Mccormick, Robert

Epithet: naval surgeon

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000220.0x000105

Robert McCormick was born on 22 July 1800 at Runham, Norfolk, the son of a naval surgeon. He studied medicine at Guy's and St Thomas's hospitals in London, becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1822. He entered the Royal Navy the following year as an assistant surgeon in the flagship HMS Queen Charlotte, serving in the Caribbean until 1825 when he was invalided home after contracting yellow fever. He first travelled to the Arctic in 1827 when he was appointed assistant surgeon in HMS Hecla on the British Naval North Polar Expedition (leader William Edward Parry), sent by the Admiralty to attempt to reach the North Pole from Svalbard using boats fitted with sledge runners. McCormick was not a member of the polar party, remaining in Spitsbergen to study the plants, animals and geology of the region. On his return to England, he was promoted to the rank of surgeon, later resuming duty in the Caribbean, but was invalided home in 1830 and again in 1834.

In 1839, McCormick was appointed surgeon and naturalist in HMS Erebus on the British Naval Expedition, 1839-1843 (leader James Clark Ross), sent by the Admiralty to conduct a series of magnetic observations in the southern hemisphere and to locate and reach the South Magnetic Pole if possible. On his return from the expedition, he was elected honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1844 and the following year was appointed surgeon to the yacht HMS William and Mary, later transferring to the Woolwich Dockyard.

McCormick returned to the Arctic on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader William Pullen), as surgeon in HMS North Star, the store ship for the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader Sir Edward Belcher). Between August and September 1852, he explored the Wellington Channel in Forlorn Hope, mapping the east side of the channel and establishing the probability of a connection between Baring Bay and Jones Sound. His narrative of the boat journey was published on his return in 1854.

In 1859, McCormick was promoted deputy inspector-general of hospitals and fleets, a post he held until his retirement in 1865. His account of the three expeditions was published in two volumes in 1884. He died on 25 October 1890 at Wimbledon.

Published work Voyages of discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic seas, and round the world... by Robert McCormick, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington London (1884) SPRI Library Shelf (2)91(091)[pub.1884] Narrative of a boat expedition in the Wellington Channel in the year 1852, under the command of R McCormick in Forlorn Hope in search of Sir John Franklin by Robert McCormick, Eyre and Spottiswoode London (1854) SPRI Library Shelf (41)91(08)[1852-1854 Belcher]

From the guide to the Robert McCormick collection, 1884, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)