John Auldjo

John Richardson Auldjo (26 July 1805 – 6 May 1886), F.R.S., F.R.G.S., was a Canadian-British traveller, geologist, writer and artist. He was British Consul at Geneva. He was a close friend of Edward Bulwer-Lytton and a member of Sir William Gell's inner circle at Naples.

In 1805, John Auldjo was born into a prominent family of merchants and politicians at Montreal. He was the eldest of the two sons of Alexander Auldjo and his wife Eweretta Jane Richardson (1774–1808), sister of John Richardson. His mother's first cousins included John Forsyth and Edward Ellice. His brother, Thomas Richardson Auldjo (1808–1837), married Anna, one of the daughters of William McGillivray and a niece of both John MacDonald of Garth and General Sir Archibald Campbell. John Auldjo was a godson of Simon McGillivray, who looked after him in London after he was orphaned at the age of sixteen.

In 1822, Auldjo entered Trinity College, Cambridge. Before he embarked on his Grand Tour, he secured a place at Lincoln's Inn, London. In 1827, during the early stages of his tour, he decided to climb to the top of Mont Blanc, going with six guides. At the summit he shared a bottle of wine with the guides and then sat down to write a short letter to his sister. The letter, still preserved today and signed on the back by all six guides, is one of the most evocative items in the Archives of the Alpine Club. Auldjo's 1828 written account of the ascent, with his own illustrations, was a success and ran to three editions.

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