Sir James Clark Ross


1800 - 1862

Sir James Clerk Ross
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Sir James Clerk Ross

Antarctic explorer. Born in London, Ross was the nephew of noted Scottish Arctic explorer Sir John Ross (1777 - 1856). He accompanied his uncle on his 1818 Arctic expedition and located the magnetic north pole in 1831. Turning to Antarctic exploration, he claimed Antarctica for Queen Victoria in 1841. He named the twin Antarctic volcanoes after his ships Erebus and Terror and gave his name to the Ross Sea, Ross Island, Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Dependency. Ross was knighted in 1843.

Ross is buried in the village churchyard at Aston Abbots (Buckinghamshire), close to his country seat, Aston House.


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