John Barrow

a.k.a. Sir John Barrow

Author Code: ESJB

Educated only to the age of 13 at a local school, Barrow began working as a clerk in an iron foundry in Liverpool. At 16, he went to sea for a time, visiting among other areas, Greenland. Naturally gifted in mathematics, he then taught at a school in Greenwich. In 1792, he was appointed secretary to Sir George Staunton and accompanied the Macartney expedition to China. In 1797, he explored the interior of South Africa and subsequently published Travels Into the Interior of South Africa in 1801. Returning to England in 1804, Barrow was appointed Second Secretary of the Admiralty and began a 40-year career in civil service. He was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. In 1835, he received a baronetcy from Sir Robert Peel. He retired in 1845 and over his remaining years wrote a history of Arctic voyages and his autobiography. Today, he is best-remembered for his factual account of the mutiny on HMS Bounty (The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty: Its Cause and Consequence - 1831), which is still the definitive standard on the subject. His other works include China (1804), Lord Macartney (1807), Description of Pitcairn Island and Its Inhabitants (1838), Lord Howe (1838), Lord Anson (1839), Memoir of the Life of Peter the Great (1839) and his autobiography (1847).