John Richardson
Richardson, John
Born Nov. 5, 1787, in Dumfries, Scotland; died June 5, 1865, in Grasmere, England. Scottish explorer of the Canadian arctic; physician.
From 1819 to 1822 and from 1825 to 1827, Richardson was a member of J. Franklin’s expeditions. In 1826, while leading a party eastward by sea from Mackenzie Bay, he discovered a part of the northern coast of North America, measuring more than 1,500 km in length, including Cape Parry and the Dolphin and Union Strait. In 1848 he journeyed by land along the coast from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Boothia Peninsula. Richardson was a fellow of the Royal Society (1825).