John Rae was a Scottish doctor who explored

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

  Northern Canada

Northern Canada

Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...

, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

 and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition.
Rae was born at the Hall of Clestrain

Hall of Clestrain

The Hall of Clestrain in the parish of Orphir, Orkney, Scotland, was built in 1769 for Patrick Honyman. It featured in the second series of the BBC TV series Restoration...

 in the parish of Orphir

Orphir

Orphir is a parish and settlement in Mainland, Orkney. It is averagely southwest of Kirkwall, and comprehends a seaboard tract of about 7 by 3½ miles , and includes Cava and the Holm of Houton...

 in Orkney. After studying medicine at Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 he went to work for the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 as a doctor, accepting a post as surgeon at Moose Factory

Moose Factory, Ontario

Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in Ontario and the second Hudson's Bay Company post to be set up in North...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, where he remained for ten years.

Whilst working for the company, treating both European and indigenous employees of the company, Rae became known for his prodigious stamina and skilled use of snow shoes.