Back, Sir George National Historic Person

Multiple plaque locations, N/A
Lieut. George Back, Royal Navy (© ? *This week in history*)
Lieut. George Back, Royal Navy
(© ? *This week in history*)
Address : Multiple plaque locations, N/A

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1973-11-15
Life Date: 1796 to 1878

Other Name(s):
  • Back, Sir George  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 1962-036, 1967-001, 2008-CED-SDC-14, 2008-CED-SDC-016, 2012-CED-SDC-008

Importance: Artist and Artic explorer; Franklin's 1819-22 and 1824-27 expeditions

Plaque(s)


No plaque in place, recommended location:  Reliance, Northwest Territories
Existing plaque:  Chantrey Inlet, Nunavut

George Back, a young naval officer accompanied John Franklin on his two overland expeditions of 1819-22 and 1824-27, on which he distinguished himself as a wilderness traveller and artist. In 1833 he led his own expedition to the Canadian north to chart the Thlew-ee-choh River and to search for Sir John Ross, then feared lost off the Arctic coast. From a base at Fort Reliance on Great Slave Lake, where he spent two winters, he crossed to the head-waters of the river which now bears his name and explored its course to the sea at Chantrey Inlet.