
Bellot is noted for taking part in two unsuccessful expeditions to try to rescue Sir John Franklin, who had died trying to find a water route around the North side of the American continent.
Both expeditions failed to find Franklin, but they did make other discoveries, including a piece of water now known as the Bellot Strait. During the second expedition he took part in, Bellot was separated from the rest of the group, fell through the ice in the Wellington Channel and died.
£2,000 was raised from mourners after his death and £500 of that was spent on the memorial, designed by Philip Hardwick, who also designed the Euston Arch. In 1935 a crater on the Moon was also named Bellot in his honour.
For more on Bellot, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ren%C3%A9_Bellot
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