LATELY, the name "Lefroy" has come to be associated with news stories of sub-standard conditions for the mentally disabled at Lefroy House in Dockyard. This week, a historian is in Bermuda to research the man behind the name: John Henry Lefroy, Governor, scientist, historian, and humanitarian.

Canadian Sharon Lefroy is the great-great-granddaughter of the the man known to friends simply as "Henry". He was the Governor of Bermuda from 1871 until 1877, when he was posted to Tasmania as a temporary Governor.

Ms Lefroy is on the island both to put the finishing touches on a biography of her ancestor and to educate locals on the enormous impact Henry had in Bermuda during his tenure as Governor.

According to Ms Lefroy ? a direct descendant through Henry's youngest son Frazer Augustus ? without the painstaking work of John Henry Lefroy in researching and transcribing Bermuda's history, from the first settlement by Sir George Somers, hundreds of years of our past could have been lost forever.

"He took all the records from the attic of Government House, where they were falling apart," Ms Lefroy explained. "He found all the company records from the Bermuda Company and the Old Virginia Company in a deteriorated state.

"These records were half moth-eaten and bundled with string. He took pains to transcribe them and give them a historical context. It was quite a feat, involving huge amounts of work. He produced two huge volumes, as he was very meticulous and scientific."

Indeed, John Henry Lefroy's were published in two volumes, the first in 1877 and the second in 1880. Both are the size of large encyclopedias, copies are now housed at the Bermuda Historical Society museum in Par-la-Ville Park.

Even before Henry compiled Bermuda's history for posterity, he led a fascinating and fruitful life. In the Post-Napoleonic era Henry was born into in England, officers found themselves unemployed in a time of peace. Instead of fighting, soldiers were trained in the sciences, with a view to developing the resources of the colonies.

Lefroy was both a soldier and a scientist, trained in magnetism. He was sent on a voyage with Captain James Ross, who discovered the magnetic North Pole. After their scientific expedition, Lefroy moved on to St. Helena, where he set up a magnetic observatory not far from the area where Napoleon had been imprisoned in his exile. In fact, Lefroy supervised the exhumation of Napoleon's corpse before it was returned to France for burial in Paris.

Lefroy then found himself in Canada, where he carried out the first geomagnetic survey of British North America. He travelled with the Hudson Bay Company, and spent ten years in Canada as one of the world's first meteorologists. One of his expeditions is chronicled in a painting by Paul Kane, which is now famous for earning the most money at auction in Canada, sold at Sotheby's for $6.3 million to Lord Thomson of Fleet after being discovered in the home of a distant Lefroy relative in the UK.

Never content to stay in one place for too long, Henry went to Scutari in the Crimea, and was an advisor and inspector for the Royal Artillery during the Crimean War. Sent to investigate the health of troops in Crimean hospitals, Henry met Florence Nightingale and established a close friendship with the famous nurse.

After some time developing various arsenals for the Royal Artillery back in the UK, Henry was posted to Bermuda, where he spent two terms as Governor, during which time he compiled his exhaustive . Henry did not, however, spend all his time in the attic crouched over yellowing parchments. He employed his scientific skills and applied them to Bermuda, carrying out activities initiated by his predecessor Governor Reid concerning the science of weather.

In addition, Henry looked at agriculture, with a particular interest in the analysis of soil. He imported plants from all over the world and in the process made Bermuda's first nursery.

In a letter to his son Frazer ? Sharon Lefroy's great grandfather ? dated November 8, 1871, Henry described his desire to see his new orchard bear fruit: "I'm making a nursery of young trees, I believe the first ever planted in Bermuda, and have received this day about one hundred trees from America which we are very busy planting, though I hardly expect any of them to bear in any time. There are apples, figs, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, grapevines, raspberries and even blackberries which they are said to have cultivated in the Southern States to be a very good fruit so we will try it."

Sharon Lefroy began what she calls her personal "voyage of discovery" from the house where John Henry Lefroy grew up, in rural England. "The vast majority of his papers still exist," she explained. "I had access to his private accounts in the house where he grew up, which adjoined Jane Austen's home, although she died around the time he was born. His grandmother is credited with inspiring Jane Austen to write poetry and novels."

She continued: "This man, known as 'Henry', embarked on a voyage of discovery and adventure in Canada, Bermuda, St. Helena and Tasmania. I too have been on a voyage of discovery and adventure, tracing his life steps. In the process I've discovered a lot about the impact of British history, culture, and tradition in my own family and in the countries and territories of the former British Empire, in part in Bermuda.

"I've discovered the intricate interplay between the desire of John Henry Lefroy to bring scientific endeavours to not only the natural environment of the island but the same scientific discipline to improve the social progress of the diverse peoples of the islands. Finally, for what he is most renowned for, he even brought scientific discipline to salvaging the history of the peoples of Bermuda."

Sharon Lefroy has spent the better part of the past three years retracing Henry's steps in order to try and find some of the earlier documentation of her ancestor's adventures both in libraries and private homes of family members.

"I've always had an interest in history and my family history," she explained. "At an early age I was reading family documents. I'm a direct descendant of Henry's son Frazer Augustus, his youngest and the only child to return to Toronto. He was one of the first professors of Constitutional History, at the University of Toronto."

Indeed, it is in Canada that Henry has recently returned to the spotlight, thanks to the auction of Paul Kane's painting for such a large sum. Lord Thomson of Fleet has since donated the painting to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Lord Thomson, himself very interested in the remarkable scientist and his endeavours, contacted Sharon Lefroy upon hearing that she had correspondence describing the location of articles depicted in the painting, and the names of the individuals shown. Together, the two have located some of these items in museums and family homes and are planning an exhibit to be placed in front of the painting in conjunction with the Art Gallery of Ontario.

"Over Christmas, the painting filled the front pages of our national newspaper in Canada, the ," Ms Lefroy said. "It's an important piece of history that has been brought to the attention of Canadians."

Now, Sharon Lefroy hopes her great-great-grandfather will enjoy the same recognition here in Bermuda, casting the family name in a positive light once again in the aftermath of the debacle at Lefroy House. In fact, Ms Lefroy notes that her ancestor would have looked upon the scandal at the house that bears his name with great sadness.

"He had such a profound interest in the welfare of the mentally challenged," she explained. "At the time of his arrival as Governor, the state of the 'lunatic asylum', as it was then called, was deplorable. In correspondence he describes jail-like conditions for the individuals living there, like rags stuffed in windows to keep out the cold north winds.

"There was no female matron for female patients. He built a new centre for these individuals. He made sure there were separate rooms for men and women and separate matrons. He built them a recreation room and developed a very detailed list of rules and regulations for their treatment.

"The staff was accountable directly to the Governor and his Council. The guidelines were progressive for the time; Henry was very liberal-minded and humane for the 1870s. His attitudes stemmed from his work with Florence Nightingale prior to his arrival in Bermuda. It is ironic that mistreatment occured at Lefroy House, with Henry's great interest in humane treatment for everyone."

John Henry Lefroy not only improved the quality of life for patients at the 'lunatic asylum', but set about to renovate the crumbling 'gaol' as well. In fact, although there was a movement afoot to try and have Government House refurbished, Henry insisted on the improvements for the asylum and the jail taking place first, before his own home could be renovated.

As the first chronicler of Bermuda's history, Henry took a special interest in the life and death of Sir George Somers. Sharon Lefroy has uncovered correspondence with respect to an effort to locate the burial place of Somers' heart. "He erected a memorial to Somers in St. George's," Ms Lefroy explained. "He really wanted him to be remembered."

Both John Henry Lefroy and Sir George Somers are captured together for posterity on the north side of the nave in the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton, in a stained glass picture of a storm in the Sea of Galilee. The dedication reads: "In Memory of the First Settlers of these Islands and of their Historian, Sir John Henry Lefroy, C.B, K.C.M.G, F.R.S, Sometime Governor of this Colony."

Sharon Lefroy has been in touch with the UK National Archives and the Bermuda Library in order to access Henry's articles while she is here to research the biography.

"He wrote prolifically," she explained. "There's a huge resurgence of interest in Lefroy. This book started out as something for the family, and it became a book looking at a broader public. I want to focus on the role of the Victorian scientist in developing the various colonies of the Empire."

Ms Lefroy hopes to finish her book, which will be available here, next year. "I'm three-quarters of the way there," she said. "I have 300 pages so far." While Sharon Lefroy's biography will be the most comprehensive yet, it is not the first book chronicling Henry's life. He wrote his own autobiography, edited by his first wife.

John Henry Lefroy left Bermuda in 1877 for Tasmania, where he acted as a temporary Governor. He died in 1890. Just as Bermudians are indebted to Henry for his impact as a Governor, historian, scientist, and humanitarian, Henry never forgot Bermuda. In a letter to his son Frazer, at school in England, Henry wrote of the island: "This place is quite charming. If it were the property of a gentleman of good means it might be made a showplace."