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

William Gibson

William Gibson

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Frederick Hornby

Frederick Hornby

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
John Diggle

John Diggle

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Charles Coombs

Charles Coombs

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
James Augustus Grant

James Augustus Grant

Explorer. born Nairn, Scotland.

Person, Exploring, Africa, Scotland

1 memorial

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Thomas Adolphus Trollope

Thomas Adolphus Trollope

Author.  Born 16 Keppel Street, younger brother to Anthony.

Person, Literature

1 memorial
Sir Keith Park

Sir Keith Park

Air Chief Marshal.  Born New Zealand.  Working in the NZ merchant navy when WW1 came along.  Volunteered first for the NZ navy but transferred and worked for a time in the British army.  On being w...

Person, Armed Forces, Argentina, New Zealand

1 memorial
Sir Thomas More

Sir Thomas More

Born Milk Street. In conflict with Henry VIII over religion he was imprisoned in the tower, found guilty of treason and beheaded on Tower Hill. Final words: "The King's good servant, but God's Firs...

Person, Execution, Literature, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous

16 memorials
Nelson - SW19

Nelson - SW19

SW19, Merton Road, Nelson Gardens

"The death" to which this inscription refers is Nelson's, so the gift was made on 21 October 1905 though the gardens were not opened unti...

4 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
A. F. Rouse

A. F. Rouse

R.A.M.C.. Fought but did not die in WW1

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial