The Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1865-05-06 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF VICE-ADMIRAL ROBERT  FITZROY.  On Monday morning a painful feeling of regret agitated the whole of the officials of the Board of Trade, on assembling at Whitehall, when the melan• ch•olv news of the suicide of Vice-Admiral Fitzroy, the chief of the meteorological division of that department .if the Government, became known. He cut his throat at his residence, Lyndhurst-house, Norwood, on Sunday morning.  oThe...unfortunate Admiral was the youngest son of the late General Lord Charles Fitzroy by his second marriage with Lady Francis Anne Stuart, eldest daughter of Robert., first Marquis of Londonderry. He was born on the sth of July, 1803; ontereo the navy in October, 1819, and obtained his commission as lieutenant in September, 1824. After serving on the Mediterranean and South American stations, he became, in August, 1828, flag-lieutenant to Rear Admiral Robert NV. ()may, at Rao Janeiro, and obtained his commission as commander in November the same year. He was employed an commander and captain of the Beagle from 1828 to 1836 in important hydrographical operations in South America and elsewhere, carrying on surveys and a chain of meridional distances round the globe. In 1843 he was appointed Governor of New Zealand, which appointment he held three years, being recalled owing to the disturbed state of the colony. Previously to going to New Zealand he was elected. in 1841, M.P., for the city of Durham. Admiral Fitzroy's scientific researches in meteorology have procured him the highest reputation in that branch of science. He wa. a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fallow of the. Asiatic Society, and many other learned bodies. The late Admiral Fitzroy was twice married,—first in December, 1836, to Mary Henrietta. second daughter of the late Alejor. General O'Brien, which lady died in the spring of 1852; and secondly in April. 1854, to Maria Labelle., daughter of the late Mr. J. H. Smyth, of Heath-hall, Yorkshire, who survives ham. He leaves a son and two daughta rs by his first marriage. The Admiral's only sister is married to Lord Dynevor. At the inquest on the body, the verdict returned wan "That the deceased, Admiral Fitzroy, eame by his death by his own act; and that at the time of the said act he was in an unsound mind."  A cnntemporsly ban the following remalks on this melancho'y event ;  Toe sudden and shocking catastro.phe which has deprived England and the scientific world of such a man se Admiral Fitzroy can hardly be too deeply deplored. We fear there will be found too much reason to believe that this distinguished man and valuable public servant has fallen a victim to a shattered condi, ion of mind caused by exhausting attention to his scientific &vies. Hie occupation was one which, to a nature enthusiastically absorbed in it, allowed of no rest and no relief. As chief of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, Admiral Fitzroy watched and toiled without relax-dim], early and late. He allowed himself no holiday ; he trusted to the services of no substitute. He was always to be found in his little room, surrounded by the appliances of his occupation and earnestly intent upon the calculation., and the observations which it required. As yet the outer world knows nothing of the circumca,nces preceding his suicide, and can only form the merest conjecture as to the cause. hut we shall certainly be surprised if it do not prove that at to profound anxiety shout the tad( he had to perform unsettled that gifted mind, and utterly overtaxed that self-forgetting nature. Whatever the cause may be it has deprived England of one of her most valuable servants. The fisherman preparing to launch his boat, the seaman venturing on an ocean voyage, the shipper anxious for his cargo. the wife expecting her sea-borne husband home, were all alike interested in the results of Admiral Fitzroy's intelligent observations. His name hail become one of the most familiar in the mouths of all classes. He was drawing towards the close of an honoured and an active career, and had won a high place in the scientific world. In the distant colony of New Zealand, where, as Governor more than twenty years ago, he di-played equal humanity and intelligence, his ~awe wilt be long remembered with respect and affection. Whatever the pressure that unsettled the mind of such a man and drove him to a desperate act, which in a sane hour he would have shuddered to think of, there can be only one common feeling of regret wherever his name is known, for one so valuable, go earnest, so devoted to his calling, so suddenly and terribly given to death.