Robert FitzRoy b. 5 July 1805

Also known as Captain FitzRoy
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
A sketcher, FitzRoy served as a naval officer on the Beagle with Charles Darwin and was later influenced by the work of official expedition artist, Conrad Martens. FitzRoy made sketches of the indigenous inhabitants of South America and Western Australia during his extended exploratory voyages. Always of a volatile nature, he became increasingly unstable and eventually committed suicide in 1865.

Citations

  • FitzRoy, R. and King, P. P. (1839), 'Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle between the Years 1826 and 1838 Describing their Examination of the Southern Shores of South America and the Beagle’s Circumnavigation of the Globe’.

  • Stephens, L. and Lee, S. (eds.) (1885), 'Dictionary of National Biographies’, London, England, UK (22 vols).

  • Brosse, J. (trans. Hochman, S.) (1983), 'Great Voyages of Exploration’, Lane Cove, NSW.

  • Mellersh, H. (1968), 'Fitzroy of the Beagle’, New York, USA.

  • O’Byrne, W. (1849), 'A Naval Biographical Dictionary’, London, England, UK.

  • Information sourced from Lennon, Jane.

Initial data sources

  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870