Richard Julius Cyriax was born in 1885 in Canonbury. He was educated at University College School, University College London and St Mary's Hospital, graduating in 1908 and qualifying as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians with the department of Public Health in 1917. In 1920, he entered the public health service as assistant tuberculosis officer for the Warwickshire and Coventry Joint Committee for Tuberculosis in Nuneaton, later moving to Leamington Spa. Interested from an early age in the ill-fated British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin), Cyriax became a leading authority on the subject, publishing his book Sir John Franklin's last expedition; a chapter in the history of the Royal Navy in 1939. Retiring as tuberculosis officer of the South Warwickshire Hospital Group in 1951, he died on 16 January 1967 at Leamington Spa.
From the guide to the Richard Cyriax collection, 1937-1944, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
