Charles Richard Weld collection

The collection comprises of correspondence by Weld to Jane, Lady Franklin regarding the search for her husband and the missing British Naval Northwest passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (led by Sir John Franklin)

Charles Richard Weld was born in 1813 in Windsor. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not complete his degree, moving to London in 1839 to take up an appointment as secretary to the Statistical Society. After completing his studies at the Middle Temple, he was called to the bar in 1844. The following year, he was appointed assistant secretary and librarian to the Royal Society, publishing his History of the Royal Society with memoirs of the Presidents in 1848. Weld was an authority on polar matters, assisting Sir John Franklin in his research for his Arctic expeditions, and providing advice for those engaged in the search for Franklin's ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition. Resigning from the Royal Society in 1861, he became a partner in a publishing business with Lovell Reeve. In 1862, he was appointed manager of the philosophical department of the International Exhibition, also serving as district superintendent of the exhibition. He died on 15 January 1869 at New Bridge Hill, near Bath.

Published work Arctic expeditions, a lecture by Charles Richard Weld, John Murray London (1850) SPRI Library Shelf (3)91(091)[Arctic history of exploration] The search for Sir John Franklin. A lecture delivered at the Russell Institution, January 15, 1851 by Charles Richard Weld, Richard Bentley London (1851) SPRI Library Shelf (41)91(091)[1847-1859 Franklin search]

The correspondence with Lady Franklin is arranged chronologically

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Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Arctic, exploration and development c500 BC to 1915, an encyclopaedia by Clive Holland Garland Publishing, London (1994) and Exploring Polar Frontiers, a historical encyclopaedia by William Mills San Diego and Oxford, 2003 and Dictionary of National Biography volume 60, Smith, Elder & Co. London (1899)

Clive Holland Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Garland Publishing New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.

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