The Press.
London, England, 1856-09-06 00:00:00

Obituarl

REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN Ross, C. 8., died on
Saturday last, at his residence in Gillingham-street,
Pimlico. This gallant Arctic voyager entered the
navy as far back as 1786, was constantly engaged,
and wounded no less than thirteen times during
the French war. His most important services,
however, were rendered in the Arctic regions,
whither in 1818 he sailed, together with Sir
W. E. Parry. The results of his investigations are
detailed in his " Voyage of Discovery," published in
1819. He was afterwards, from May, 1829, until
October, 1833, employed in the Victory steamer, on
a fresh expedition to the Arctic regions, equipped at
the expense of Sir Felix Booth, and for his services
he received the honour of knighthood, together with
the Companionship of the Bath, in 1834. In March,
1839, he was appointed consul at Stockholm, where
he remained until 1844. He was presented by the
Patriotic Society with a sword valued at 100/. ; and
for services performed by him in the Baltic he was
nominated a Knight Comrnmander of the Swedish
Order of the Sword. Sir John was also a knight of
several other foreign orders. Among other works, he
wrote " Letters to Young Sea 01; cers," " Memoirs
and Correspondence of Admiral LIM de Saumarez,"
and a " Treatise on Navigation by Steam." Sir John
Ross was in his 80th year, and the immediate cause
of death was the excessive fatigue induced by a
recent trip to the country. By his death a good-
service pension is placed at the disposal of the First
Lord of the Admiralty.
GENERAL SIR HENRY F. CAMPBELL, K.C.8., G.C.H.,
died cn Monday, in his eighty-seventh year, at bis
residence in Lowndes•sauare, after a long and pain-
ful illness. Sir Henry served throughout the Pe-
ninsular war in command of the second brigade and
of the first division of Guards, and he highly distin-
guished himself. He was twice married, and nu-
merous families are placed in mourning in conse-
quence of his death. Among them is his son, Colonel
Campbell, the Hon. Colonel Stanley (brother of the
Earl of Derby), Colonel Brownlow Knox, M.P., and
Colonel Moorsom.

MR. GILBERT A BECKETT, one of the magistrates of
the Southwark Police-court, died on Saturday last at
Boulogne from typhus. The learned gentleman had
lately been on a continental tour, and on arriving at
Boulogne a few days previous to his return to Eng-
land, was seized with an attack of typhus fever and
died in three days. Mr. aßeckett was well known
in town literary circles. He was one of the founders
of, and contributors to, Punch, and for some period
was a regular writer in the Times. His "Andover
Union" articles are among the most masterly and
vigorous leaders ever published in the Times, and
secured for him the metropolitan magistracy, which
be held with high credit for the last seven years.
SIR RICHARD WEST3IACOTT, It A., aged 82, died on
Monday, at his town residence in South Audley
street. Richard Westmacott was born in London, in

SATURDAY,

1775, and, showing early signs of his future vocation,
adopted the profession of a sculptor when he was
quite a child, and received the first rudiments of
instruction in the studio of his father, who was a
sculptor of some little eminence in Mount-street,
Grosvenor-square. In 1793 he visited Rome, where
he is said to have studied for a time under Canova.
In the following year he received from the Academy
of Florence their first premium for sculpture, and
the medal of his Holiness in 1705, and was also
elected a member of the Academy of Florence.
Some years after he returned to England, and estab •
lished himself in the west-end of London, where he
soon gained an extensive reputation. In 1805 the
Royal Academy of London elected him an associate
of their body, and in 1816 he became a Royal Acade-
rnecian. The works of art by which he was best
known, are his statues of Addison, Pitt, and Erskine,
his statues of the late Duke of Bedford and of Cherie a
James Fox, in Bedford and Russell squares, and his
monuments to Sir Ralph Abercromby, Lord ,Jolling-
word, and others in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's
Cathedral, together with the elegant and classical
figure of Psyche. Besides these be designed the
colossal statue of Achilles in Hyde-park, and the
statue of Nelson at the Liverpool Exchange, and,
together with Flaxman and Bally, a portion of the
figures on the frieze of the marble arch originally
erected at Buckingham Palace, but now standing at
Cumberland-gate. His latest work, we believe, was
the sculptured pediment at the British Museum. In
1847 lie succeeded Flaxman es Professor of Sculpture
in the Royal Academy, and held that appointmeht
until his decease; he had not, however, exhibited
since 1839. In 1837 he received the honour of
knighthood. His artistic works are all strictly
classical in their style, but partake far more of the
Roman than of the Greek character. They are not
abstract and ideal, or of the highest order of concep-
tion, but living and breathing realities, executed to
the life in a bol.l and severe style. Among the best
known of his productions are "The Distressed
Mother" which he executed in 1822 for the Marqu's
of Lansdowne ; " The Houseless Traveller," a copy
of which is in Westminster Abbey; his "Euphro-
syne," for the late Duke of Newcastle in 1837 ; his
two statues " Cupid " and " Psyche," in possession
of the Duke of Bedford, together with a large alto
relievo, "The Death of Horace," which he executed
for the late Earl of Egreniont, and which we believe
is still in the gallery at Petworth. Sir Richard West-
macott married, in 1798, Dorothy Margaret, the
daughter of Dr. Wilkinson, and leaves a son.