Sir William Edward Parry was a Royal Navy commander and explorer best known for his 1819-1820 expedition through the Parry Channel, which was arguably the most successful in the lengthy search for the Northwest Passage until it was ultimately traversed by Roald Amundsen in 1906. In 1827, Parry launched one of the first journeys to the North Pole. He reached 82 45' N, setting a record for human exploration Farthest North that remained for nearly five decades until Albert Hastings Markham exceeded it in 1875 at 83 20' N. Parry was born in Bath, Somerset, as the son of Caleb Hillier Parry and Sarah Rigby. He was educated at King Edward's School. At the age of thirteen, he joined Admiral Sir William Cornwallis' flagship in the Channel Fleet as a first-class volunteer, became a midshipman in 1806, and was promoted to lieutenant in the frigate Alexander in 1810, where he spent the next three years protecting the Spitsbergen whale fishery. Parry took advantage of this chance to study and practice astronomical observations in northern latitudes, later publishing the results of his research in a short volume titled Nautical Astronomy by Night. From 1813 until 1817, he worked on the North American station.
