Sir John Franklin, FRGS
Born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England on April 16, 1786
Died  on King William Island, Nunavut on June 11, 1847
Claim to fame: British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who mapped almost two thirds of the northern coastline of North America.

In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The entire crew perished from starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, lead poisoning, scurvy and exposure before and after Franklin died and the expedition's icebound ships were abandoned in desperation.

Of Note: Alfred Lord Tennyson married Sir John Franklin's neice, Emily Sellwood, in 1850.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Sir John Franklin