Surgeons Hall Museums and The Famous Franklin Expedition

Come in from the cold this winter and join Surgeons Hall Museums for our new series of bite sized lunch time talks.

In this lunch time talk the Museums Research Fellow professor Ken Donaldson will discuss the famous Franklin Expedition and its link with Surgeons Hall Museum.

For the short period between 1853 and 1855, and following in the footsteps of his brother John, Harry Goodsir was the Conservator of the Museums of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His term was short because he volunteered as naturalist to join the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to discover the North West Passage across the Canadian Arctic, no doubt hoping to emulate the fame and success that came to Charles Darwin following his stint as naturalist on board HMS Beagle on its 5 year trip around the world. Sadly, the entire expedition of 219 crew members all died, but their fate has been pieced together and makes a fascinating story.