Francis Crozier - Tributes

Tributes

• In January 2008, Crozier's home town of Banbridge, Northern Ireland hosted a memorial event, which included a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at the Church of the Holy Trinity, which was attended by more than 100 descendants of Crozier and other officers of the Franklin expedition and those who searched for it, along with the chairman of the Banbridge Council, and several Arctic historians, including Michael Smith and Russell Potter.

• A memorial to the memory of Sir John Franklin and his men, including Crozier, was erected by order of Parliament in 1858 in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich, London. It was later moved to the College's Chapel in 1937, and is to be re-erected in the entrance of the college in late 2009. On 29 October 2009 a special service of thanksgiving was held in the chapel to accompany the rededication of the monument there. The service also included the solemn re-interment of the remains of Lieutenant Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, the only remains ever repatriated to England, entombed within the monument in 1873. The event brought together members of the international polar community; invited guests included polar travellers, photographers and authors and descendants of Sir John Franklin, Captain Crozier and their men, and the families of those who went to search for them, including Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, Rear Admiral Sir John Ross and Vice Admiral Sir Robert McClure among many others. The gala was directed by the Rev Jeremy Frost and was organised by High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom. It was a celebration of the contributions made by the United Kingdom in the charting of the Canadian North, which honoured the loss of life in the pursuit of geographical discovery. The Navy was represented by Admiral Nick Wilkinson, prayers were led by the Bishop of Woolwich and among the readings were eloquent tributes from Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the Greenwich Foundation and H.E. James Wright, the Canadian High Commissioner. At a private drinks reception in the Painted Hall which followed this Arctic service, Chief Marine Archaeologist for Parks Canada Robert Grenier spoke of his ongoing search for the missing expedition ships. The following day a group of polar authors went to London's Kensal Green Cemetery to pay their respects to the Arctic explorers buried there. After some difficulty, McClure's gravestone was located. It is hoped that his memorial, in particular, may be conserved in the future. Many other veterans of the searches for Franklin are buried there, including Admiral Sir Horatio Thomas Austin, Admiral Sir George Back, Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield, Admiral Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim, and Admiral Sir John Ross. Franklin's redoubtable wife Jane Griffin, Lady Franklin, is also interred at Kensal Green in the vault, and commemorated on a marble cross dedicated to her niece Sophia Cracroft.

Geographical features named after Crozier include:

• Cape Crozier on the eastern side of Ross Island, Antarctica
• Cape Crozier on the western flank of King William Island in the Canadian Arctic
• Cape Crozier at the western entrance of the Bay of Mercy on Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic
• Crozier Strait which lies between Cornwallis and Bathurst Islands in the Canadian Arctic
• The Crozier River which is found near Fury and Hecla Strait in the Canadian Arctic
• Crozier Point on Spitsbergen in the Arctic north of Norway
• Crozier Channel, to the north of Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic
• Crozier Island in the Kennedy Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island
• The lunar crater Crozier, located at 13.5° S, 50.8° E on the Moon's near side