William Henry Shirreff (baptised 4 April 1785 – 1 December 1847) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer, captain of , , , and . He had six children four of whom were daughters. He had two notable daughters,

Maria Georgina Grey Maria Georgina Grey (''née'' Shirreff; 7 March 1816 – 19 September 1906), also known as Mrs William Grey, was a British educationist and writer who promoted women's education and was one of the founders of the organisation that became the ...

and

Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff (3 November 1814 – 20 March 1897) was a pioneer in the movement for the higher education of women and the development of the Froebelian principles in England. Biography Family She was born on 3 November 1814, the se ...

, who transformed the education of British women. He retired as

Rear-Admiral of the Blue The Rear-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-Admiral of the White. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and adm ...

Biography

Shirreff was born in 1785 and he joined the Royal Navy on 1 January 1796. In 1810, he married Elizabeth Murray, the oldest daughter of the lawyer and Member of Parliament David Murray, a brother of Alexander Murray, 7th Lord Elibank. From October 1812 until he invalided in July 1814, Shirreff commanded the frigate ''Barrosa'' on the coast of North America and in the West Indies. From 10 September 1817 until September 1821 he commanded ''Andromache''. When patrolling the west coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

in protection of the British interests in the region and in support of local independence movement against

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

authority in the early 19th century when he was advised by Captain William Smith about the discovery of the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

in March 1819. Later that year Shirreff chartered Smith's brig, the ''Williams'', sending Lieutenant

Edward Bransfield Edward Bransfield (c. 1785 – 31 October 1852) was an Irish sailor who became an officer in the British Royal Navy, serving as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his par ...

on board with the mission to survey and map the new lands. From January to November 1830 he was the captain of Admiral Thomas Baker's flagship the 76 gun . In 1831, he was appointed to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. He and his family lived there until 1834. One of his sons had died in 1829 and the other died whilst they were in Gibraltar.Philippa Levine, 'Grey , Maria Georgina (1816–1906)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 200
retrieved 12 Oct 2017
/ref> Shirreff was promoted in 1846 to

Honour

Cape Shirreff Cape Shirreff is a prominent cape at the north end of the rocky peninsula which separates Hero Bay and Barclay Bay on the north coast of Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The cape was named by Edward Bransfield in ...

at the north extremity of

Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula ( bg, Полуостров Йоан Павел II, Poluostrov Yoan Pavel II, ) is an ice-covered peninsula on the north coast of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica that is bounded by Hero Bay t ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

, in the

is named after William Shirreff.

References

Sources

* Alan Gurney, ''Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699-1839'', Penguin Books, New York, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirreff, William Royal Navy rear admirals Date of birth missing 1785 births 1847 deaths