Person    | Male  Born 16/3/1774  Died 19/7/1814

Captain Matthew Flinders

Categories: Exploring

Countries: Australia

Explorer and navigator of the Australian seas. Born in Donington, Lincolnshire. Invented the Flinders Bar, a device for counteracting the vertical component of a ship's magnetic field, and gave Australia its name.

It was thought that Flinders' remains had been moved in the mid/late 1800s when additional tracks into Euston were laid over the St James Chapel graveyard in which he had been buried. Then the HS2 plans revealed that his grave probably lies "somewhere underneath what is now platform 15" at Euston Station. 2017 BorderMail reported on the chances of the HS2 dig being able to ID Flinders remains when the "biggest exhumation in British history, of more than 60,000 bodies" begins. The best chance according to the lead archaeologist will be "if they could discover an intact coffin with a metal name plate". Yes, we can see that would help. January 2019: His remains were found and identified. 9News has a short film showing the burial plaque and featuring the debate about what should happen to it.

Flinders' daughter was mother to Flinders Petrie.

October 2019: The government announced: "His final resting place will be in at the Church of St Mary and the Holy Rood in Donington, near Spalding, where he was baptised, and where many members of his family are buried. There is currently no set date for when his body will be reburied in at the church." But, May 2020, it seems the burial has not yet taken place.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Captain Matthew Flinders

Commemorated ati

Captain Matthew Flinders

London County Council Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N., 1774 - 1814, explorer ...

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Flinders statue

Unveiled by Prince William at Australia House on 18 July 2014 and installed i...

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Other Subjects

Henry Sait

Henry Sait

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Christopher Newport

Christopher Newport

Seaman. Baptised at Harwich, Essex, on 29 December 1561. He was the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of the three ships which carried settlers to found the Jamestown Settlement in 1607. I...

Person, Exploring, Indonisia, USA

1 memorial
James Hart

James Hart

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Edmund Hoar

Edmund Hoar

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
John Bridgens

John Bridgens

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

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial