Palliser, John, 1807-1887

Epithet: geographer

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001092.0x0002b5

John Palliser was born on 29 January 1817 in Dublin. In 1834, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but abandoned his studies in 1838 without taking a degree. In 1839, he received an appointment as captain in the Waterford Artillery Militia, seeing little active service before resigning his commission in 1864. During 1844, he served as High Sheriff of Waterford, later serving as Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. In 1847, he set out on a hunting expedition to North America, spending eleven months hunting on the prairies and observing the lives of Indians and fur-traders. His experiences were published in 1853 under the title Solitary rambles and adventures of a hunter in the prairies . In 1856, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the following year was appointed leader of an expedition instructed to explore a large part of British North America and to determine practicable passes across the Rocky Mountains within British territories. The expedition earned Palliser the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1859, and a CMG in 1877. He succeeded to the family estates on his father's death in November 1862, the year in which he travelled to the West Indies on a semi-official mission.

In 1868, he undertook a voyage to Svalbard in an attempt to hunt for sport but found that game had become scarce on the islands. The following year he travelled farther east with his brother, Frederick Hugh, to Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea to hunt walruses, seals and polar bears. He died on 18 August 1887 at Comragh House, Kilmacthomas, County Waterford.

From the guide to the John Palliser collection, 1869, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)