Francis Beaufort
Sir Edward Parry | |
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Succeeded by | John Washington |
Personal details | |
Born | Navan, County Meath, Ireland | 27 May 1774
Died | 17 December 1857 Hove, Sussex, England | (aged 83)
Resting place | St John's Church Gardens |
Spouses |
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Children |
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Parent | Daniel Augustus Beaufort |
Relatives |
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Occupation | mariner |
Known for | Beaufort cipher, Beaufort scale |
Awards |
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Military service | |
Branch | Royal Navy |
Service years | 1790–1855 |
Rank | Rear admiral |
Wars | |
Sir Francis Beaufort
Early life
Francis Beaufort was descended from French Protestant
Francis Beaufort had a lifelong keen awareness of the value of accurate charts for those risking the seas, as he was shipwrecked at the age of fifteen due to a faulty chart. His most significant accomplishments were in
Career
Beaufort first went to sea in 1789 on the
Beaufort commenced his naval career in 1790 by joining
He was promoted to Lieutenant on 10 May 1796 on HMS Phaeton. While serving on Phaeton, Beaufort was badly wounded leading a cutting-out operation off Málaga in 1800; the action resulted in the capture of the 14-gun polacca Calpe. Beaufort was promoted to the rank of Commander on 13 November 1800.
While recovering from his wounds, during which he received a "paltry" pension of £45 per annum, he helped his brother-in-law,
Command
Beaufort returned to active service and was appointed a captain in the Royal Navy on 30 May 1810. Whereas other wartime officers sought leisurely pursuits, Beaufort spent his leisure time taking depth soundings and bearings, making astronomical observations to determine longitude and latitude, and measuring shorelines. His results were compiled in new charts.[citation needed]
The
Anatolia
After the Woolwich, Beaufort received his first
Throughout 1811–1812, Beaufort charted and explored southern
interrupted his work and he received a serious bullet wound in the hip. He returned to England and drew up his charts.In 1817, he published his book Karamania; or a brief description of the South Coast of Asia Minor, and of the Remains of Antiquity.[9]
In 1829, Beaufort was elected as a Fellow of the
In 1831, a Scientific Branch of the Admiralty was formed, which as well as the
Beaufort was interested in scientific affairs beyond the confines of navigation. As a council member of the
Beaufort trained
Using his many connections, including the
Beaufort promoted the development of reliable tide tables around British shores, publishing the first edition of the
By the time Beaufort retired the Admiralty Chart series was a truly worldwide resource with 2,000 charts covering every sea.[16]
Retirement
Beaufort retired from the Royal Navy with the rank of rear admiral on 1 October 1846, at the age of 72. He became "Sir Francis Beaufort" on being appointed KCB (Knight Commander of the Bath) on 29 April 1848, a relatively belated honorific considering the eminence of his position from 1829 onward. In 1840, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[17]
Personal life
Beaufort's extant correspondence of more than 200 letters and journals contained portions written in personal cipher. Beaufort altered the Vigenère cipher, by reversing the cipher alphabet, and the resulting variant is called the Beaufort cipher. The deciphered writings have revealed family and personal problems, including some of a sexual nature. It appears that between 1835 and his marriage to Honora Edgeworth in November 1838, he had incestuous relations with his sister Harriet. His diary entries, in cipher, show that he was tortured by guilt over this.[3][page needed]
He died on 17 December 1857, at age 83 in Hove, Sussex, England. He is buried in the church gardens of St John at Hackney, London, where his tomb may still be seen. His home in London, No. 52 Manchester Street, Westminster, is marked by an historic blue plaque noting his residency and achievements.[18]
Family
Beaufort married, firstly, Alicia Magdalena Wilson, daughter of Lestock Wilson R.N. under whom he had first served; she died in 1834.[19] Of their children, three daughters and three sons were living in 1859.[20] They included:
- Daniel Augustus Beaufort (1813/4–1898), cleric, married in 1851 Emily Nowell Davis, daughter of
- Francis Lestock Beaufort (1815–1879), served in the Bengal civil service, from 1837 to 1876.[23]
- Sophia Mary Bonne married the Rev. William Palmer in 1838.[24]
- Emily Anne Smythe (1826–1887) was a hero of Bulgaria, a writer, illustrator and advocate of change in the training of nurses.[25]
Beaufort married again in 1838, to Honora Edgeworth, the daughter of his brother-in-law Richard Lovell Edgeworth and his second wife. (Francis' sister Frances Beaufort had married Edgeworth as his fourth wife years earlier in the 1810s.)
Legacy
Wind force scale
During these early years of command, Beaufort developed the first versions of his Wind Force Scale and Weather Notation coding, which he was to use in his journals for the remainder of his life. From the circle representing a weather station, a staff (rather like the stem of a note in musical notation) extends, with one or more half or whole barbs. For example, a stave with 31⁄2 barbs represents Beaufort seven on the scale, decoded as 32–38 mph, or a "moderate Gale".
Geographical legacy
Beaufort, like other patrons of exploration, has had his name given to many geographical places. Among these:
- Beaufort Sea (arm of Arctic Ocean)
- Beaufort Island, Antarctic
Cryptographic legacy
Beaufort created the Beaufort cipher. It is a substitution cipher similar to the Vigenère cipher.
References
- ISBN 978-1-874045-88-5.
- ^ "A new map of Ireland : civil and ecclesiastical". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ^ a b c Alfred Friendly, Beaufort of the Admiralty, Hutchinson, 1977
- ^ File:BeaufortTomb.JPG
- ^ S2CID 161887213.
- ^ Marshall, John (1828). Royal naval biography; or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired Captains, Post Captains and Commanders whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of Sea-Officers of the year 1823, or who have since been promoted. Supplement Part II. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Geen. pp. 82–94.
- ^ John de Courcy Ireland. "Francis Beaufort (Wind Scale)". On-line Journal of Research on Irish Maritime History. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- ^ Courtenay, Nicholas (2002). "8". Gale Force 10 – The life and legacy of Admiral Beaufort. Review.
- ^ Beaufort, Francis (1817). Karamania, Or A Brief Description Of The South Coast Of Asia Minor. London: R. Hunter.
- ^ Hume, Robert (17 March 2014). "Why wind guru Beaufort had to hide a stormy personal life". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Ritchie, G.S. (1967). The Admiralty Chart. London: Hollis & Carter.
- S2CID 130055829.
- ^ John Frederick William Herschel (1849). A Manual of Scientific Enquiry: Prepared for the Use of Her Majesty's Navy : and Adapted for Travellers in General. J. Murray.
- ISBN 978-0-7077-2124-8.
- JSTOR 1779472.
- .
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- ^ "Francis Beaufort Blue Plaque". openplaques.org. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1857. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Royal Society (1857). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Taylor & Francis. p. 526.
- ^ "Beaufort, Daniel Augustus (BFRT831DA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Lodge's Peerage and Baronetage (knightage & Companionage) of the British Empire. Hurst & Blackett. 1861. p. 685.
- ^ "Beaufort, Francis Lestock (BFRT831FL)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Walford, Edward (1869). The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. R. Hardwicke. p. 752.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25963. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
Further reading
- A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & son.
- Alfred Friendly. Beaufort of the Admiralty. Random House, New York, 1973.
- Nicholas Courtney. "Gale Force 10, the life and legacy of Admiral Beaufort". London: Review. 2002.
- Huler, Scott (2004). Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry. Crown. ISBN 1-4000-4884-2.
- Laughton, John Knox (1885). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 04. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Laughton, John Knox; Rodger, Nicholas (2008) [2004]. "Beaufort, Francis". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1857. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)