Notes on the Barrow Collection of Arctic Equipment

Abstract

SIR JOHN BARROW, one of the founders of the R.G.S., was born in 1764 and died in 1848. He served as Second Secretary of the Admiralty between 1804 and 1845, and during that time did much to further Arctic exploration. Sir John had four sons, the second of whom, John (1808-98), followed his father to the Admiralty and became Keeper of the Records. He has frequently been confused with his father by subsequent writers and even by some of his contemporaries. He served in the Admiralty from 1825 to 1857, and during this time acquired his father's interest in Arctic exploration; probably he contributed to the results more than any other man not actually employed on the expeditions. The leaders of these expeditions, having received much personal attention from Col. Barrow, one and all felt desirous of evincing their esteem for him by bringing home some memorial of the places they visited, and which they knew would be interesting to him. l Thus came into being a valuable collection of objects illustrating both the material culture of the Eskimo and the equipment of British Arctic explorers of the period. The younger Barrow was an enthusiastic correspondent with all his Arctic friends, and a large number of their letters are preserved in the British Museum Library.2 These letters are from officers of all ranks and from civilians who took part in the various Arctic expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin. Most of them were written during Colonel Barrow's official connection with the Admiralty, but they are all addressed to him in his private capacity and many are of a confidential nature. Almost all of them pour out thanks for Colonel Barrow's kind attentions to the writers and to their families in their absence. A typical one, from Robert Anderson of H.M.S. Enterprise, dated 20 May 1855, runs: All the officers appreciate well the kind interest you have taken in them when they were away and sequestered from the world. ... I understand you have an Arctic Collection in your family. If you have any gaps which I can fill up I shall be most happy to send you anything I possess. Please have no hesitation in naming whatever you want. The collection was exhibited at Ulverstone in Lancashire (Barrow's native town), and later at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London. In 1855 it was pre? sented to the Ethnographic Department of the British Museum. The collec? tion thus transferred contained 624 items which were later catalogued by W. Parker Snow. Thirty-six of these items were personal relics of the exploring expeditions, and, not being of special ethnographic interest, these have recently been passed on to the R.G.S., where they are now on exhibition. The present notes are intended as a catalogue of this smaller collection which is mainly composed of scale models illustrating the detail of early