James Fitzjames

James Fitzjames (27 July 1813 – disappeared 26 April 1848) was a British Royal Navy officer who participated in two major exploratory expeditions, the Euphrates Expedition and the Franklin Expedition.

Early life
He was of illegitimate birth, and during his life and after, his friends and relatives took great pains to conceal his origins. Though biographer William Battersby initially believed Fitzjames was born on in Rio de Janeiro in what was then Colonial Brazil, he later issued a correction on his website stating Fitzjames was more likely born in London, England, as he stated on his naval entry papers. Fitzjames was baptised on at St Marylebone Parish Church in London. The names given by the people who posed as his parents, "James Fitzjames" and "Ann Fitzjames," are presumed to be false.

Illegitimate birth
The identification of his true family has been a mystery. In different sources it has been suggested that he was a foundling; that he was of Irish extraction, an illegitimate son of Sir James Stephen, or a relative of the Coninghams. But he was actually the illegitimate son of Sir James Gambier, a minor diplomat. Although not always successful, the Gambier family were prominent in the Royal Naval service. Sir James's cousin was a controversial sea lord Admiral Lord Gambier. His father, and James Fitzjames' grandfather, was Vice Admiral James Gambier. The identity of his mother remains unknown.

At the time of Fitzjames' birth, Sir James Gambier was in grave personal and financial difficulties. Sir James had been appointed British Consul-General in Rio de Janeiro in 1809 and held this office until 1814, although a diplomatic faux pas on his part meant that he had to leave Rio for England in disgrace in 1811. Cut off from the revenues he expected to receive in Rio, he ran up enormous debts, only saved from bankruptcy when a syndicate of his relatives and creditors, led by Admiral Lord Gambier himself, William Morton Pitt and Samuel Gambier, took over his financial affairs and placed them in trust.

Sir James had married Jemima Snell and the couple had 15 children altogether. One of their children was born within one month of the date of Fitzjames' birth and at the time the Gambiers may have been estranged. In 1815, with his financial affairs in the hands of trustees, Sir James resumed a diplomatic career by being appointed Consul-General to the Netherlands at The Hague, a position he held until 1825. He appears to have had limited contact with Fitzjames.

Adoptive family
Shortly after his birth, Fitzjames was given into the care of the Reverend Robert Coningham and his wife Louisa Capper, who wrote philosophical and poetical works. The Coninghams were well-off members of an extended family of Scots/Irish ancestry.

The Coningham family lived at Watford and Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, and also at Blackheath. In 1832 they acquired a substantial 30 acre country estate called Rose Hill in Abbots Langley. Robert and Louisa had one son, William Coningham, who was James Fitzjames' closest friend; the two boys were brought up together as brothers. The Coninghams were a well-educated couple who had extensive connections in British intellectual circles of the time. Robert Coningham was a Cambridge-educated clergyman although he never took a living. He was a cousin of the author John Sterling, and a friend of such intellectuals as Julius Hare and Thomas Carlyle. Before she married, Louisa Coningham had taught at the Rothsay House girls' school in Kennington and was the author of two books.

This intellectual background enabled them to provide Fitzjames and William Coningham with an exceptionally high level of education. William Coningham was briefly sent to Eton College while Fitzjames was away at sea serving on HMS Pyramus (1810). On Fitzjames' return to the Coningham household, William Coningham was withdrawn from Eton and the boys' education was provided at home by private tutors, including a son of Robert Towerson Cory, who later tutored the Prince of Wales for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Fitzjames was brought up by the Coningham family as a son, and although he was unrelated to them he always referred to them as 'uncle' and 'aunt'.

Under Captain Gambier
Fitzjames entered the Royal Navy at the age of 12 in July 1825 as a volunteer of the second class on HMS Pyramus (1810), a frigate under the command of captain Robert Gambier. He served on Pyramus until, being promoted to volunteer of the first class on. Captain Robert Gambier was actually James Fitzjames' second cousin, and it was through this covert family connection that he was able to obtain this position. Unfortunately, Captain Gambier resigned his position only a year later due to the unexpected death of his wife, leaving Fitzjames vulnerable as he had no connection with the new captain, George Sartorius.

However, Fitzjames was able to win the confidence of Captain Sartorius, who promoted Fitzjames to Volunteer of the First Class in 1828. During this commission Pyramus first sailed to Central America and the United States on diplomatic missions and was then involved in scientific research as part of the Experimental Squadron under Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy. Later, the Pyramus served as British guardship at Lisbon.

After this Fitzjames was determined to resume his Royal Naval career and eventually he was able to obtain the position of Midshipman on HMS St Vincent (1815) from 1830 to 1833. St Vincent was the flagship of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet but spent much time in port at Malta.

Fitzjames served detached duty on a cutter, HMS Hind, sailing twice to Constantinople, and on HMS Madagascar (1822), during which time Madagascar conveyed Otto of Greece from Trieste to Nauplia, where Otto was crowned King of Greece. During this time Fitzjames passed his exams for promotion to lieutenant. Returning to Britain on St Vincent in 1833, he almost immediately obtained a position on HMS Winchester (1822), Vice Admiral Hyde Parker's flagship. In this position he would expect to obtain his promotion to lieutenant.

Euphrates Expedition
Robert Coningham was very close to a relative of his, Major Colin Campbell, who after Fitzjames' death became famous as Field Marshal Lord Clyde. Campbell introduced Fitzjames to Francis Rawdon Chesney, then a captain of the engineers, who was putting together an expedition to establish a steamship line in Mesopotamia.

The venture became known as the Euphrates Expedition, and served as a precursor to the creation of the Suez Canal as it linked the Near East across Mesopotamia to the river systems that flowed into the Persian Gulf. Rather impulsively, Fitzjames immediately resigned his position on HMS Winchester (1822) to join Chesney's expedition.

Fitzjames served on the Euphrates Expedition from 1834 to 1837. Before the expedition had even sailed, he distinguished himself by diving into the River Mersey fully clothed to rescue a drowning man. He was awarded a silver cup and the Freedom of the City of Liverpool for this feat of bravery.

Although the expedition was promoted with great energy, it was not a success. The two steamers, Tigris and Euphrates, had to be transported in pieces 130 mi across the mountains and desert terrain of northern Syria from the Mediterranean coast to the river Euphrates, a tremendous effort which took over a year long to complete. The smaller steamer, Tigris, sank with heavy loss of life in a sudden storm and the draught of Euphrates, the surviving vessel was too deep to sail on the river for much of the year. In addition there were tremendous difficulties caused both by political complications and the outbreak of disease.

While Chesney was determined to continue, he would not release officers, including Fitzjames, the expedition was eventually halted by the British government and East India Company, its two major sponsors. In 1836, with the steamer Euphrates unable to sail up the shallows of the river, having broken its engine, Fitzjames volunteered to take the India Office mails she was carrying 1200 mi across what is now Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean coast and from there convey them to London.

Resumption of naval career
After many extremely dangerous adventures (he was nearly kidnapped and trapped in a besieged town) Fitzjames succeeded in returning to London. Here he was reunited with the surviving members of the expedition as they straggled back home. Sadly while Fitzjames had been away, Robert Coningham had died suddenly on 21 May 1836.

On the expedition, Fitzjames formed a close friendship with one of the other Royal Navy officers participating, Lieutenant Edward Charlewood. Charlewood and Fitzjames found that contrary to the understanding of Colonel Chesney, the Admiralty refused to credit their service on the Euphrates Expedition as 'sea-time', and it therefore would not count towards their promotion. Chesney did everything in his power to support his subordinates, and after nearly a year the Admiralty relented and granted the officers their promotions.

James Fitzjames resumed Royal Naval service and followed a much more conventional career path. Together with Charlewood, he next served on HMS Excellent (1834), the recently established gunnery school, where he passed out with very high marks. At this time he also formed a close, albeit also professionally extremely useful, friendship with John Barrow, the son of Sir John Barrow, a highly influential Second Secretary to the Admiralty. From this point on the two men corresponded regularly.

Egyptian–Ottoman War
A highly qualified gunnery lieutenant, James Fitzjames was in demand: together with his experience of the Middle East, this won him the position of gunnery lieutenant on HMS Ganges (1821) in the Egyptian–Ottoman War of 1839 to 1840. He was regarded as an effective officer and was especially commended by Admiral Sir Charles Napier for landing at night to distribute a proclamation to Egyptian soldiers at their camp. It was very risky enterprise, but he was able to escape back to Ganges.

When informed of this daring exploit Ibrahim Pasha, the Egyptian general, put a price on Fitzjames' head. Before service was completed, James Fitzjames was selected by Admiral Sir William Parker as gunnery lieutenant on HMS Cornwallis (1813), his flagship for the force being assembled in Britain to fight the First Opium War.

First Opium War
His service in this war was again marked by notably reckless bravery, he was almost killed during the capture of Zhenjiang; he was evacuated to Cornwallis when a musket ball passed through his arm into his back, lodging against his spine. Senior officers took further notice of an extrovert; Fitzjames wrote and published a 10,000-word humorous poem, The Cruise of HMS Cornwallis, describing the First Opium War and his part in that particular uprising, which was published in The Nautical Magazine. Ostensibly anonymous, he referred to himself under the byline "Tom Bowline".

En route to war, HMS Cornwallis spent five days at Singapore. While there on shore leave, Fitzjames had some sort of encounter with Sir George Barrow, the eldest surviving son of Sir John Barrow. It was William Battersby's theory that Barrow was clearly in a highly compromised situation, and Fitzjames appeared to have paid someone off and thereby covered up whatever scandal would otherwise have broken over the Barrow family. Battersby believed that thenceforward Sir John Barrow blatantly favoured Fitzjames, promoting his candidacy at any available opportunity; the first fruits were accelerated promotion to commander and appointment to command HMS Clio (1807). Joining the Clio in Bombay, the new captain cruised the Persian Gulf and carried out various diplomatic duties before returning to Portsmouth in October 1844.

Franklin's Expedition
Returning to England, Fitzjames lived with William Coningham, his wife Elizabeth (née Meyrick) and their two young children at their home in Brighton. This was just the time that the Franklin Expedition was being planned and Sir John Barrow, a prime mover of the expedition, campaigned to have Fitzjames appointed to lead it. He asked for his friend Edward Charlewood to be appointed as second in command. Barrow was unable to provide the Board of the Admiralty with a persuasive argument to support these appointments, so after some prevarication Sir John Franklin and Francis Crozier were appointed instead.

Fitzjames was appointed to serve under Franklin as the Captain of HMS Erebus (1826).

Once appointed to the Franklin Expedition, Fitzjames was given specific responsibility for recruitment and also for the scientific research into magnetism which was an important objective of the expedition. The ships sailed from Greenhithe on 19 May 1845 and after replenishing at Disko Bay in Greenland were last seen at the end of July 1845 by two whalers in northern Baffin Bay. That was the last definite sighting of Fitzjames. The Admiralty promoted Fitzjames to the rank of Captain on 31 December 1845, but this news never reached him.

Captaincy and death
After the death of Sir John Franklin on, Captain Francis Crozier of HMS Terror (1813) became the expedition leader and Fitzjames the second in command. This information has been gleaned from the 'Victory Point note', which both men signed on. This is the last definite trace of Fitzjames, although he may be one of the shadowy kabloonas—desperate survivors of the expedition, whom Inuit of the region remembered meeting.

Character
Fitzjames struggled to find his position in early nineteenth-century British society. While illegitimacy was not unusual, it caused great difficulties for the children concerned, who were not expected openly to refer to their blood families and could not depend on any support from them. In Fitzjames' case the controversial reputations of his Royal Naval ancestors, and the disreputable behaviour of his father, compounded this. In addition, the underhand way he obtained his promotion to midshipman made his position in the Royal Navy extremely vulnerable leaving his career up until 1838 open to challenge.

While his family position was always vulnerable, he did have several advantages. He was physically fit and strong, being tall and well-built. He was handsome, extremely personable, and very skilled in winning the confidence of his superiors, he possessed charm and charisma. Added to this he was highly intelligent and had been very well educated; an excellent sense of humour rounded off a personality that was the life and soul of any party or other situation. To judge by his surviving letters and drawings, he was a sensitive writer and an excellent artist.

But he was always very conscious of the insecurity of his social position and this may explain the extreme personal and professional recklessness which he displayed throughout his life. Whether jumping into the River Mersey to rescue the drowning man, entering the Egyptian soldiers' camp or leading the assault on the walls of Zhenjiang, the impression left was that he was potentially willing to risk or even honourably sacrifice his life if the opportunity arose in order to demonstrate that he was as good as, or better than, his legitimate contemporaries.

Legacy
After the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition, Fitzjames' loss was recorded on various monuments to it, such as one statue at Waterloo Place in London. He was idolised by Sir Clements Markham as the beau ideal of an Arctic officer. Furthermore, he may have inadvertently acted as a model for Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

The only overt tribute to Fitzjames was in a family record 'The Story of the Gambiers', written in 1924 for private circulation by Mrs. Cuthbert Heath, a descendant of Sir James Gambier and published in 1924, in which Mrs. Heath wrote: "At this point mention must be made of a Gambier who bore the 'bar sinister', but is worthy to rank with the most distinguished of the legitimate kinsman. Sir James Gambier, Ambassador to the Brazils, had a natural son, James FitzJames, RN, well known to the Gambier family, who styled him the 'Knight of Snowden'. As Captain of HMS Erebus, he accompanied Sir John Franklin on his disastrous attempt to discover the North West Passage in 1845, and shared his leader's fate. His signature appears on one of the last entries of the great explorer's log-book, and his name stands in the place of honour next to that of Sir John Franklin on the well-known monument in Carlton House Terrace."

In popular culture
James Fitzjames appears as a character in the 2007 novel, The Terror by Dan Simmons, a fictionalized account of Franklin's lost expedition, as well as the 2018 television adaptation, where he is portrayed by Tobias Menzies.

Online
jamesfitzjames.com - Website by historian Fabiënne Tetteroo containing new research, primary sources and much more.