Person    | Male  Born 7/11/1728  Died 14/2/1779

Captain James Cook

Maritime explorer and cartographer. Born near Middlesbrough. The first to map Newfoundland, explored around Australia and the Hawaiian Islands and made the first circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Killed in Kealakekua Bay by Hawaiian villagers during a fracas concerning the theft of one of Cook's small boats. Cook was held in high esteem by the chiefs so his body was given the same funeral rites that one of their elders would have received. It was disembowelled, baked and the bones cleaned. Following appeals from his comrades the remains were eventually returned for burial at sea.

2024: Cook has become a controversial figure, representing all the worst of imperialism. The Daily Mail reported "Captain Cook statue is sawn down in Melbourne with the words 'the colony will fall' sprayed in red on the plinth just hours before Australia Day".

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Captain James Cook

Commemorated ati

Barking Abbey

Barking Abbey Was founded by St Erkenwald in the year 666. Destroyed by the D...

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Captain Cook - E1

{Left-most panel:} He surveyed the St Lawrence River in 1759. In three voyag...

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Captain Cook - E1 plaque - gone

This terracotta-coloured plaque is now in Australia (see eHive) with one of t...

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Captain Cook - The Highway

The plaque gives Cook's address as 126 Upper Shadwell. Horward's 1799 map gi...

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Captain James Cook statue

The original inscription stopped after "New Zealand." In 1928 the British Em...

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Other Subjects

Canterbury Association

Canterbury Association

Formed to establish a colony in what is now the Canterbury region of New Zealand.

Group, Exploring, New Zealand

1 memorial
Charles F. des Voeux

Charles F. des Voeux

Role on the lost expedition: Officer on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Edward Whymper

Edward Whymper

Mountaineer and wood-engraver. Born at Lambeth Terrace, Kennington Road. He trained as a wood-engraver, producing alpine scenery drawings. He made the first ascent of many peaks in the Mont Blanc M...

Person, Exploring, Canada, France

1 memorial
Lawrence E. G. Oates

Lawrence E. G. Oates

Born Putney. Captain in the Dragoons. One of Scott's four companions who died with him, returning from the South Pole. Frost-bitten and weak he saw that he was slowing down the whole team and so, o...

Person, Exploring, Seriously Famous, Arctic & Antarctic

2 memorials
David Young

David Young

Role on the lost expedition: Boy on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial

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Sir Andrew Ramsay

Sir Andrew Ramsay

Born Glasgow. Geologist. In 1851 first Chair of Geology at the School of Mines (later Imperial College). Specialised in the geology of Arran and Wales. Died at home in Anglesey. Sir William Rams...

Person, Science, Scotland

1 memorial
St Luke's Parochial Schools

St Luke's Parochial Schools

St Luke's Old Street Conservation Plan (a pdf) refers to "History of St Luke's School" by M. Routledge, 1989, a book or leaflet, we assume.

Building, Education

6 memorials
Rotherhithe Tunnel Airshaft

Rotherhithe Tunnel Airshaft

The building contains a staircase down to the tunnel and pedestrian footpath. The photograph is of this airshaft's partner on the north bank.

Building, Engineering

1 memorial
Sheridan’s Stables

Sheridan’s Stables

Harrow Through Time by Don Walter dates this bucolic image to 1795.

Building, Animals

1 memorial
Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius

Architect. Born Walter Adolph Georg Gropius in Berlin. He founded the Bauhaus school. His door handle designs are still being made today. At the rise of Hitler he and his wife Ilse moved to London ...

Person, Architecture, Seriously Famous, Germany, USA

1 memorial