Fitzroy

Fitzroy, Robert, naval officer, surveyor, and meteorologist, was second son of Lord Charles Fitzroy, and was born in 1805. He entered the navy in 1819, and became commander in 1828, captain in 1834, retired rear-admiral in 1857, and retired vice-admiral in 1863. From 1828 to 1836 he commanded the Beagle, in which, during part of the time, Charles Darwin was naturalist. In-1841 he published A Narrative of a Ten Years' Vogage of Discovery Round the World, in collaboration with Capt. P. P. King, R.N.; and in the same year was elected M.P. for Durham. From 1843 to 1845 he was Governor of New Zealand. Subsequently, as meteorological statist to the Board of Trade, he elaborated a system of barometrical theories and storm-signals, now almost universally adopted; but after he had published his Weather Book his reason gave way, owing to overwork, and in 1865 he committed suicide.