UK Mega 2021: Lincolnshire
33 Lincolnshire Legends: Matthew Flinders
This a straightforward series which was published for the 2021 UK Mega, held at the nearby Lincolnshire Showground. The series celebrates the many famous people who were either born in, lived in or associated with the glorious county of Lincolnshire!
Matthew Flinders, Navigator and Explorer
Captain Matthew Flinders (16th March 1774 – 19th July 1814) was an English navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of the landmass that is now known as Australia. He is also credited as being the first person to utilise the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent including Van Diemen's Land, a title he regarded as being "more agreeable to the ear" than previous names such as Terra Australis.
Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, the most famous of which are the circumnavigation around Australia and an earlier expedition where he and George Bass confirmed that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island.
While returning to England in 1803, Flinders was arrested by the French governor at Isle de France (Mauritius). Although Britain and France were at war, Flinders thought the scientific nature of his work would ensure safe passage, but he remained under arrest for more than six years. In captivity, he recorded details of his voyages for future publication, and put forward his rationale for naming the new continent 'Australia', as an umbrella term for New Holland and New South Wales – a suggestion taken up later by Governor Macquarie.
Flinders' health had suffered, however, and although he returned to England in 1810, he did not live to see the success of his widely praised book and atlas, A Voyage to Terra Australis. The location of his grave was lost by the mid-19th century but archaeologists, excavating a former burial ground near London's Euston railway station for the High Speed 2 (HS2) project, announced in January 2019 that his remains had been identified.
Matthew Flinders was born in Donington, near Boston. He was educated at Cowley's Charity School, Donington, from 1780 and then at the Reverend John Shinglar's Grammar School at Horbling.
