper, 'On the errors in longitude as determined by the chronometers at sea, arising from the action of the iron in the ships upon the chronometers' by George Fisher[1820]
MC/7/243Letter from Stephen Pearce, 54 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, to General [Edward] Sabine, [President of the Royal Society]July 1865
P/0006Portrait of Barrow, Sir John
MC/7Volume 7 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1864-1866
PT/17/8Plates, corresponding to paper titled 'Experimental inquiries relative to the distribution and changes of the magnetic intensity, in ships of war' by George Harvey[1824]
AP/8/12Unpublished translation, 'A memoir on the disinfection of letters' by Bernardino Antonio Gomes20 April 1814
PT/16/9Paper, 'On some fossil bones discovered in caverns in the limestone quarries of Oreston' by Joseph Whidbey in a letter to John Barrow[1823]
PT/17/7Paper, 'Experimental inquiries relative to the distribution and changes of the magnetic intensity, in ships of war' by George Harvey1 May 1823
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