Person

McCormick, Robert (1800 - 1890)

Born
22 July 1800
Runham, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Died
28 October 1890
Wimbledon, Surrey, United Kingdom
Occupation
Geologist, Naval officer and Surgeon

Summary

Robert McCormick, a naval officer, was appointed Surgeon in HMS Erebus on the British Antarctic Expedition. Prior to this he had participated in two Arctic expeditions and was briefly on HMS Beagle. For the Expedition he was responsible for collecting zoological and geological specimens. On its return to London, these collections were deposited in the British Museum. In addition, McCormick's personal geological collection from the Expedition was bequeathed to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1890. Unlike the Expedition's botanical specimens, McCormick's geological collections received little attention for nearly 50 years. He was placed on the Navy's retired list in 1865, and is commemorated in Cape McCormick in Victoria Land, Antarctica.

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Details

Chronology

1822
Education - Qualified in medicine, Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, London
1827
Career position - Assistant Surgeon, HMS Hecla expedition to Spitsbergen under W. E. Parry
December 1831 - April 1832
Career position - Surgeon-Naturalist, HMS Beagle
19 September 1839 - 4 September 1843
Career position - Surgeon, HMS Erebus, British Antarctic Expedition
1865
Career event - Placed on the retired list of the Royal Navy

Related Cultural Objects

Related Events

Published resources

Books

  • McCormick, R., Voyages of discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic seas, and around the world, vol. 1-2 (London: Longman, 1884). Details

Journal Articles

  • Jones, A. G. E., 'Robert M'Cormick, Deputy Inspector-General Royal Navy', Great circle, 4 (1982), 84-91. Details
  • Keevil, J. J., 'Robert McCormick, R.N.: the stormy petrel of naval medicine', Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, 29 (1943), 36-62. Details
  • McCormick, R., 'Geological remarks on Kerguelen's Land', Tasmanian journal of natural science, 1 (1841), 27-34. Details
  • Stone, Philip, 'Robert McCormick's geological collections from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, 1839 - 1843', Archives of natural history, 47 (1) (2020), 147-65. Details

See also

  • George, Alex S., Australian botanist's companion (Kardinya, W.A.: Four Gables Press, 2009), 671 pp. Details
  • Palin, Michael, Erebus: the story of a ship (London: Arrow Books, 2018), 334 pp. Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 30 November 2021

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