IN 1845 Sir John Franklin’s Arctic Expedition set sail in search of the North West Passage, never to be heard of again. One of the several expeditions to be despatched in search of Franklin was in 1850 that included HMS Resolute, captained by Talavera Anson. Anson invited seamen he had sailed with previously to join him on the Resolute, this included 35-year-old Liskeard born George Lower as ‘Officers’ Steward’.

In one of the ‘Great Storms’ of 1854, HMS Resolute became ice-bound and was abandoned by her crew, including George Lower. George was discharged from the Navy, awarded the ‘Arctic Medal’ by Queen Victoria, and settled in a cottage in Doctor’s Lane, Liskeard, with his wife and young family.

Later in that year of 1854, the Arctic ice began to melt and the Resolute was recovered by an American whaler, captained by James Buddington, and towed to a shipyard in Connecticut. To calm the uneasy Anglo/American relations at the time, the Resolute was returned to London and presented to Queen Victoria. When she was eventually broken up, the Resolute’s timbers were used to make several desks, one of which was presented to President Rutherford B. Hayes on November 23, 1880. The desk is still in use in the White House’s Oval Office today.

After working for many years in Liskeard delivering milk on foot, George became crippled with rheumatism and entered the Infirmary of the Liskeard Union Workhouse on Station Road. This is where he was given the nickname of ‘Admiral’, as he loved to entertain his bedfellows with tales of his adventures in the Arctic. In the 1901 census for the Workhouse, George was an ‘Inmate, Widow, Pauper’. He died four years later, aged 90, and was described in the Dundee Courier as ‘believed to be one of the last surviving members of the Franklin Relief Expedition of 1850.

• The town’s museum has a wealth of local knowledge and history on display. It’s website explains: “In the early 1980s, an exhibition of local historical memorabilia and information was staged in the town’s Guildhall. Following much investigation and discussion, including a public meeting, the town council endorsed plans and provided the funds to set up a one room museum on the ground floor of the town’s Public Hall...Liskeard & District museum was officially opened on May 13, 1985...In the late 1990s, the town council started looking for more spacious premises to enable the museum to continue its growth. The derelict, 19th century Henry Rice building in Pike Street, known locally as Foresters Hall, was purchased...and converted into the present Liskeard & District museum. In the late 1990s, the Town Council started looking for more spacious premises to enable the museum to continue its growth...On May 2, 2002, the museum was unofficially opened by the town mayor and on June 6, 2002, it was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Cornwall.” To learn more about what is on display visit liskeardmuseum.com