| Authorised form of name | Beaufort; Sir; Francis (1774 - 1857); hydrographer |
| Surname | Beaufort |
| Forenames | Francis |
| Dates | 1774 - 1857 |
| Dates and places | Birth:
Flower Hill, Navan, County Meath, Ireland, Europe (27 May 1774)
Death:
Hove, Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Europe (17 December 1857)
Burial:
Church of St John-at-Hackney, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Activity | Profession:
Hydrographer
Naval Officer
Education:
Bates's Military and Marine Academy, Dublin (1784)
Career:
Entered the Navy (1787); studied astronomy and meteorology for five months under Dr Henry Ussher, professor of astronomy at Trinity College Dublin (1788); Commander (1800); worked on establishing a semaphore system capable of transmitting messages from Dublin to Galway in eight minutes with his brother-in-law Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1803); carried out multiple surveys (Rio de la Plata; coast of Karamania); Hydrographer to the Admiralty (1829-1855); awarded DCL Oxford (1839); retired as Rear Admiral (1855)
Served on the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for the 1832 Reform Act
Member of a commission on emloyment of pilots (1835), and on UK harbours, shores, and rivers (1845)
Honours:
KCB 1848
Memberships:
FRAS 1829; MRIA 1832; FRGS; Member of the American Philosophical Society 1840 |
| Royal Society activity | Membership:
Fellow
Election Date:
30/06/1814
Proposers:
S. Davis; Thomas Hardewicke; J. Fleming; John Barrow; John Pond; Jas Horsburgh; William Marsden; Edward Troughton
Council:
Sworn into Council 1 December 1832
Committee appointments include: Telescope Committee (1831); Meteorological Committee (1831); Medal Committee (1830); Report of the Hydrometer Committee (1832) |
| Relationships | Wife: 1) Alicia Magdalena Wilson (1812-1834); 2) Honora Edgeworth (1838-1858)
Children: Francis Lestock (later Attorney General of Bengal)
Parents: Rev. Daniel Augustus Beaufort, rector at Navan and Irish topographer, and Mary Waller of Allenstown
Siblings: Frances (later fourth wife of Richard Lovell Edgeworth) |
| Published works | 'Karamania, or, A brief description of the south coast of Asia minor, and of the remains of antiquity' (1817) |
| General context | From an early stage in his life, Beaufort was keen to travel and one of his first journeys was on the East Indiaman Vansittart. He worked on a variety of ships, saw much active service, and was wounded during the capture of the Spanish ship San Josef. As a commander on the Woolwich (1805), he assisted in the evacuation of British troops from Buenos Aires in 1807. He was initially rejected for the post of Hydrographer of the Navy in 1823, but was appointed to this role six years later. He is most remembered for his Beaufort wind force scale, and some geographical points named after him, e.g. the Beaufort Sea. |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Irish Innovators; ODNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1857-1859 vol 9 pp 524-527
References:
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 1. 1731-1847' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 307-332
D Carr Agnew, 'Robert Fitzroy and the myth of 'Marsden Square': Transatlantic rivalries in early marine meteorology' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 21-46 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/42580519 |
| Royal Society code | NA5914 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1814/13 | Beaufort, Sir Francis: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| AP/20/3 | On the Application of Glass as a Substitute for Metal Balance Springs in Chronometers | 1836 |
| DM/1/15 | Letter from Francis Beaufort, Admiralty, to P M Roget | 7 March 1831 |
| MM/1/53 | Letter from IC Lees, Nassau, to Sir Francis Beaufort | 5 June 1839 |
| DM/4/128 | Letter from Beaufort, Admiralty, to Edward Sabine | 14 December 1829 |
| DM/4/93 | Letter from Charles Rumker to Davies Gilbert, President, Royal Society | 24 May 1830 |
| DM/4/96 | Letter from Charles Rumker to Davies Gilbert, President, Royal Society | 25 June 1830 |
| DM/1/24 | Draft of a letter from P M Roget to Francis Beaufort | 14 March 1831 |
| AP/19/18 | Meteorological Register of H M S Thunder between 1 and 30 June 1834 | 1834 |
| AP/21/4 | On Low Fogs and Stationery Clouds | 1837 |
| AP/21/15 | Experiments on the Vibration of the Pendulum | 1838 |
| AP/27/19 | On the connection between the winds of the St Lawrence and the movements of the barometer | 1845 |
| AP/18/13 | Meteorological Journal kept at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, from the 1st February to the 31st May 1834 | November 1834 |
| AP/19/5 | Observations on Halley's Comet | 1835 |
| AP/18/8 | Observations with the Horizontal and Dipping Needles, made during a voyage from England to New South Wales | 5 July 1833 |
| DM/1/25 | Letter from Francis Beaufort, Manchester Square, to P M Roget | 15 March 1831 |
| AP/30/3 | On the protection of Iron from oxidation and from turning foul when it is exposed to the action of the sea and other waters | March 1848 |
| IM/000310 | Beaufort, Sir Francis | nd |
| AP/19/1 | Hygrometrical Observation made on board His Majesty's Surveying Vessel Etna | 1835 |
| AP/19/2 | Meteorological Observations on board His Majesty's Ship Jackdaw | 1834 |
| EC/1814/14 | Beaufort, Sir Francis: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/005531 | Beaufort, Sir Francis | 2000 |
| MS/123/5 | Letter from the Duke of Sussex to unknown recipient | 12 November 1832 |
| MS/426/457 | Copy letter from C R [Charles Richard] Weld, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Admiral Sir F [Francis] Beaufort | 23 January 1852 |
| MS/426/400 | Copy letter from Edward Sabine, Foreign Secretary fo the Royal Society; to Sir F [Francis] Beaufort | 7 January [1850] |
| CMP/1/2 | Minutes of a meeting of Council of the Royal Society | 13 December 1832 |
| AP/21/20 | Account of a Line of Levels carried across Northern Syria, from the Mediterranean, to the River Euphrates | 1838 |
| AP/21/5 | Meteorological Deductions made from Observations made at the Observatory, Port Louis, Mauritius | 1837 |
| MM/13/84 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 11 December 1832 |
| MM/13/85 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 20 December 1832 |
| MS/426/401 | Copy letter from Edward Sabine, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir F [Francis] Beaufort | 7 January 1850 |
| CMP/1/1 | Minutes of a meeting of Council of the Royal Society | 1 December 1832 |
| MS/426/402 | Copy letter from Edward Sabine, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir F [Francis] Beaufort | 7 January 1850 |
| MM/13/88 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 29 January 1833 |
| MM/13/87 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 22 January 1833 |
| MM/13/86 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 15 January 1833 |