Record

Authorised form of nameRichardson; Sir; John (1787 - 1865); surgeon; naturalist; Arctic explorer
Dates1787 - 1865
NationalityBritish
Place of birth1 Nith Place, Dumfries, Scotland
Date of birth05 November 1787
Place of deathLancrigg, Grasmere, Westmorland, England, United Kingdom
Date of death05 June 1865
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
Grasmere churchyard, Westmorland, England, United Kingdom
OccupationSurgeon
Research fieldBotany
Geology
Natural history
Ichthyology
ActivityEducation:
Edinburgh University MD
Career:
Apprenticed to his uncle James Mundell, retired naval surgeon in practice at the infirmary in Dumfries, on whose death he transferred to Dr Samuel Shortridge (1800); paused his studiesto serve as temporary house surgeon, Dumfries and Galloway Infirmary (1804); assistant surgeon aboard the frigate Nymphe (1807); advanced to senior surgeon following service on Hiberia, Hercules, Blossom, and Cruiser; surgeon to the lst battalion, Royal Marines, taking part in raids on St Mary's and Cumberland Island, Georgia (1814); resumed study in Edinburgh and became doctor of medicine (1816): started a private practice in Leith, Edinburgh (1818): joined the Coppermine Expedition (1819-1822); surgeon to the marine division at Chatham but allowed to deputize his duties to accompany Franklin on a second expedition (1824): retured to Canada and went overland by fur trade routes to the mouth of the Mackenzie River (1825): returned to England (1827); appointed chief medical officer of Melville Naval Hospital, Chatham (1828); senior physician at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar, Gosport (1838); inspector of hospitals (1840): traveled with John Rae on an unsuccessful search for Franklin (1848-1849); retired to the Lake District and occupied himself exploring the Westmorland hills and touring Europe (1855); died at home in bed.
Honours:
Kt 1846; CB 1850
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election24/02/1825
Age at election38
ProposerCharles Willam Paslev
William Scoresby Junior
Frans Beaufort
John Barrow
Gilbert Blane
John Deas Thomson
Charles Stokes
Edward Forster
Everard Home
Alexander McLeay
Dan Moore
William Henry Fitton
Robert Brown
John Franklin
Charles Babbage
William Hyde Wollaston
RSActivityMedals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1856
RelationshipsParents: Gabriel Richardson, brewer, provost at one time, and chief magistrate of Dumfries for many years, and Anne, daughter of Peter Mundell of Dumfries.
Spouse: 1) (m. 1 June 1818) Mary Stiven (1795-1831), daughter of Alexander Stiven, brewer of Leith; 2) (m. 8 February 1833) Mary Booth (1807-1845), niece of Franklin and daughter of John Booth of Stickney, near Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire: 3) (m.4 August 1847) Mary Fletcher(1802-18S0), daughter of Archibald Fletcher and Eliza Fletcher.
Children: 7 from his second marriage.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1866-1867 vol 15 pp xxxvii-xliii
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/73862190
CodeNA5665
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MM/4/40Letter from John Richardson, Lincolnshire, to General Edward Sabine, 15 March 1857
IM/003811Richardson, Sir Johnnd
MM/25/2Letter from Sir James Clark Ross, Athenaeum, to [Sir John] Richardsonc.1847
EC/1824/22Richardson, Sir John: certificate of election to the Royal Society
MC/4/298Letter from Jane Franklin, 21 Bedford Place, to the Earl of Rosse, [President of the Royal Society]15 November 1849
MC/4/304Letter from [John] Parker, [First Secretary to the] Admiralty, to the Earl of Rosse, President of the Royal Society 28 November 1849
MC/4Volume 4 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1844-1850
MS/119/1/129Letter from John Richardson, Haslar Hospital, Gosport to [Humphrey Lloyd]4 February 1850
HS/14/485Letter, from Sir John Richardson to Sir John Herschel, dated at Haslar Hospital17 November 1840
HS/14/486Letter, from Sir John Richardson to Sir John Herschel, dated at Haslar Hospital28 December 1847
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