Robert Dawes Aldrich was born in 1808. Joining the Royal Navy in 1824, he was promoted to mate in 1830 and lieutenant in 1842. He served as first lieutenant in HMS Resolute on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-1851 (leader Horatio Austin), sent by the Admiralty to search for Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage expedition. In early October 1850, Aldrich participated in a sledging programme to lay depots on Somerville Island in preparation for a major search by sledge the following year. The following spring, he travelled by sledge to Bathurst Island, examining part of the island's west coast before proceeding north to explore the western coasts of the small islands as far as Cape Aldrich. Retiring as a captain in 1860, he died in 1891.
From the guide to the Robert Dawes Aldrich collection, 1857, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
