FitzNews
Announcement of FitzTalks in 2026 & research updates
Fitzjames Talks in 2026
I am very excited to announce that I will be giving some talks about my Fitzjames research this year throughout England. Here are the first two, and I hope to see you there!
Monday 27 April 2.30 pm-3.45 pm at the Royal Geographical Society in London, as part of their Be Inspired series, which highlights research on their collections. You can attend either in person or online. Tickets are free, but you do need to book one, which you can do here.
(I would like to apologise to Captain Francis Crozier, I did not write this text and of course Fitzjames only became the second in command of the expedition after Sir John Franklin’s death. This kind of thing always happens to Crozier.)
Saturday 11 July at 7.30 PM, in Abbots Langley, one of the places where Fitzjames grew up, as part of the Abbots Langley Festival. Tickets will go live on 1 June, and you can buy them here.
For the past two years, I have given a walking tour of places in Hertfordshire connected to Fitzjames on his birthday. This year, I will give this evening lecture instead.
Fitzjames Biography
I spent the first week of 2026 in the archives, mostly for John Barrow and Sherard Osborn research purposes, my next two projects after Fitzjames. Even though I should focus on Fitzjames now, I’m too fascinated by Barrow and Osborn not to already do some research on them when I can. Learnt some more very interesting things about both of them…. I just love finding answers to my questions in primary sources. Being a historian is mostly just being nosy, I guess. ;-)
When I returned home, I finally started writing my Fitzjames biography after 4 years of research. I had, of course, already written a first version in the shape of my MA Naval History dissertation, and I am now expanding and adding to that. It’s so satisfying to finally write down and analyse everything I have learnt. I am now writing the first chapter about Fitzjames’ parentage and early life. For this, I am further researching the life and career of his father, Sir James Gambier. Unfortunately, I don’t have many sources about the woman whom I believe is Fitzjames’ mother. No letters, while I know that Fitzjames corresponded with her. Thankfully, there are a few descriptions of her. She was quite the character! I hope there are letters from her somewhere, because I would love to get to know her.
Gambier was consul general in Portugal and Brazil, so to learn more about his time there I have to deal with sources in Portuguese… a language I do not speak. Thank God for modern translation programs! One of these sources is the journal of an Englishman, William Henry May, who went on a short expedition with Sir James Gambier to São Paolo in 1810. The manuscript journal is in a private collection in Brazil, but it was translated into Portuguese and published in 2006. Imagine what other interesting primary sources are hidden away in private collections… Endlessly frustrating to think about. While I am glad that I can read this journal at all, I would rather have read it in its original English. However, with the aid of the Google Lens translate option, I will read this Portuguese version and see what Mr. May has to say about Sir James…
One thing about Sir James Gambier’s life and career is that THERE BE DRAMA.
and
[Excerpts from my book]
The Royal Geographical Society! That sounds amazing 🤩
Looking forward to RGS talk.