National Bodies: Robert Southey's Life of Nelson and John Franklin's Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea

2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-448
Author(s):  
Jen Hill
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Stark Contrast

This essay investigates the Arctic as an important, if unlikely, location for the formation of a British national and imperial masculinity in the early nineteenth century. Robert Southey's Life of Nelson (1813) established the national naval hero's heroic masculinity as Arctic in origin, revealing the utility of the Arctic in making British character legible. Perceived as unpopulated and "blank," Arctic geography stood in stark contrast to populated,torrid regions of the colonized tropics. The essay concludes with an examination of John Franklin's best-selling Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea(1823). This account of hardship, imperiled bodies, and cannibalism in an uncertain geography would appear to contradict Southey's claims. Yet despite the expedition's failures, Franklin's narrative only augments public perception of the Arctic as a proving ground for a British masculinity uniquely suited to imperial projects.

An early nineteenth century meteorological register from the eastern Canadian Arctic

Polar Record ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (178) ◽  
pp. 335-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Kay
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Northwest Passage ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Modern Experience ◽  
Eastern Canadian Arctic

AbstractSignificant warming in the Arctic is anticipated for doubled-CO2 scenarios, but temperatures in the eastern Canadian Arctic have not yet exhibited that trend in the last few decades. The spatial juxtaposition of the winter station in 1822–1823 of William Edward Parry's Northwest Passage expedition with the modern Igloolik Research Centre of the Science Institute of the Northwest Territories affords an opportunity for historical reconstruction and comparison. Parry's data are internally consistent. The association of colder temperatures with westerly and northerly winds, and wanner temperatures with easterly and southerly winds, is statistically significant. Temperatures are not exactly comparable between the two time periods because of differences in instrumentation, exposure, and frequency of readings. Nevertheless, in 1822–1823, November and December appear to have been cold and January to March mild compared to modern experience. Anomalously, winds were more frequently northerly (and less frequently westerly) in the latter months than in recent observations. Parry recorded two warm episodes in mid-winter, but, overall, it appears that the winter of 1822–1823 was not outside the range of modern experience.

Showers: from a violent treatment to an agent of cleansing

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-76
Author(s):  
Stephanie C Cox ◽  
Clare Hocking ◽  
Deborah Payne
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Stark Contrast

In the early nineteenth century, physicians designed the first manufactured showers for the purpose of curing the insane. Sustained falls of cold water were prescribed to cool hot, inflamed brains, and to instil fear to tame impetuous wills. By the middle of the century showers had appeared in both asylums and prisons, but shower-related deaths led to their decline. Rather than being abandoned, however, the shower was transformed by the use of warm water to economically wash the skins of prison and asylum populations. In stark contrast to an involuntary, deliberately unpleasant treatment, by the end of the century the shower was a desirable product for the improvement of personal hygiene and population health.

The painting of the Arctic explorer Captain W. E. Parry (1790–1855) at Crosthwaite, near Kendal, Cumbria

Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-279
Author(s):  
Robert G. David
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Northwest Passage

ABSTRACTResearch following the discovery of a picture of William Edward Parry painted onto wooden boards in the stairwell of a house in Cumbria, has resulted in the identification of the probable artist. It has also been possible to show that this painting was a copy of an engraving of Parry that was published in The European Magazine and London Review, and which was based on a portrait by Samuel Drummond. It is suggested that the new picture was probably painted between 1821 and 1823, and the fact that it was painted in a small provincial community reflects the reach of the early nineteenth century media and the significance of the search for the northwest passage for the country at large.

scholarly journals Arctic marine climate of the early nineteenth century

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-61
Author(s):  
P. Brohan ◽  
C. Ward ◽  
G. Willetts ◽  
C. Wilkinson ◽  
R. Allan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ice Coverage ◽  
Proxy Reconstructions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Marine Climate

Abstract. The climate of the early nineteenth century is likely to have been significantly cooler than that of today, as it was a period of low solar activity (the Dalton minimum) and followed a series of large volcanic eruptions. Proxy reconstructions of the temperature of the period do not agree well on the size of the temperature change, so other observational records from the period are particularly valuable. Weather observations have been extracted from the reports of the noted whaling captain William Scoresby Jr., and from the records of a series of Royal Navy expeditions to the Arctic, preserved in the UK National Archives. They demonstrate that marine climate in 1810–25 was marked by consistently cold summers, with abundant sea-ice. But although the period was significantly colder than the modern average, there was a lot of variability: in the Greenland Sea the summers following the Tambora eruption (1816 and 1817) were noticeably warmer, and had lower sea-ice coverage, than the years immediately preceding them; and the sea-ice coverage in Lancaster Sound in 1819 and 1820 was low even by modern standards.

scholarly journals Imperial Vision in the Arctic: Fleeting Looks and Pleasurable Distractions in Barker’s Panorama and Shelley’s Frankenstein

2009 ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Laurie Garrison
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Popular Press ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Frame Narrative ◽  
Arctic Exploration

Abstract The early nineteenth century saw a rebirth of British arctic exploration and the enthusiasm inspired by these new, seemingly benign imperial endeavors spread quickly and thoroughly through the popular press. One of the most popular media for conveying the news and results of imperial projects was Barker’s panorama in Leicester Square. This medium encouraged a form of vision that was particularly conducive to garnering public support; the overwhelmingly large and meticulously detailed canvases caused the viewer to engage in a swift, haphazard form of looking that conveniently drew focus away from all the potential violations of people, landscape and property implied in exploration of regions such as the Arctic. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, published just before the exhibition of Barker’s first arctic panorama, presents a critique of this form of vision in the arctic frame narrative, which is plagued by Captain Walton’s continually distracted looks.

scholarly journals Arctic marine climate of the early nineteenth century

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Brohan ◽  
C. Ward ◽  
G. Willetts ◽  
C. Wilkinson ◽  
R. Allan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sea Ice ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ice Coverage ◽  
Proxy Reconstructions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Marine Climate

Abstract. The climate of the early nineteenth century is likely to have been significantly cooler than that of today, as it was a period of low solar activity (the Dalton minimum) and followed a series of large volcanic eruptions. Proxy reconstructions of the temperature of the period do not agree well on the size of the temperature change, so other observational records from the period are particularly valuable. Weather observations have been extracted from the reports of the noted whaling captain William Scoresby Jr., and from the records of a series of Royal Navy expeditions to the Arctic, preserved in the UK National Archives. They demonstrate that marine climate in 1810–1825 was marked by consistently cold summers, with abundant sea-ice. But although the period was significantly colder than the modern average, there was considerable variability: in the Greenland Sea the summers following the Tambora eruption (1816 and 1817) were noticeably warmer, and had less sea-ice coverage, than the years immediately preceding them; and the sea-ice coverage in Lancaster Sound in 1819 and 1820 was low even by modern standards.

John Lloyd Williams (1854–1945): profile of a Snowdonian botanist

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Dewi Jones
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Plant Physiology ◽  
Marine Algae ◽  
Plant Distribution ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Major Study ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Late Nineteenth

John Lloyd Williams was an authority on the arctic-alpine flora of Snowdonia during the late nineteenth century when plant collecting was at its height, but unlike other botanists and plant collectors he did not fully pursue the fashionable trend of forming a complete herbarium. His diligent plant-hunting in a comparatively little explored part of Snowdonia led to his discovering a new site for the rare Killarney fern (Trichomanes speciosum), a feat which was considered a major achievement at the time. For most part of the nineteenth century plant distribution, classification and forming herbaria, had been paramount in the learning of botany in Britain resulting in little attention being made to other aspects of the subject. However, towards the end of the century many botanists turned their attention to studying plant physiology, a subject which had advanced significantly in German laboratories. Rivalry between botanists working on similar projects became inevitable in the race to be first in print as Lloyd Williams soon realized when undertaking his major study on the cytology of marine algae.

A history of some fruit models in wax and other materials: scientific teaching aids and courtly table decorations

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-JüRgen Lechtreck
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Teaching Aids ◽  
Scientific Teaching ◽  
Glass Marble ◽  
History Of ◽  
By Products ◽  
Wax Models

Two early nineteenth century texts treating the production and use of wax models of fruit reveal the history of these objects in the context of courtly decoration. Both sources emphasise the models' decorative qualities and their suitability for display, properties which were not simply by-products of the realism that the use of wax allowed. Thus, such models were not regarded merely as visual aids for educational purposes. The artists who created them sought to entice collectors of art and natural history objects, as well as teachers and scientists. Wax models of fruits are known to have been collected and displayed as early as the seventeenth century, although only one such collection is extant. Before the early nineteenth century models of fruits made from wax or other materials (glass, marble, faience) were considered worthy of display because contemporaries attached great importance to mastery of the cultivation and grafting of fruit trees. This skill could only be demonstrated by actually showing the fruits themselves. Therefore, wax models made before the early nineteenth century may also be regarded as attempts to preserve natural products beyond the point of decay.

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