Rochfort Maguire

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Rochfort Maguire
Portrait by Stephen Pearce
Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station
In office
23 May 1866 – 28 May 1867 (1866-05-23 – 1867-05-28)
Preceded bySir William Wiseman
Succeeded byRowley Lambert
Personal details
Born(1815-06-18)18 June 1815
County Westmeath, Ireland
Died29 June 1867(1867-06-29) (aged 52)
Gosport, Hampshire, England
AwardsArctic Medal, 1818–55
Military service
Branch Royal Navy
Service years1830–1867
RankCommodore
ConflictOriental Crisis of 1840

Rochfort Maguire (18 June 1815 – 29 June 1867) was an Irish Royal Navy officer who served as captain of HMS Plover from 1852 to 1853 during the Franklin search expedition.

Career[edit]

Royal Navy[edit]

Maguire joined the Royal Navy in 1830.[1] He came to notice when he was wounded in action in 1840 at Sidon whilst serving on HMS Wasp under Sir Charles Napier.[2] He was mentioned in despatches and as a result he was promoted to lieutenant on HMS Vernon in the Mediterranean.[2]

Search for Franklin[edit]

Maguire was assigned to the Franklin search expedition in 1848. They sailed out of Plymouth on a mission to find the lost remains of John Franklin's ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition of 1845. Maguire was made captain of HMS Plover from 1852 to 1854.[1]

Later life[edit]

Promoted to captain in 1855, he was given command of HMS Sans Pareil, HMS Imperieuse, HMS Chesapeake, and then HMS Galatea.[1]

He became commander-in-chief of Australian Station on 23 May 1866, before he was invalidated out on 28 May 1867. He died a month later, on 29 June, at Royal Hospital Haslar.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d William Loney RN
  2. ^ a b Rochfort Maguire, Spink.com. accessed August 2009

Further reading[edit]

  • O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Maguire, Rochfort" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 709.
  • Sabine, E. (1857). "On hourly observations of the magnetic declination made by Captain Rochfort Maguire". Philos. Trans. R. Soc. 147: 497–532. JSTOR 108630.

External links[edit]