h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Dr. John Rae, Arctic Explorer. - A6069152
Author: Frenchbean with 6 <star>s Don't mess with me, I'm SuperBean - U236943

The Bean is back

This has turned into a bit of a whopping entry. John Rae fascinates me and I think it's about time I put the record straight - especially as I wrote the entry on the Franklin Expedition!

Please Peer and all comments will be most welcome.


Six Frenchbean

By the way, if anybody can point me in the direction of a good online map of Hudson's Bay with places like Moose Factory and Rae Strait on it, I'd be grateful. I've looked, but no joy so far.

I've never heard of this chap before. Thanks for filling me in.

I can't suggest any additional material, or any amendments, beyond the inclusion of dates in the heading. That's not essential.

Ivan.

I thought about dates in the title, but didn't want to make it too long

Fair enough.

I don't know about any maps in particular, but you can always check out the 'atlas' on the Canadian government's website:

http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/maps/index.html

Hi, Frenchbean!

This is a wonderful entry--entertaining, informative, well organised and highly readable.

I remember seeing Rae's birthplace, The Hall of Clestrain, featured on the BBC programme Restoration (not sure if it was last year or the year before.) It didn't win, but the local trust has a website at
http://www.hallofclestrain.org.uk/
and local efforts at restoration seem to be proceeding.

One little error--you refer to Lady Jane Franklin when it should be Lady Franklin. It's a very common mistake nowadays, and most people don't care anymore, but in Victorian days there was a huge difference in status between the daughter of a Duke or Earl (Lady Jane) and the wife of a knight (Lady Franklin).

It seems to be hard to get a good map of the area all right--maps of Nunavut seem to be remarkably sparse!


Azara

But isn't Lady Franklin's husband Lord Franklin? That's what he's called in the song, anyway. So oughtn't he to be a noble of some sort?

Nope, he was Sir John Franklin. I'm not sure whether he was knighted for his exploration efforts, or for being Governor of Tasmania, but he was definitely Sir John, which made his wife Lady Franklin*.

Frenchbean, I noticed looking this up that Rae was given the Gold Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1852, and an honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh University, so maybe he wasn't quite so ostracised as it might appear at first.


Azara


*Unless she was also the daughter of an Earl etc., which she wasn't.

Thanks for the Lady thing Azara I'll go and correct that later today.

I saw the Hall of Clestrain stuff on the BBC, but decided not to include it as the entry was getting so long anyway. What do you (and others) think? Should I refer to it now, as a sign that Rae is finally being recognised?

As for the Gold Founder's Medal, that was presented to him two years before he discovered what had happened to Franklin, and I suspect it would have been a different matter later.

When did he get an honorary doctorate from Edinburgh? I haven't found that in any of my reading. He received a doctorate from them in 1833 for 'proper doctoring' if you get my drift

He did receive a doctorate from McGill Uni in Montreal in 1880 - which is less surprising as the Canadians had no hang-ups about him being 'less than a gentleman'. And of course he lived there most of his life.

The implication in the bumph is that John Franklin was Knighted, along with the entirity of the rest of the crews of Terror and Erebus, posthumously - for services to exploration having found the Northwest Passage But it would be a surprise if he'd not been a K before, given that he was leading the expedition. Anyhow, I don't think I shall go into that... the entry's about Rae after all


Fb

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=402693
has scanned images of a very detailed 1933 account of Rae and his work.

It says that he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society 1880, and was given an Honorary LL.D. from Edinburgh (no date mentioned). I doubt if his original qualification from Edinburgh was an actual M.D.--I think I saw it as one of those FRCS or other four-letter things but I can't remember where. (He apparently was qualified by the age of 20!)

One interesting thing that 1933 account mentions is that Rae's expeditions were very cheap, because he was prepared to live off the land. His 1846-47 expedition apparently cost £1,400 where Parry's expedition cost over £100,000.

According to Wikipedia, Sir John Franklin was knighted by George IV in 1828. They also get Lady Franklin's title right--I'd be a bit distrustful of all the sites that refer to her as Lady Jane, since I think they may be depending on 2nd or 3rd hand info.


Azara

Your external links need to have "http://" at the start of them.

Thanks Az Your comments are well beyond the usual PR typos and pedantry Good stuff: it's nice to have somebody take such and interest and assist with the polishing

I'm kicking myself about the Lady Jane thing, cos as I was typing it I had a feeling it was wrong

I'll add various bits and pieces and let you know when I've done so.

You can tell I'm out of practice Gnomon

Thanks

Do you think that an explanation of the the significance of the Northwest Passage might be worth adding? A few sentences would be enough.

as well as showed an admirable trust --> as well as showing an admirable trust

Dr. John Rae, Arctic Explorer. --> Dr John Rae, Arctic Explorer

Okay, amendments made. I've added a para late on to cover his FRS etc.

Az - these days you can't get your FRCS (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) until you've got your MD and I assume it was the same in the 19th C. However, medical training was indeed a lot shorter. I had a great-great-grandfather who trained at Ed in 1870s and was an MD at 21! Less to learn perhaps?

I haven't mentioned the cost of the expeditions - for reasons of brevity.

I shall, however, add a link to that great Canadian Med Assocn Journal extract. What a piece of writing: very much of its time.

Fb

I thought that my comment about linking the Atlantic to the Pacific would be explanation enough? May be I should add a sentence to that

Shouldn't >Dr.< have a fullstop? It's an abbreviation after all.

Subeditors-Style says abbreviations shouldn't have full stops after them. I was under the impression that it's also standard UK usage not to put a full stop after an abbreviation where the last letter ends the word it's abbreviating (as in Dr - Doctor - or Mr - Mister). However, you should put a full stop after abbreviations that are just the first letter of the full word, eg 'M.' for Monsieur.

Thank you emr. I shall go and amend that immediately

Fb

The important thing about the Northwest Passage is that it would be a trade route to the west coast of North America that did not require going nearly all the way to the South Pole and back.