Manila folder labelled 'Dumont d'Urville London'

Containers:

Box 4 (MS Acc22.020)

Component identifier:

File 71

Content Summary:

While preparing for his final voyage, Dumont d'Urville visited London. He arrived on 26 April 1837 and would remain for ten days buying books and maps, but also seeking out British mariners familiar with Antarctic waters. One fruitful meeting took place on the evening of 1 May, when he dined with the Raleigh Club (probably at the Thatched House Restaurant, in St James Street). This club, founded in 1826 by Sir Arthur Capell Brooke (1791–1858), was the parent organisation of the Geographical Society of London (later the Royal Geographical Society), established in 1830.

The folder contains an email from Pauline McGregor Currien [Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England] to her cousin Edward Duyker dated 21 February 2008, alerting him to a reference to Dumont d'Urville as a guest of the Raleigh Club on 1 May 1837, in the book History of the Geographical Club by James Marshall-Cornwall (page 14). The folder also contains historical notes on St James Street and Luc Frédéric Antoine Malcor's transcription of d'Urville's poem 'Au peuple anglais', photocopied by Duyker in 2016.

Immediate source of acquisition:

This collection was acquired from Edward Duyker in multiple instalments from 1996 to 2022.

Subjects:

Exploration
History

Access and use