Your go-to destination for all things Graham Gore

The 'Beagle' in the Bass Straits
Source: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (UK). Object ID PAH0067 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Graham Gore,
a man shrouded in mystery.

The purpose of this site is to provide information and resources about the late Commander Graham Gore, RN, best known for his participation in the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. Started at the request of several seeking to understand his history.

All research is done independently, through primary and secondary source materials. Any inaccuracies belong to our team. Our research is ongoing, and will be updated from time to time.

Vintage daguerreotype portrait of Graham Gore, a man in his 30s, wearing a naval uniform with epaulettes and an officer's cap, sitting with his arms crossed in front of his chest

Graham Gore’s story is one that has been fairly obscure.

We know that he was born to Commander John Gore, RN, and his wife Sarah Gore (née Gilmour) around 1809. He was the second eldest child of six that survived to adulthood. In 1820, at the age of only eleven, he would board his first ship as a Volunteer of the First Class under the command of his father, and alongside his older brother, John. What follows is a mostly consistent service record with few gaps.

In 1827, he saw combat for the first time aboard the HMS Albion in the Battle of Navarino. Aboard the HMS Pickle, he would have been involved in the suppression of the slave trade in the Caribbean. He also made his first trip into Arctic waters in 1836-37 on HMS Terror under the command of Captain Sir George Back, RN, securing his promotion to Lieutenant in 1837.

Gore’s commission as Lieutenant aboard HMS Volage would see him entangled during both the Aden Expedition and the First Opium War in 1839-40. Afterwards the HMS Beagle surveyed the coastline of modern Australia under the command of Commander John Lort Stokes, RN, and with Gore as her First Lieutenant until 1843.

This impressive service record culminated in him volunteering for Captain Sir John Franklin’s Arctic expedition seeking the Northwest Passage in 1845. This decision would not only cost him his life but also be the one that defines his entire legacy.

In his private life, Gore was an accomplished artist and flutist as well as a keen sportsman. Every account of him that has survived into present day paints him as a personable, hard-working man.

The goal of our team is to not only depict Graham Gore as one of 129 men who had the misfortune to board a doomed expedition to their icy deaths, but as a complex figure that accomplished much more than that in the course of his short life, all uncomfortable truths about British colonialism and imperialism included.

Under Gore you will find a timeline of his life and service record as well as his family tree. In the thematic subsections we will regularly publish blog posts with further in-depth information. Recommendations for where to start with your own research can be found under Resources.