Vice-Admiral
Robert FitzRoy RNThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
(5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) achieved lasting fame as the captain of
HMS BeagleHMS Beagle was a Cherokee class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, named after the beagle, a breed of dog. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803...
during
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
's famous voyage, and as a pioneering
meteorologistMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century...
who made accurate weather forecasting a reality. He was an able surveyor and
hydrographerHydrography focuses on the measurement of physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. Hydrography generally refers to the measurement and description of any waters, and specifically refers to those measurements and descriptions of navigable waters necessary for safe navigation of vessels...
and served as
GovernorThe Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state.The Constitution Act 1986 provides that a "The Governor-General...
of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
from 1843 to 1845.
Early life
Robert FitzRoy was born at Ampton Hall,
AmptonAmpton is a village and civil parish in the St Edmundsbury district of Suffolk, England, about five miles north of Bury St Edmunds.According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is Amma's homestead. The Domesday Book records the population of Ampton in 1086 to be 23...
,
SuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
into the upper echelons of the British
aristocracyAristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number...
and a tradition of public service. Through his father,
General Lord Charles FitzRoyGeneral Lord Charles FitzRoy was a British Army officer and politician.FitzRoy was the second son of Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and his first wife, Anne, a daughter of Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth. After education at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he entered the...
, Robert was a fourth great-grandson of
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father King Charles I was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. The English Parliament did not proclaim Charles II king at this time. Instead they passed a statute making such a...
and his grandfather was Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. His mother was the daughter of the first
Marquess of LondonderryMarquess of Londonderry is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.It was created in 1816 for Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Londonderry. He had earlier represented County Down in the Irish House of Commons. Stewart had already been created Baron Londonderry in 1789, Viscount Castlereagh in 1795 and Earl...
and the half-sister of Viscount Castlereagh, who became
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. From the age of four Robert FitzRoy lived at Wakefield Lodge in
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
, the Palladian mansion of the FitzRoy family.
Robert's half-brother
Sir Charles FitzRoySir Charles Augustus FitzRoy KCH KCB was a British military officer, politician and member of the aristocracy, who held governorships in several British colonies during the 19th century.-Family and peerage:...
was Governor of New South Wales, Governor of Prince Edward Island and Governor of Antigua.
Fitzroy was also the Father of the Commander of the Channel Rear Admiral Sir Robert Fitzroy.
Career
In February 1818, 12 years old, he entered the
Royal Naval College, PortsmouthThe Royal Naval Academy was established at Portsmouth dockyard as a facility to train officers for the Royal Navy. The intentions were to provide an alternative means to recruit officers and to provide standardised training, education and admission.A shore side facility was established in the...
, and in the following year he entered the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
. At the age of 14 he embarked as a voluntary student aboard the frigate
HMS Owen GlendowerHMS Owen Glendower was a Royal Navy 36-gun Fifth Rate Apollo class frigate launched in 1808 and disposed of in 1884. In between she was instrumental in the seizure of the Danish island of Anholt, captured prizes in the Channel during the Napoleonic Wars, sailed to the East Indies and South America,...
, which sailed to South America in the middle of 1820, and returned in January 1822. He was promoted to midshipman while on the vessel. FitzRoy then served on HMS
Hind as a midshipman. He completed his course with distinction and was promoted lieutenant on 7 September 1824, having passed the examination with 'full numbers' (100%), a result not achieved previously. After serving on HMS
Thetis, in 1828 he was appointed flag lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Waller Otway, commander-in-chief of the South American station, aboard
HMS GangesHMS Ganges was an 84-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 November 1821 at Bombay Dockyard, constructed from teak...
.
At that time
HMS BeagleHMS Beagle was a Cherokee class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, named after the beagle, a breed of dog. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803...
under Captain Pringle Stokes was carrying out a hydrographic survey of
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
, under the overall command of captain Phillip Parker King in
HMS AdventureHMS Aid was a 10-gun Royal Navy transport ship launched in 1809 at Kings Lynn. She was converted to a survey ship in March 1817, and was renamed HMS Adventure in 1821. The ship was sold in 1853....
. Pringle Stokes became severely depressed and shot himself, and the ship under Lieutenant Skyring sailed to
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
, where Otway made FitzRoy (temporary) Captain of the
Beagle on 15 December 1828. By the ship's return on 14 October 1830, FitzRoy had established his reputation as a surveyor and commander.
During the survey, some of his men were camping onshore when a group of Fuegian natives made off with their boat. His ship gave chase and, after a scuffle, the culprit's families were brought on board as hostages. Eventually FitzRoy held a boy, a girl and two men. As it was not possible to put them ashore conveniently he decided to 'civilise' the 'savages', teaching them "English ... the plainer truths of Christianity ... and the use of common tools" before returning them as missionaries. They were given names: the girl he called Fuegia Basket (so named because the replacement for the stolen boat was an improvised coracle that resembled a basket), the boy
Jemmy ButtonOrundellico, known as"Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button", was a native Fuegian of the Yaghan people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina...
(he was purchased by FitzRoy with buttons) and the one man who did not escape he named York Minster (named after the large rock near which he was captured). There was also a boy called Boat Memory. FitzRoy brought them back to England where Boat Memory died following a smallpox vaccination. The others were minded by the trainee missionary Richard Matthews and became 'civilised' enough to be presented at court in the summer of 1831.
HMS Beagles second voyage
In early May 1831 FitzRoy stood as
ToryToryism is a traditionalist political philosophy, which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is most prominent in Great Britain, but also features in some parts of The Commonwealth — particularly in Canada...
candidate for
IpswichIpswich is a non-metropolitan district and the county town of Suffolk, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe in Suffolk and Harwich and Colchester in Essex...
in the General Election, but was defeated. His hopes of obtaining a new posting and organising a missionary project appeared to be failing, and he was organising the charter of a ship at his own expense to return the Fuegians with Matthews when his friend
Francis BeaufortRear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, FRS, FRGS was an Irish born hydrographer and officer in Britain's Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force.-Biography:...
,
HydrographerThe United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is an organisation within the UK government responsible for providing navigational and other hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements...
to the British Admiralty, and his "kind uncle", the
Duke of GraftonGeorge Henry FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton, KG was a British peer and Whig politician, known as Earl of Euston from birth until 1811....
, interceded on his behalf at the Admiralty. On 25 June 1831 he was re-appointed commander of the Beagle. He spared no expense in fitting out the ship.
Very conscious of the stressful loneliness of command and of the suicide both of Captain Stokes and of his uncle Viscount Castlereagh, who had cut his own throat in 1822 while in government office, he approached Beaufort in August 1831 and asked him to find a suitable gentleman companion for the voyage. Such a companion should share his scientific tastes, make good use of the expedition's opportunities for naturalism research, dine with him as an equal, and provide a semblance of normal human friendship. While those Beaufort first approached turned the opportunity down, FitzRoy eventually approved
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
for the position. Before they left England FitzRoy gave Darwin a copy of the first volume of
Charles LyellSir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt, FRS was a British lawyer, geologist, and proponent of uniformitarianism. He was the foremost geologist of his day, and an influence on the young Charles Darwin.- Life :...
's Principles of Geology, a book the captain had read that explained terrestrial features as the outcome of a gradual process taking place over extremely long periods. Moreover, FitzRoy took a request from Lyell himself to record observations on geological features such as erratic boulders.
FitzRoy and Darwin got on well together, but over the five-year survey voyage FitzRoy's violent temper—his outbursts had gained him the nickname "Hot Coffee"—occasioned quarrels sometimes "bordering on insanity", as Darwin later recalled. On a memorable occasion in March 1831 at
BahiaBahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast.It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, Darwin was horrified at tales of the treatment of slaves, but FitzRoy, while not endorsing brutality, recounted how an estancia owner once asked his slaves if they wished to be free and was told they didn't. Darwin incautiously asked FitzRoy if he thought slaves could answer such a question honestly when it was posed by their master, at which the captain lost his temper and, before storming out, told Darwin that if he doubted his word they could no longer live together; effectively he banished Darwin from his table. Before nightfall FitzRoy's temper cooled and he sent a handsome apology with the request that Darwin "continue to live with him", so they avoided the subject of slavery from that time on. However, none of their quarrels were over religious or doctrinal issues—such disagreements came after the voyage.
At the island of "Buttons Land" in
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
they set up a mission post, but when they returned nine days later the possessions had been looted. Matthews gave up, rejoining the ship and leaving the three westernised Fuegians to continue the missionary work.
While in the
Falkland IslandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
, FitzRoy bought a
schoonerA schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being shorter or the same height as the rear masts...
out of his own funds to assist with the surveying tasks he had been asked to complete, and had it refitted and renamed Adventure
, hoping that the cost would be reimbursed by the AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty.In...
. They returned to the mission post but found only Jemmy ButtonOrundellico, known as"Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button", was a native Fuegian of the Yaghan people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina...
who had returned to native ways and refused the offer to go with them back to England.
At ValparaisoValparaíso is a city in central Chile and one of that country's most important seaports and an increasingly vital cultural center in the hemisphere's Pacific Southwest. The city is the capital of the Region of Valparaíso...
in 1834, while Darwin was away from the ship exploring the AndesThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
, the Admiralty reprimanded FitzRoy for buying the Adventure. He took the criticism badly, selling the schooner and announcing they would go back to recheck his survey, then resigning his command with doubts about his own sanity. The ship's officers persuaded him to withdraw his resignation and continue as planned once Darwin returned to the ship. FitzRoy continued his voyage, sailing on to the Galapagos, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, then detouring to
BahiaBahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast.It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
so that he could carry out an additional check to ensure the accuracy of his longitude measurements before returning to England.
Return from the voyage
Soon after the Beagles return on 2 October 1836, FitzRoy married a young woman to whom he had long been engaged. Darwin was amazed, as not once during the entire five years of the trip had FitzRoy spoken about being engaged.
FitzRoy was awarded a gold medal by the
Royal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical sciences, under the patronage of King William IV...
in 1837. Extracts from his diary read to the society on 8 May 1837 included the observation (page 115) "Is it not extraordinary, that sea-worn,
rolled, shingle-stones, and alluvial accumulations, compose the greater portion of these plains? How vast, and of what immense
duration, must have been the actions of these waters which smoothed the shingle-stones now buried in the deserts of Patagonia!"
FitzRoy then wrote his account of the voyage, including editing the notes of the previous captain of the
Beagle, which was completed and published in May 1839 as the
Narrative of the surveying voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle in four volumes including Darwin's
Journal and Remarks, 1832—1836 as the third volume. FitzRoy's account includes a section of
Remarks with reference to the Deluge in which he admits that having read works "by geologists who contradict, by implication, if not in plain terms, the authenticity of the Scriptures" and "while led away by sceptical ideas" he had remarked to a friend that the vast plain of sedimentary material they were crossing "could never have been effected by a forty days' flood" indicating that in his "turn of mind and ignorance of scripture" he was willing to disbelieve the Biblical account. Concerned that such ideas might "reach the eyes of young sailors" he earnestly explains in great detail his renewed commitment to a literal reading of the Bible, with arguments that rock layers high in the mountains containing sea shells are actually proof of Noah's Flood and that the six days of creation could not have extended over aeons because the grass, herbs and trees would have died out during the long nights.
FitzRoy was clearly dissociating himself from the new ideas of
Charles LyellSir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt, FRS was a British lawyer, geologist, and proponent of uniformitarianism. He was the foremost geologist of his day, and an influence on the young Charles Darwin.- Life :...
which he had accepted during the voyage, and from Darwin's account which embraced these ideas, instead asserting a new commitment under the influence of his very religious wife to the doctrine of the established
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
.
FitzRoy was elected the Tory
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
in 1841, and appointed
Acting Conservator of the River MerseyThe Acting Conservator of the River Mersey is a unique position. The holder is responsible for ensuring navigation on, and protecting the environment of, the River Mersey in the North West of England...
in 1842.
Governor of New Zealand
The first Governor of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
,
William HobsonCaptain William Hobson RN was the first Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi.-Early life:...
, died in late 1842 and the Church Missionary Society, which had a strong New Zealand presence, suggested FitzRoy as his successor. He took up his new task in December 1843.
It was probably an impossible job. His instructions were to maintain order and protect the
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
, while satisfying the land hunger of the settlers pouring into the country. He was given very few military resources, and Government revenue, mainly from customs duties, was woefully inadequate.
One of his first tasks was to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the Wairau Massacre. He found the actions of the Colonists to have been illegal and wisely declined to take any action against
Te RauparahaTe Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough.- Early days :At some time around 1815,...
, wisely because he did not have the troops to meet him on anything like equal terms. However, this left the
New Zealand CompanyThe New Zealand Company originated in 1839 in London with the aim of promoting the "systematic" colonisation of New Zealand. The Company intended to follow the colonising principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere...
and the settlers feeling betrayed and angry. One outcome was the appointment of a Government Superintendent for the area, establishing a ruling presence. He also insisted that the New Zealand Company pay the Māori a realistic price for the land they claimed to have purchased. These moves made him very unpopular.
Land sales were a continuing vexatious issue. The settlers were eager to buy land and some Māori were willing to sell, but under the provisions of the
Treaty of WaitangiThe Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on February 6, 1840, by representatives of the British Crown, and various Māori chiefs from the northern North Island of New Zealand. The Treaty established a British governor in New Zealand, recognised Māori ownership of their lands and other...
, land sales could only happen with the Government as an intermediary, and were thus extremely slow. FitzRoy changed the rules to allow settlers to purchase Māori land directly, subject to a duty of ten shillings per acre ($2.50 per hectare).
However, land sales proved slower than expected. To meet the financial shortfall, FitzRoy raised the
customsCustoms is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of...
duties, then replaced them with
propertyProperty tax, or millage tax, is an ad valorem tax that an owner is required to pay on the value of the property being taxed. Property tax can be defined as "generally, tax imposed by municipalities upon owners of property within their jurisdiction based on the value of such property."There are...
and
income taxAn income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or business . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate tax,...
es. All these expedients failed, and before long the Colony was faced with bankruptcy and FitzRoy was forced to begin issuing
promissory noteA promissory note, referred to as a note payable in accounting, or commonly as just a "note", is a contract where one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms...
s, paper money without backing.
Meanwhile, the Māori in the far North, around the
Bay of IslandsThe Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
, who had been the first to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, were feeling increasingly sidelined and resentful of the changes that had taken place in New Zealand. To signal their resentment,
Hone HekeHone Wiremu Heke Pokai was a Māori rangatira and war leader in New Zealand. He is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War....
cut down the flagpole at Kororareka. Rather than address the problems FitzRoy had the flagpole re-erected. Hone Heke cut it down again, four times altogether; by the fourth occasion the First New Zealand War, sometimes called the
Flagstaff WarThe Flagstaff War – also known as Hone Heke's Rebellion, the Northern War and erroneously as the First Māori War – was fought between 11 March 1845 and 11 January 1846 in and around the Bay of Islands, New Zealand....
or the Northern War, was well under way.
It soon became apparent that FitzRoy did not have the resources to bring about a quick end to the war. Meanwhile, the spokesmen for the New Zealand Company were active back in
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
and FitzRoy's Governorship was presented to the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
in a very poor light. As a result, he was shortly afterwards recalled and replaced by
George GreySir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
, then Governor of South Australia. Grey was also given the backing and support that FitzRoy had needed but was denied.
Meteorology
However, FitzRoy was not disgraced. He returned to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and in September 1848 was made superintendent of the Royal Naval Dockyards at
WoolwichWoolwich is a suburb in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich is on the north side of the river. Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
and then in March 1849 was given his final sea command, the screw frigate
HMS ArrogantHMS Arrogant was a wood screw frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1848 and sold in 1867. During the period of 1848–1850 it was commanded by Robert FitzRoy. On 15 April 1854 the Arrogant was one of a number of Royal Navy ships that captured the Russian brig Patrioten. The Arrogant served...
. In 1851 he retired from active service, partly due to ill health, and in that year was elected to the
Royal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
with the support of 13 fellows including Charles Darwin.
As the protégé of
Francis BeaufortRear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, FRS, FRGS was an Irish born hydrographer and officer in Britain's Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force.-Biography:...
, he was in 1854 appointed, on the recommendation of the President of the Royal Society, as chief of a new department to deal with the collection of weather data at sea, with the title of
Meteorological Statist to the Board of Trade and a staff of three. This was the forerunner of the modern
Meteorological OfficeThe Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence. Part of the Met Office headquarters at Exeter in Devon is the Met Office College, which handles the training for internal personnel and many forecasters from around the world...
. He arranged for captains of ships to provide information, with tested instruments being loaned for this purpose, and for computation of the data collected. FitzRoy had previously developed a
storm glassA storm glass is a type of weather forecasting device, composed of a sealed glass container, filled with liquid, that allows the user to forecast the weather by observing the appearance of the liquid in the glass....
while on the
Beagle. Now he was responsible for the design and distribution of a type of barometer which on his recommendation was fixed at every port to be consulted by crews before setting to sea: stone housings for such barometers are still visible at many fishing harbours. The invention of several different types of
barometerA barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
s was attributed to him, and these became popular and continued in production into the 20th century, characteristically engraved with
Admiral FitzRoy's special remarks on interpretation, such as
"When rising: In winter the rise of the barometer presages frost".
A terrible storm in 1859 that caused the loss of the
Royal CharterThe Royal Charter was a steam clipper which was wrecked on the east coast of Anglesey on 26 October 1859. The precise number of dead is uncertain as the passenger list was lost in the wreck, but about 459 lives were lost, the highest death toll of any shipwreck on the Welsh coast...
inspired FitzRoy to develop charts to allow predictions to be made, which he called
"forecasting the weather", thus coining the term weather forecast. Fifteen land stations were established to use the new telegraph to transmit to him daily reports of weather at set times. The first daily weather forecasts were published in
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
in 1860, and in the following year a system was introduced of hoisting storm warning cones at the principal ports when a gale was expected. The
"Weather Book" which he published in 1863 was far in advance of the scientific opinion of the time.
The storm also caused the Crown to distribute
storm glassA storm glass is a type of weather forecasting device, composed of a sealed glass container, filled with liquid, that allows the user to forecast the weather by observing the appearance of the liquid in the glass....
es, then known as "FitzRoy's storm barometers," to many small fishing communities around the British Isles.
http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/2004/05/07.php
Unfortunately, many fishing fleet owners objected to gale warnings, requiring that fleets not leave the ports and under this pressure, FitzRoy's system was abandoned for a short time after his death. The fishing fleet owners reckoned without the pressure of the normal fishermen, for whom FitzRoy had been a hero, responsible for saving many lives and the system was reinstated shortly thereafter.
The Origin of Species
When
The Origin of SpeciesCharles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published Thursday, 24 November 1859, is a seminal work of scientific literature considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in...
was published FitzRoy apparently felt betrayed, and guilty for his part in the theory's development. He was in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
on 30 June 1860 to present a paper on storms and attended the meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between scientific workers...
at which
Samuel WilberforceSamuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day. The nickname derives from a comment by Benjamin Disraeli that the Bishop's manner was "unctuous, oleaginous,...
attacked Darwin's theory. During the debate FitzRoy, seen as "a grey haired Roman nosed elderly gentleman", stood in the centre of the audience and "lifting an immense Bible first with both and afterwards with one hand over his head, solemnly implored the audience to believe God rather than man". As he admitted that
The Origin of Species had given him "acutest pain", the crowd shouted him down.
Suicide
FitzRoy retired in 1863, having been promoted by reason of seniority to vice-admiral. He suffered from
depressionIn psychology and psychiatry, depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity. While most often described as a disease or dysfunction, there are also strong arguments for seeing depression as an adaptive defense mechanism....
and in 1865 died as a result of
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
, using a
razorA razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the shaving off of unwanted body hair.- Early razors :Razors have been identified from many Bronze Age cultures. These were made of bronze or obsidian and were generally oval in shape, with a small tang protruding from one of the short ends...
in an echo of his uncle's death. His wife writes that he got out of bed one morning and went to his washroom. That was when he committed suicide.
Robert FitzRoy is buried in the front church yard of All Saints Church in Upper Norwood, London.
Family
Robert FitzRoy was married twice.
In 1836 he married Mary Henrietta O'Brien, they had four children:
- Emily-Unah
- Fanny
- Katherine
- Robert O'Brien
In 1854 after the death of his first wife, he married Maria Isabella Smyth, in London. They had one daughter, Laura Elizabeth.
Legacy
FitzRoy died having exhausted his entire fortune (£6,000, the equivalent of £400,000 today) on public expenditure. When this came to light, in order to prevent his wife and daughter living in destitution, his friend and colleague
Bartholomew SulivanSir Bartholomew James Sulivan was a British sailor and hydrographer, born at Tregew, Flushing, near Falmouth, Cornwall.He was a leading advocate of the value of nautical surveying in relation to naval operations...
began an Admiral FitzRoy Testimonial Fund which succeeded in getting the government to pay back £3,000 of this sum (
DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
contributed a further £100). Queen Victoria gave the special favour of allowing his widow and daughter the use of apartments at
Hampton Court PalaceHampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London; it has not been lived in by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
, until her death.
Mount Fitz Roy (
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
–
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, at the extreme south of the continent) was named after him by the Argentine scientist and explorer
Francisco MorenoFrancisco Pascacio Moreno was anArgentine explorer, born in Buenos Aires. He is usually referred to as Perito Moreno...
. It is high. The aboriginals had not named it, and used the word
ChalténChaltén has several meanings:*Cerro Chaltén - a mount in Patagonia, Argentina/Chile border, also known as Cerro FitzRoy*El Chaltén - a little village near Cerro FitzRoy also sometimes called Cerro ChalténMore info about El Chaltén: http://www.guiachalten.com...
(meaning smoking mountain) for other peaks as well.
Fitzroy RiverThe Fitzroy River is located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.-Discovery:The Fitzroy River was discovered by the West in 1837 by George Grey in the H.M.S. Beagle. The river was subsequently named by Lt J L Stokes on 26/2/1838 after Captain Robert FitzRoy R.N...
, in northern Western Australia, was named after him by Lieutenant
John Lort StokesAdmiral John Lort Stokes, RN was an officer in the Royal Navy who travelled on HMS Beagle for close to eighteen years.Stokes grew up in Scotchwell near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. He joined the Navy on 20 September 1824...
who, at the time, commanded HMS
Beagle (previously commanded by FitzRoy). The impressive
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
n conifer
Fitzroya cupressoidesFitzroya is a monotypic genus in the cypress family Cupressaceae with a single species, Fitzroya cupressoides native to the Andes mountains of southern Chile and Argentina, where it is an important member of the Valdivian temperate rain forests...
is named after him as well as the
Delphinus fitzroyi, a species of
dolphinDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly...
discovered by Darwin during his voyage aboard the
Beagle.
Fitzroy, Falkland IslandsFitzroy is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland. It is divided into Fitzroy North and Fitzroy South.It is named after Robert FitzRoy who sailed with Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle, andis on the inlet known as Port Pleasant....
is also named after him.
A memorial to FitzRoy is constructed atop the Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens on
Isla NavarinoIsla Navarino is a Chilean island located strategically between Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, to the north, and Cape Horn, to the south. The island forms part of the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, the southernmost commune in Chile and in the world, belonging to Antártica Chilena Province in the XII...
in
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
,
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
.. It was presented in his bicentenary (2005) and commemorates his 23 January 1833 landing on Wulaia Cove. Another memorial presented also in FitzRoy's bicentenary commemorates his
Cape HornCape Horn island is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile....
landing on 19 April 1830.
On 4 February 2002, when the
shipping forecast sea areaThe Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the UK Meteorological Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
Finisterre was renamed to avoid confusion with the Spanish peninsula of the
same nameright|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
, the new name chosen by the UK's Meteorological Office was "FitzRoy", in honour of their founder.
In 2005, a novel entitled
This Thing of Darkness by
Harry ThompsonHarry William Thompson was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer.-Early life:...
was published. The basis for the novel's plot was the lives of FitzRoy, Darwin and others connected with the Beagle expeditions, following them between the years of 1828 and 1865. It was a nominee on the long list for the 2005
Man Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe...
(although Thompson died in November 2005).
Fitzroy has been commemorated by the Fitzroy Building at the
University of PlymouthThe University of Plymouth is the largest university in the southwest of England, with over 30,000 students and is the fifth largest UK university based on student population....
, used by the School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Science.
External links