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Sir George Nares

George Strong Nares
George Nares.png
Captain (later Admiral Sir) George Strong Nares
Born (1831-04-24)24 April 1831
Llansenseld, near Abergavenny
Died 15 January 1915(1915-01-15) (aged 83)
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
Buried Long Ditton churchyard
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Navy
Years of service 1845–1886
Rank
  • Lieutenant (1854)
  • Commander (1862)
  • Captain (December 1869)
  • Rear-admiral (retired list) (1887)
  • Vice-admiral (retired list) (1892)
Unit
Commands held
Awards
Other work

Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares KCB FRS (24 April 1831 – 15 January 1915) was a British naval officer and Arctic explorer. He commanded the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal, the Challenger Expedition and the British Arctic Expedition. He was highly thought of as a leader and scientific explorer. In later life he worked for the Board of Trade and as Acting Conservator of the River Mersey, and died in 1915 aged 83.

He was born on 24 April 1831, the third son and sixth child of Commander William Henry Nares, a British naval officer, and Elizabeth Rebecca Gould, at Llansenseld, near Abergavenny in Monmouthshire. He was baptised at the church of St Bridget, Llansanffraid on 22 May. He married Mary Grant, the eldest daughter of a Portsmouth banker, on 22 June 1858. They had four sons and six daughters. His two youngest sons, George Edward Nares (lieutenant, d. 1905) and John Dodd Nares (vice-admiral, d. 1957) entered the Royal Navy.

He was educated at the Royal Naval School in New Cross, and in 1845 joined the Royal Navy aboard Canopus, an old battleship captured from the French. Following a posting to Havannah on the Australian station in 1848 during which he served as both midshipman and mate, he returned in 1851 and passed his lieutenant's exam in 1852.

While returning to England in Havannah in 1851, Nares had met Commander George Henry Richards, a future Hydrographer of the Navy, who had suggested he apply to Sir Edward Belcher for a place on his search for Sir John Franklin. Nares was accepted as the second mate of Resolute, and thus gained valuable early experience of the Arctic during the 1852-1854 expedition.


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