John Barrow (1808-1898), Archivist to the Admiralty

Sitter in 3 portraits
John Barrow was the second son of the renowned secretary to the Admiralty of the same name. He entered the Admiralty as a clerk in 1824 where he rose through the ranks to become Head of the Admiralty Record Office in 1844. He was a founder member of the Hakluyt Society, and the only civilian member of the Arctic council that was established in 1851 to co-ordinate the search for missing Arctic explorer John Franklin. Barrow retired in 1855; he subsequently took an active interest in the militia.