Polar Exploration

Memorial: M2366

Box interred in the vestibule of Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich containing the skeleton of one of Franklin’s officers possibly Harry Goodsir or Henry Le Vesconte

Location

Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich, London, England

Transcript

[Lid of box] 'THIS BOX CONTAINS HUMAN BONES, CONJUNCTURED TO HAVE / BEEN THE SKELETON OF THE BODY OF LIEUT. HENRY TD LE VESCONTE / OF H M SHIP EREBUS, WHO PERISHED WITH MANY OTHERS, ABOUT THE / YEAR 1848. IN THE EXPEDITION TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS COMMANDED / BY SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. THE BONES WERE FOUND BY CAPT HALL, THE / AMERICAN EXPLORER, IN KING WILLIAM LAND; AND TAKEN BY / HIM TO NEW YORK IN 1869, WHENCE THEY WERE BROUGHT TO / ENGLAND BY ADMIRAL INGLEFIELD. THEY WERE DEPOSITED HERE / BY ORDER OF THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY IN 1873.'

Details

Type: Ossuary
Position: Chapel vestibule

People

Goodsir, Harry
Age:
Date of Death: circa 1848
Cause of Death: Unknown/None
Rank / Occupation: Assistant Surgeon
Organisation: Royal Navy
Le Vesconte, Henry
Age:
Date of Death: circa 1848
Cause of Death: Unknown/None
Rank / Occupation: Lieutenant RN
Organisation: Royal Navy

Extra

Notes: Body recovered from King William Island. Moved from under stair leading to painted hall when this converted to college mess. See NMM1149/2/39. Place of burial 1939-2009 behind the altar of the College Chapel, at foot of monument to 1845 Franklin expedition members. The remains and the monument were moved to the vestibule of the Naval College Chapel in 2009 and the bones are now thought more likely to be those of Harry Goodsir.
Bibliography: S. Mays, A. Ogden, J. Montgomery, S. Vincent, W. Battersby, G.M. Taylor 'New light on the personal identification of a skeleton of a member of Sir John Franklin's last expedition to the Arctic, 1845', 'Journal of Archaeological Science' XXX (2011) 1-12.
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