Ellesmere Francis 
(01.01.1800–18.02.1857)

English political and public figure, Lord, the twelfth (1853-1854) President of the Royal Geographical Society. 
At birth, he had the surname Leveson Gover and was the youngest son of the Marquis of Stafford, later the Earl of Sutherland. Becoming the heir of his rich and influential uncle Earl Bridgewater, Francis, who had by that time the surname Edgerton, in 1846 was elevated to the rank of Earl Elsmir. 
Ellesmere was educated at Eton and Oxford and soon occupied a high position in the House of Commons of the English Parliament, in which he had been active for more than twenty years. In the period 1828–1830 he was a representative from Ireland in the administration of Earl Wellington. 
According to contemporaries, Ellesmere was not by nature a boss. As head of the Royal Geographical Society, he proved himself to be a conscientious and active leader who did much to strengthen and develop both society and geography as a whole. In 1854, thanks to the efforts of the president, a government grant was received to the society for the construction of rooms for books and maps, which could be used not only by members of society, but also by all who wished. 
Ellesmere was a highly educated man, who knew several languages, was good at painting, and had a literary gift. On his yacht, he visited many Mediterranean countries, collecting a large collection of paintings, of which there were many in that region and which were very low valued and poorly preserved there. 
Ellesmere has written several books and a large number of articles on geography, literature, painting, and archeology. He was a generous patron of poor art lovers. "The Society has never had a more cordial friend than Lord Ellesmere, or the President, who, with all his diverse achievements and popularity, was better suited to meet the interests of the Society".

An island in the extreme northwest of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. Discovered in 1616 by W. Baffin.