Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/275

 passage did not lie in that direction; and also the discovery of the magnetic pole by Ross's nephew, Lieutenant James Clark Ross [q. v.], while carrying out a series of extensive sledge journeys. In 1834 Ross was knighted; the Geographical Societies of London and Paris awarded him their gold medals, and on 24 Dec. 1834 he was nominated a C.B. In 1835 he published ‘Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a North-West Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829–1833, with Appendix’ (2 vols. 4to).

In March 1839 Ross was appointed consul at Stockholm, and held that post till the autumn of 1846. He had returned to England on leave in February 1845, on hearing of the proposed expedition to the Arctic under the command of Sir John Franklin, but found, much to his annoyance, that his opinion was not asked, and when offered, was rejected with scant courtesy. Between himself and Sir John Barrow [q. v.] there was a quarrel of long standing, and all the men of Arctic experience, including Parry, Richardson, and especially Ross's nephew, Sir James Clark Ross, followed Barrow's lead. In 1846 Barrow published his ‘Voyages of Discovery and Research,’ in which he devoted two chapters to a virulent attack on Ross. Ross replied with ‘Observations on a Work entitled “Voyages of Discovery, &c.,” by Sir John Barrow’ (1846, 8vo), in which he fairly met his adversary's criticisms, but with a degree of rancour which deprived his pamphlet of much of its effect. In 1847 he urged on the admiralty the advisability of at once despatching an expedition for the relief of Franklin. His letter was referred to Parry, Richardson, and James Clark Ross, who agreed that any such expedition would be premature. Ross's age certainly unfitted him for the service, but Ross ascribed the rejection of his proposal to the personal ill-will of Barrow, who was still at the Admiralty.

In 1849, by a grant from the Hudson's Bay Company, supplemented by 1,000l. from Sir Felix Booth and by public subscription, Ross was able to fit out a small vessel named the Felix, which sailed from Stranraer on 23 May 1850, under the flag of the Northern Yacht Club. In this he went into Lancaster Sound, and returned the following year. He was still anxious to prosecute the search, but the admiralty declined to entrust the task to a man of seventy-five. Ross revenged himself by publishing ‘Rear-admiral Sir John Franklin: a Narrative of the Circumstances and Causes which led to the Failure of the Searching Expeditions sent by Government and others for the Rescue of Sir John Franklin’ (8vo, 1855), a work of considerable interest, but marred by the strong personal feeling. He died in London on 30 Aug. 1856. He was twice married and left issue one son, in the civil service of the East India Company.

Besides the works already mentioned and some unimportant pamphlets, Ross wrote: 1. ‘A Treatise on Navigation by Steam,’ 4to, 1828. 2. ‘Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1838. 3. ‘On Steam Communication to India,’ 8vo, 1838. 4. ‘A Short Treatise on the Deviation of the Mariner's Compass,’ 8vo, 1849. 5. ‘On Intemperance in the Royal Navy,’ 8vo, 1852 (a pamphlet with some interesting autobiographic reminiscences.).

A portrait, by Benjamin Rawlinson Faulkner [q. v.], is in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; it has been lithographed by R. J. Lane. Another portrait, painted by James Green in 1833, in which he is wearing the Swedish order of the Sword, is in the National Portrait Gallery, London; and a third belongs to the Royal Geographical Society.

[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Journal of the Royal Geogr. Soc. vol. xxviii. p. cxxx; his own works and others referred to in the text; information from Mr. Andrew Ross, his nephew.] 

ROSS, JOHN (1800?-1865?), biographer of Chatterton. [See .]

ROSS, JOHN LOCKHART (1721–1790), vice-admiral, fifth son of Sir James Lockhart, bart., of Carstairs, by his wife Grizel, third daughter of William, twelfth lord Ross [q. v.], was born at Lockhart Hall, Lanarkshire, on 11 Nov. 1721. In September 1735 he entered the navy on board the Portland with Captain Henry Osborne [q. v.] In 1737–8 he was with Captain Charles Knowles [q. v.] in the Diamond in the West Indies; in 1739 in the Romney with Captain Henry Medley, and in 1740 in the Trial sloop with Captain Frogmere, whom he followed to the Lively, and afterwards to the Ruby. He passed his examination on 28 Sept. 1743, and on 21 Oct. was promoted to be lieutenant of the Dover in the North Sea, and afterwards on the coast of North America, where he was moved into the Chester, and returned to England in the end of 1746. In April 1747 he was appointed to the Devonshire, the flagship of Rear-admiral Peter Warren [q. v.] in the action off Cape Finisterre on 3 May. He was afterwards appointed to command the Vulcan fireship, in which he was present in Hawke's action of 16 Oct., and, on the suspension of