HIDDEN TRACKS ARCHIVE
William Battersby - Historian
ABOUT
William Battersby Archive
A collection of all the writings from various blogs by William Battersby, collated as best we can.
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William Battersby continued researching the topic and contributing to discussion even after his first book 'James Fitzjames: Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition'. A few weeks before he died he started working on an updated edition of his book, owing to further discoveries about Fitzjames, and his parents. He didn’t live to publish his second edition but the corrections, ideas and writings that he did write himself, have been archived online.
They’ve been archived here in the spirit of helping introduce others to the topic.
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After he died they were at risk of being lost forever. Thanks to Frank Michael and Logan Zachary the notes were saved and they have now been archived by Maddie Battersby. The posts are in order of original publication.
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"This covers William Battersby's research into the Franklin Expedition of 1845-1848 and specifically my book, 'James Fitzjames: the Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition'. William studied Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London (now part of University College, London) and graduated with First Class Honours. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was also very interested in music and am a private pilot, flying a high performance Super Dimona motor-glider. William was convinced that multi-disciplinary research which combines archaeology, a proper understanding of Inuit family memories and archival research can yield a far better understanding of the Franklin tragedy."
We hear from those we cannot know
The pleasures of a sailor's life
That when we on the waters go
We pass our days in useless strife
But I contend that one may be
Happier anywhere else at sea
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First verse of a poem written by James Fitzjames in the back of his journal at Portsmouth on 20 August 1834