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MAJOR, Richard Henry. Jersey (Wikipedia: Shoreditch, London) 3.10.1818 — Kensington 25.6.1891. British Geographer. Son of the elder R.H. Major, a physician, and his wife Elizabeth. The father died when he was three and he was brought up by his paternal grandfather. School in London (Merchant Taylors’ School).  From 1844 in charge of the the map collection in British Museum, from 1867 Keeper of the new department of printed maps and plans, retired 1880. In 1881-84 Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society, also active member of Hakluyt Society. Married 1847 Sarah Elizabeth Thorn (1814?–1890), an artist, two daughters.

Publications: Several works about the history of exploration and cartography.

– India in the fifteenth century: being a collection of narratives of voyages to India, in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, now first translated into English. L. Hakluyt Soc. 1857.

– The life of Prince Henry of Portugal surnamed the navigator and its results: Comprising the discovery, within one century, of half the world. With new facts in the discovery of the Atlantic Islands. A refutation of French claims to priority in discovery. Portuguese Knowledge (subsequently lost) of the Nile lakes; and the history of the naming of America. L. 1868.

Sources: E.J.L.S[cott], D.N.B. 35, 1893, 389; Wikipedia with drawing.