A Ph.D. thesis for the University of Syracuse, 1972 (348 pages), with related correspondence between R.T. Brown, D.H. Simpson, R.C.S. Librarian, and Dr Peter K. Mitchell of the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, 1978-1979 (1 envelope).
William Fitzwilliam Owen: hydrographer of the African coast
This material is held atRoyal Commonwealth Society Library
- Reference
- GB 115 RCS/RCMS 47
- Dates of Creation
- 1972-1979
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English .
- Physical Description
- .013 cubic metre(s) 1 volume and 1 envelope paper
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Robert Thomas Brown was born on 3 April 1943 in Gouverneur, New York. He attended the Rural Free School, Elmdale, and Dean High School, Gourverneur, before joining the State University of New York, Geneseo (B.S., 1965). Brown carried out graduate work at Syracuse University, and became a member of the History Department at the State College of Westfield, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. William Fitzwilliam Owen (1774-1857), Vice-Admiral, entered the navy in 1788, and served on ships on stations at home and in the West Indies. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1797, and was given command of the Seaflower brig in 1803, in which he travelled to the West Indies. Owen explored the Maldive Islands during 1806, and that year discovered the Seaflower Channel off the coast of Sumatra. He fought against the Dutch in the East Indies, and was captured and held by the French from 1808 to 1810. After his release Owen enjoyed successive promotions before returning to England in 1813. He surveyed the Canadian lakes, 1815-1816, and the west and east African coasts, 1821-1826, and in 1827 he settled a colony at Fernando Po. Owen was made Vice-Admiral in 1854. He died on 3 November 1857 at St John's, N.B.
Access Information
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Acquisition Information
Presented by Robert Thomas Brown, 1979.
Note
Includes index.
Other Finding Aids
Additional Information
This collection level description was created by RAS using information from the original typescript catalogue. The biographical history was compiled with reference to the entry on William Fitzwilliam Owen in Sidney Lee, ed., 'Dictionary of national biography', vol. XIV (London, 1909), p. 1352.
Brown, Robert Thomas, b 1943, historian