Barrow, SIR JOHN

Barrow, SIR JOHN, was born of humble parentage at Dragley Beek, Lancashire, in 1764, and educated at Ulverston. Having for three years been timekeeper in a Liverpool iron-foundry, he made a voyage (1781) on a Greenland whaler, and after his return taught mathematics in a school at Greenwich. In 1792 he received the post of private secretary to Lord Macartney, ambassador to China; and he availed himself of his residence in China to learn the Chinese language, and to collect valuable materials, which he afterwards gave to the world, partly in articles in the Quarterly Review, and partly in his Travels in China (1804). When in 1797 Lord Macartney became governor of Cape Colony, Barrow made extensive excursions in the interior, which he described in his still valuable Travels in Southern Africa (1803). In 1804 he was appointed by Lord Melville secretary to the Admiralty, which situation he retained till 1845, except for a short time in 1806. Barrow also published A Voyage to Cochin-China (1806), The Life of Macartney (1807), A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions (1818), Voyages of Arctic Discovery (1846), besides a series of lives of naval worthies. Under Peel's ministry, in 1835, he received a baronetcy. In 1845 he retired from public service, and he died in London, 23d November 1848. He rendered signal service to geographical science by suggesting and promoting Arctic expeditions; and Barrow Strait, Cape Barrow, and Point Barrow preserve his memory. He may also be claimed as the founder of the Geographical Society (1830), of which he was vice-president till his death. See his Autobiography (1847), and the Memoir by Staunton (1852).