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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Show all 9

Other Subjects

David McDonald

David McDonald

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
F. R. M. Crozier

F. R. M. Crozier

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
William Rhodes

William Rhodes

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Captain Robert Scott

Captain Robert Scott

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Person, Armed Forces, Exploring, Arctic & Antarctic

4 memorials
Thomas Terry

Thomas Terry

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial

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John Thackeray

John Thackeray

Philanthropist. He was a wealthy benefactor, particularly to Lewisham and Christ's Hospital, where he had attended school. In 1840 he built and endowed the almshouses in Lewisham which bear his nam...

Person, Philanthropy

1 memorial
London's Burning!

London's Burning!

EC3, Monument Street

The etching seems to be of late 17th century date but, like Discovering London, we cannot find it on the web so cannot name the artist. ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Trooper Alexander Swan Jones

Trooper Alexander Swan Jones

Alexander Swan Jones was born on 1 November 1907 in Liverpool, Lancashire, the second of the three children of Oliver Parker Jones (1877-1940) and Ann Jones née Swan (1879-1956). His birth was regi...

Person, Armed Forces, Iran/Persia

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Sir Michael Kerr

Sir Michael Kerr

Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in December 1989.

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Normansfield Asylum

Normansfield Asylum

See Lost Hospitals of London for an excellent history of this hospital. Briefly: The White House, a mansion with 5 acres of grounds, was built in 1866.  Dr Langdon Down and his wife Mary bought it ...

Group, Children, Medicine

1 memorial