Robert Pitcairn

Robert Pitcairn (6 May 1752 – ) was a Scottish midshipman in the Royal Navy. Pitcairn Island was named after him; he was the first person to spot the island, on 2 July 1767 (ship's time), while serving in a voyage in the South Pacific on , captained by Philip Carteret.

Early life and family

Pitcairn was born in Burntisland, Fife, in 1752. His father, John Pitcairn (1722–1775), was a major in the Royal Marines who commanded the British advance party at the Battle of Lexington where the "shot heard round the world" was fired, and who died from wounds after the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. His paternal grandfather, David Pitcairn, was a clergyman at Dysart, Fife, and his paternal grandmother Katherine was the daughter of William Hamilton. His mother Elizabeth (1724–1809) was the daughter of Robert Dalrymple. His uncle William Pitcairn (1712–91) was a doctor at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. It may have been sunk in a tropical storm, or wrecked on the Star Bank off the south coast of Madagascar in early 1770.