Person    | Male  Born 7/11/1728  Died 14/2/1779

Captain James Cook

Maritime explorer and cartographer. Born near Middlesbrough. The first to map Newfoundland, explored around Australia and the Hawaiian Islands and made the first circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Killed in Kealakekua Bay by Hawaiian villagers during a fracas concerning the theft of one of Cook's small boats. Cook was held in high esteem by the chiefs so his body was given the same funeral rites that one of their elders would have received. It was disembowelled, baked and the bones cleaned. Following appeals from his comrades the remains were eventually returned for burial at sea.

2024: Cook has become a controversial figure, representing all the worst of imperialism. The Daily Mail reported "Captain Cook statue is sawn down in Melbourne with the words 'the colony will fall' sprayed in red on the plinth just hours before Australia Day".

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Captain James Cook

Commemorated ati

Barking Abbey

Barking Abbey Was founded by St Erkenwald in the year 666. Destroyed by the D...

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Captain Cook - E1

{Left-most panel:} He surveyed the St Lawrence River in 1759. In three voyag...

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Captain Cook - E1 plaque - gone

This terracotta-coloured plaque is now in Australia (see eHive) with one of t...

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Captain Cook - The Highway

The plaque gives Cook's address as 126 Upper Shadwell. Horward's 1799 map gi...

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Captain James Cook statue

The original inscription stopped after "New Zealand." In 1928 the British Em...

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Show all 9

Other Subjects

Solomon Tozer

Solomon Tozer

Role on the lost expedition: Royal marine on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Richard Wall

Richard Wall

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

Born Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. Viceroy of India. Successful Foreign Secretary. Disappointed not to have become Prime Minster. Died in London.

Person, Exploring, Politics & Administration, India

3 memorials
Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson

Pioneering pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records during the 1930s.  Born Yorkshire. ...

Person, Exploring, Transport

1 memorial
William Fowler

William Fowler

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Erebus. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Isaac Newton bust

Isaac Newton bust

WC2, Leicester Square

All four of the Leicester Square busts were removed in the 2010-12 redesign of the Square - see (Hogarth bust for more information.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Maurice Lambert

Maurice Lambert

Sculptor. Born Paris. Brother of the musician Constant Lambert. This portrait is by his father. There is photograph of him (older and not so pretty) at the Court Gallery. His other work in London i...

Person, Sculpture, France

1 memorial
Captain Robert Hansler

Captain Robert Hansler

JP for Middlesex. At Rootschat we found a "Captain Robert Jacob Hansler, a magistrate for Middlesex" He was the eldest son of Sir John Jacob Hansler (1788 -1867) and Maria (d.1858), daughter of Mr ...

Person, Armed Forces

1 memorial