Kellett, Captain Henry
b. 1806-11-02
d. 1875-03-01
Captain Henry Kellett was born on 2 November 1806 and entered the navy in 1822. Kellett served five years in the West Indies until he was appointed to the Eden which sailed to the coast of Africa. Due to Kellett's work in the scheme of colonization, he was promoted to lieutenant on 15 September 1828. After 1831, he served on various ships across the world, some time being spent in South America and later China. During this time, Kellett was promoted to commander in 1841 and made CB — he eventually returned to England in the summer of 1843. By February 1845, he was appointed to command the Herald, in which he surveyed Vancouver Island and West Coast waters.1
After his work on the Coast, in February of 1852, Kellett commissioned the Resolute to search for Franklin, who went missing from his last expedition to the Arctic. During the commission, Kellett and the crew had to abandon ship in 1854, the group was soon picked up by another ship and brought back to England. Immediately upon his return, he was appointed commodore of Jamaica, serving here from 1855-59. Until the end of his life on 1 March 1875, Kellett served and was appointed to many other postions. From 1864-67, he served as superintendent of Malta Dockyard, in April 1868 he became vice-admiral, and in 1869 was made KCB. The last position Kellett held before his death at Clonacody House, co. Tipperary, was commander-in-chief in China from 1869-71.2
  • 1. J. K. Laughton and Andrew Lambert, Kellett, Sir Henry, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  • 2. Ibid.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Franklin, John

Vessels in this document

HMS Termagant, 1822-1824 [renamed Herald, fate: 1862]

Places in this document

Jamaica

Malta

Vancouver Island