William Lashly
Antarctic Explorer

At the turn of 19thC the South Pole might be seen as the equivalent of the moon in recent times: it was a wilderness area that tested the resources of explorers to the limit of endurance. Captain Robert Falcon Scott was immortalised in legend as one of the greatest Antarctic explorers but tragically he died on the return leg of his expedition to the South Pole in 1912. One of Hambledon’s most feted heroes accompanied Captain Scott on two of his polar expeditions.

William Lashly was one of the three men forming the last support party and who survived after leaving the final stage of Scott’s trek to the Pole. They themselves became legend for their endurance and resourcefulness. Hambledon man, William Lashly,  played a central role in this story and achieved heroic fame in the first half of the 20th Century.

William Lashly as a young man
Petty Officer Tom Crean, Lt Teddy Evans and Chief Stoker William Lashly (1911). Hambledon man, William Lashly, is the focus of this entry in the Roll of Honour. He is pictured here to the right of the group. Herbert Ponting, official photographer of Scott’s 1910 Antarctic Expedition, took dramatic photographs and cine film of the expedition. This photo was created from more than one negative to meet the demand for an iconic photo of this team of three to accompany their remarkable survival story

William Lashly was born in Hambledon on Christmas Day, 1867, the son of a thatcher, one of four brothers, the eldest John and younger brothers Charles and Frank. He also had three sisters, Jessie, Olive and Kate . After attending the village school, at the age of 11 he started working for his father. At 21, in 1889, William joined the Royal Navy as a stoker. The role of stoker required physical strength as keeping the steam driven boats’ boilers fuelled was their primary task.  Lashly’s height was a modest five feet six inches according to his service record when signing up. The other measure – that of upper body strength and stamina was the size of a stoker’s chest being a minimum of 34 inches: here he excelled.

William had an exceptional physique and above average chest size. While Lashly’s physical qualities ensured his reputation for endurance, he proved resourceful in every situation: stokers were well-placed to grasp the engineering and maintenance of the steam driven engines they fuelled and William was able to use these maintenance skills in the Polar expeditions; no doubt his farming background and his sailor training made him a jack of all trades, able to cook and bake, repair fabric wood or metal and respond to any challenge.

On 19th October 1896 he married Alice Cox in Hambledon’s St Peter & St Paul’s church, their daughter, also Alice, was born four years later.
 
In 1901, Lashly was a leading stoker serving on HMS Duke of Wellington when he was chosen as one of the Naval volunteers for Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery Expedition – known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition and tasked with carrying out scientific research and geographical exploration in what was then largely terra incognita. The expedition was organised jointly by members of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society and was a launch pad for the polar exploration careers not only of Scott but also Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean and William Lashly who was described as a quiet sort of man who knew his job backwards – a teetotaller and non-smoker.

Scott was promoted to the rank of Commander when appointed to lead the expedition. As well as its ground-breaking scientific and geographical research, the expedition attempted to reach the South Pole, getting as far south as record-breaking 82°17′S.

Shackleton was drawn from the Merchant Marine and appointed third officer to the Expedition in 1901. His qualification, earned in 1898, was Master Mariner and for the Expedition he was commissioned into the Royal Navy with the rank of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.
Scott held the rank of Lieutenant In the Royal Navy when he was appointed to lead the Expedition

The Discovery Expedition embarked from the Isle of Wight on 6 August 1901 sailing via the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand and arriving in Antarctica at the Ross Barrier (a permanent ice shelf) where Scott landed on 4 February 1902, ultimately setting up base camp on a rocky promontory with huts for storage of their equipment while the men continued to live aboard Discovery.

In sunless wintry conditions during May-August scientific research proceeded while Scott allowed Discovery to become ice bound for the duration of the Antarctic winter. Lashly commented that it was ‘a dreary place’.
Returning from the attempt to reach the South Pole with Shackleton, Scott hoped to find Discovery free from the ice but it remained stuck, forcing the expedition to spend another year in the Antarctic. The expedition had challenges and failures mainly due to inexperience: dog-handling skills were lacking and the men suffered numerous privations – the main one being scurvy which disabled Shackleton who returned to Britain early on a relief ship.

Discovery arrived back in Portsmouth on 10 September 1904 and public enthusiasm soon followed with Scott promoted to Captain and entertained by King Edward VII at Balmoral. Scott was given leave by the Navy to write his account of the expedition and it was published in 1905 as The Voyage of the Discovery, with impressive sales. Scott wrote a separate report to the Admiralty, singling out Lashly and Evans in glowing terms:

“I would remark that I think that journey nearly reached the limit of performance possible under the conditions, in order to point out that it could not have been accomplished had either of these men failed in the smallest degree. Their determination, courage, and patience were often taxed to the utmost, yet I never knew them other than cheerful and respectful. On one occasion Lashly undoubtedly saved our lives by his presence of mind when Evans and I had fallen into a crevasse”.

Discovery moored by the Barrier ice shelf

Discovery moored by the Barrier ice shelf

Shackleton, Scott and Wilson

Shackleton, Scott and Wilson pictured on their return from their Polar trek on 3 February 1903. The effects of weather and ice made them almost unrecognisable to the crew.

The Discovery crew were paid off and given two months leave and in recognition of their service all expedition members were awarded the Polar Medal. Lashly was promoted to Chief Stoker and went to the Royal Naval College at Osborne, Isle of Wight, as an instructor to Officer Cadets, however it was not long before he returned to sea, serving on HMS Proserpine patrolling the Persian Gulf. Tom Crean was promoted from Able Seaman to Petty Officer.

Returning to England in 1904, after a successful expedition, and with massive public acclaim given to the expedition members, it was clear that Captain Scott had unfinished business with the South Pole and was keen to return to Antarctica. He announced his second exhibition in 1909. Something of a cloud on his plans was Shackleton’s decision to mount his own expedition to Antarctica in 1907: this expedition had its successes, including reaching the magnetic south pole, but missing getting to the geographic pole by 111 miles when his supplies ran low. Some ill-feeling seems to have existed between Scott and Shackleton starting with the latter leaving the Discovery expedition early thanks to poor health; and it may be that Scott felt that Shackleton was trespassing on ‘territory’ mandated to Scott.

The Terra Nova Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913

Lashly’s fate remained firmly locked in with Captain Scott and he was among the first to sign up for the next expedition which was to be transported by the vessel Terra Nova, a purpose-built sailing vessel with an auxiliary steam engine and designed for polar whaling and sealing. It had previously been a supply vessel for the first Discovery expedition; Discovery itself was now in the fleet of the Hudson Bay Company.
 
At noon on 1 June 1910 Terra Nova departed from its berth at West India Dock and sailed down the Thames accompanied by cheering crowds on either shore and salutes from steamers’ whistles and the sirens of ocean liners. Expedition photographer, Herbert Ponting recalled, ‘the progress of the rugged whaler down the Thames was like a triumphal procession.’ Terra Nova was headed to Cardiff for final supplies and embarkation of the crew.

The expedition’s strong connection with Cardiff arose from Lt Evans whose plans to mount his own expedition were supported by the city. When Evans decided to join Scott’s Terra Nova enterprise, he brought the full support of Cardiff with him and Scott made Evans his second in command of the expedition. Part of the deal was that the exhibition should depart from and return to Cardiff. This connection would have much influence on Lashly who, on his retirement from the Navy, was offered a post by the city.

The vessel departed Cardiff on June 15, heavily laden with supplies and the necessities of transport that included ponies, sled dogs and 3 Wolseley motor sledges! The only thing missing was the expedition leader, Robert Falcon Scott who was still pursuing expedition sponsors; he followed by passenger liner to rendezvous with Terra Nova in Cape Town. The voyage to Antarctica via New Zealand had its challenges: sitting low in the water with its heavy load, Terra Nova was not as watertight as the crew would have liked and this would keep William Lashly busy maintaining the bilge pumps.

At the port of Lyttleton, New Zealand, Terra Nova was refitted and made ready for the last stage of its voyage to the Antarctic. The large hut to house the main expedition was given a trial erection on shore and found to be in need of modification. The presence of the Expedition created much interest in the Port. Terra Nova set out for Antarctica on November 29 1910 to arrive in McMurdo Sound on January 4 1911 after challenging conditions at sea with gale force winds and pack ice which delayed their progress by three weeks.

Terra Nova pictured in Lyttleton, New Zealand 1910

Accommodation in the hut was cramped by normal standards but Scott was delighted by the comforts of this confined space, probably little worse in size than his ship’s cabin. The officers of the party had separate quarters while the likes of Lashly and Crean slept in hammocks in the general area. The hut had layers of insulation to withstand temperatures of minus 50 F and below during the continuous winter darkness. Provision also had to be made for the animals accompanying the expedition – ponies and dogs.

Above: Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans as it is today – (Kuno Lechner photographer)

A new addition to polar exploration was the motorised sledge first trialled by Shackleton in 1907 with poor results. It was one of three methods of traction planned by Scott to cover the long trek over polar ice, the other two being dog teams or ponies. In fact for the diehards of the Discovery expedition there was a clear fourth which was man-hauling, at which Lashly and Crean excelled and had long experience and no doubt was the key to survival as it would turn out later.

Terra Nova held up in pack ice, 13 December 1910 (Herbert Ponting)
A section of the Expedition’s officer’s quarters. in the hut, Cherry-Garrard, Oates, Meares and Atkinson lie on bunks, Bowers stands on a chair next to his.
Scott writing his journal in Scott’s Hut at Cape Evans, 7 October 1911
Trial assembly of the prefabricated hut in Lyttleton
Exterior of the hut at Cape Evans. Its external dimensions were 50 ft by 25 ft. Carpenter Davis is seen working on the cladding insulation January 9th 1911
William Lashly L. and right with, Bernard Day, Lt “Teddy” Evans and Frederick J Hooper with the last functioning Wolseley motor sled, October 1911

While Scott had his reservations about the motor sleds, he hoped they would contribute to the heavy lifting of supplies to supply depots and across the ice to the Beardmore Glacier for the main attempt on the South Pole. Scott also acknowledged Lashly’s uncertainty about the sleds. Unfortunately, they lived up to worst expectations. Two of the three were unloaded from Terra Nova as a priority to be used in the construction at Cape Evans. The third, offloaded later, broke through the ice as it landed and was lost. When it came to use in the various forays and the main trek the motors simply were not fit for purpose and despite modifications to improve their performance, they could only run short stints before overheating and soon they were down to one which then also failed during the main push.

Scott’s plan for reaching the Pole started in January 1911 with creating supplies depots on the ice barrier and beyond for outbound and return treks. The window for this was limited thanks to the expedition running behind its planned timetable. 12 men were assigned to the task with dog teams and ponies – ice conditions ruled out use of the motor sleds. The last of the depots, One Ton Depot, was positioned over 30 miles short of the planned location because of pressures of time and the poor condition of the draft ponies.

The alternative to motorised sledges – Day, Nelson and Lashly among crevasses on Barne Glacier 21 February 1911

On 23 April 1911 the main party hunkered down in the Cape Evans hut as the sun disappeared for the span of the winter months. Scientific research and project work continued but exploration was on hold. Experts in the science team gave lectures to their companions; equipment was overhauled and preparation of rations for next season’s forays was made as well as looking after the ponies and dog teams and regular games of football in the polar twilight. The odd feast was permitted – most notably for Scott’s 43rd birthday on 6 June.

Emerging from the polar winter in mid-September 1911, Scott set out his plans for the trek to the South Pole. 16 men would form the party and in phased groups assemble near the Beardmore Glacier. Equipment would be hauled by motor sled, ponies and dog teams and then the sleds would be man-hauled up the glacier and onward to the Pole by 12 of the 16 in three teams of four.

The team making the final stage to the Pole would be decided by Scott en route but two support teams of four would be sent back at fixed intervals. Scott’s return journey plan was to take into account the position of the supply depots and dog teams would set out from base to help the Polar party back to camp.

Captain Scott’s birthday feast, 6 June 1911

The first team to set out from Cape Evans on 24 October was the motorised sleds manned by Lt Evans, Bernard Day, William Lashly and Frederick Hooper. They would wait at the rendezvous point some 200 miles away for the other two teams’ arrival. By 1 November both sleds were out of action having covered just over 50 miles, meaning the four men had to haul 336kg of supplies the remaining 150 miles to arrive at the meeting point around 15 November. Scott’s main party, with dog teams and ponies left Cape Evans on 1 November and met up with Evans’ team on 21 November. On 4 December the expedition, now 14 men, poised to ascend Beardmore Glacier but a blizzard held them back until 9th. On 11th another two men and the dog teams left the main party to return to Cape Evans. Having made the ascent, on 22 December, Scott selected another 4 men to return to base. The party, now reduced to 8 men, made good time in better conditions and on 3 January 1912 Scott made his decision on the personnel of the party to make the final assault on the Pole. In the end five were chosen for this critical part of the expedition: Scott, his chief scientific officer Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans. Lt Evans accompanied by Lashly and Crean would return to Cape Evans. The change of plan to a 5 man team required careful adjustment of the rations and Scott’s choice of men would have serious consequences.

Robert Falcon Scott’s Pole party of his ill-fated expedition at the Pole: from left to right Oates (standing), Bowers (sitting), Scott (standing in front of Union Jack flag on pole), Wilson (sitting), Evans (standing). Bowers took this photograph, using a piece of string to operate the camera shutter 17 January 1912

Emerging from the polar winter in mid-September 1911, Scott set out his plans for the trek to the South Pole. 16 men would form the party and in phased groups assemble near the Beardmore Glacier. Equipment would be hauled by motor sled, ponies and dog teams and then the sleds would be man-hauled up the glacier and onward to the Pole by 12 of the 16 in three teams of four.

The team making the final stage to the Pole would be decided by Scott en route but two support teams of four would be sent back at fixed intervals. Scott’s return journey plan was to take into account the position of the supply depots and dog teams would set out from base to help the Polar party back to camp.

The first team to set out from Cape Evans on 24 October was the motorised sleds manned by Lt Evans, Bernard Day, William Lashly and Frederick Hooper. They would wait at the rendezvous point some 200 miles away for the other two teams’ arrival. By 1 November both sleds were out of action having covered just over 50 miles, meaning the four men had to haul 336kg of supplies the remaining 150 miles to arrive at the meeting point around 15 November. Scott’s main party, with dog teams and ponies left Cape Evans on 1 November and met up with Evans’ team on 21 November.

On 4 December the expedition, now 14 men, poised to ascend Beardmore Glacier but a blizzard held them back until 9th. On 11th another two men and the dog teams left the main party to return to Cape Evans. Having made the ascent, on 22 December, Scott selected another 4 men to return to base. The party, now reduced to 8 men, made good time in better conditions and on 3 January 1912 Scott made his decision on the personnel of the party to make the final assault on the Pole. In the end five were chosen for this critical part of the expedition: Scott, his chief scientific officer Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans. Lt Evans accompanied by Lashly and Crean would return to Cape Evans. The change of plan to a 5 man team required careful adjustment of the rations and Scott’s choice of men would have serious consequences.
 
For some time a worrying cloud had hung over Scott as he was aware that the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen was also planning an attempt on the South Pole from a slightly different direction. Scott was desperate to be the first to the geographical pole and was anxious about a race in which Amundsen might have had a head start.
 
On 17 January Scott and his party arrived at the South Pole. From 15 miles away the shattering truth had been revealed as they spied Amundsen’s black flag hanging over their distant destination. In Amundsen’s tent nearby the Pole they found some supplies and a note recording Amundsen’s arrival there with a team of four over a month before on 14 December 1911. Amundsen’s outpacing of Scott is generally understood to be thanks to more experience with winter conditions and skill with skis and the handling of dog teams giving the party agility and speed in reaching the Pole and, equally important, making a safe return from it.

The return journeys of each of the last two parties provide two of the most epic tales in the history of exploration with extraordinary challenges and endurance. One had a happy ending, the other an heroic but tragic conclusion.
 
Lt Evans, Lashly and Crean stoically bore the news of the final polar party selection though Scott could see their disappointment and in his diary recorded that ‘Crean wept … at the prospect of having to turn back, so close to the goal’. On 4th January 1912 the returning support party accompanied Scott and the others for about 5 miles then in parting wished each other success and, after Lt Evans’ team raised three hearty cheers, they set their faces to the journey ahead. From this point on Lashly’s diary notes give an intimate account of the support party’s long and challenging haul back to base. In addition to the exhausting conditions of the terrain and weather the party had to deal with snow blindness and the poor condition of the ice leading to challenges with both their sled and skis. However the worst of the challenges fell upon Lt Evans who, as the trek progressed, showed increasingly acute symptoms first of snow blindness then of scurvy. Finally, unable to walk he was strapped to the sled to be hauled by Lashly and Crean.
 
On 22 January Lashly’s diary records that they reached the end of the Beardmore Glacier and made a swift descent to the Barrier where they changed sleds and took in supplies from the depot there, noting that they now had 360 miles to travel to Hut Point!
 
On 11 February with Evans barely to stand they unloaded everything they could from the sled and built a cairn over the abandoned load and continued with just Lashly and Crean pulling the sled which on 13 February now carried Evans. Finally on 18 February with Evans completely collapsed and rations almost out, Lashly and Crean decided that Crean would hike the 30 miles to Hut Point while Lashly remained to care for Evans. Furnished with only a small amount of chocolate and three biscuits Crean made the trek on foot without skis and without making camp, taking 18 hours to reach safety at Hut Point. Here he found Dr Atkinson and the dog teams under the care of Dimitri Gerov. A severe blizzard held back the rescue party for a day and a half but on 20February Lashly’s acute anxiety about Crean and what might have befallen him was put to rest when he and Evans heard a distant bark and recognised that a dog team was nearby. The two teams driven by Atkinson and Gerov carried provisions which a delighted Lashly set about cooking for the four men and rounded off the evening with an excited entry in his diary which ends ‘but sleep is out of the question’.

A blizzard delayed the rescue party’s departure for Hut Point until 22 February. Evans lay on Gerov’s sled while Atkinson and Lashly took turns on the other, taking spells in walking and running to cover half the journey – around 16 miles that day. At around 1pm the rescue party arrived at Hut Point. Lashly notes: ‘Have had to get some seal meat and ice and prepare a meal. Mr Evans is alright and asleep. We are looking for mail now. How funny we should always be looking for something else, now we are safe.’

Fate of the Polar Party

On 19 January 1912, Scott’s party turned away from the Pole to trek the 862 miles back to base. The first three weeks of the march went well but then the physical condition of Edgar Evans and Lawrence Oates was becoming a problem. On 7 February they began the 100 mile descent of Beardmore to the Barrier, struggling to find the important supply depot. In addition to frostbite, Evans had been concealing a hand injury which wasn’t healing and was sapping his health leading to a head injury from numerous falls. On 17 February Evans collapsed on the ice and died.
 
Having reached the Barrier ice, Scott’s party should have been on track to make it safely back to Hut Point. Unfortunately, the luck enjoyed by Lt Evans and co was missing for the main Polar party. A chain of questionable leadership decisions conspired with disastrous results: Scott’s party arrived at the agreed rendezvous point 3 days early on the 27 February where he expected dog teams to arrive at any moment to aid the last stage of their return. Atkinson, in charge of the base camp and responsible for making the rendezvous with the Polar party was already behind schedule due to rescuing Evans’ support party using the dogs that should have been on their way to the Polar party rendezvous. Atkinson decided to send Apsley Cherry-Garrard out with the dog teams to meet the Polar party; Garrard’s navigational skills were limited and his party got no further than One Ton Depot.
 
Meanwhile Scott’s situation worsened drastically in a deadly combination of bad weather conditions, dwindling supplies and general ill-health including frostbite. Knowing that the One Ton Depot was not too far distant drove them on, despite concerns they might miss meeting the support party and their dogs. Severely affected by frostbite, Captain Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates could barely walk let alone help with pulling the sled. On his 32nd birthday, 17 March 1912, Oates left the Polar party’s tent with the words immortalised in Scott’s journal: “I am just going outside and may be some time”.

Having trekked an additional 20 miles further than the agreed rendezvous and around just 11 miles from the safety of One Ton depot, the remaining party of three became trapped in a fierce blizzard and on 19 March made their final camp. By 23 March, with their supplies exhausted, they knew their end was imminent; Scott gave up his journal until one last entry on 29 March, having written a number of letters and last messages; it concludes ‘For God’s sake look after our people’. So ended Scott’s expedition but the legend, tragic though it was, continued through time, making Scott and his fellow explorers famous for the generations that followed.
 
Efforts were made to find the doomed Polar party: Atkinson, made an excursion without dogs or transport on 27 March but gave up when no sign was found of Scott and in the face of the impending harsh Antarctic winter.
Evans had been evacuated to New Zealand on 5 March and a party numbering 13 men remained at Cape Evans hut. They were comfortable enough with sufficient provisions and much more space than the previous winter. The scientific work of the mission continued while Lashly, Crean and the other non-scientific personnel kept themselves busy – Lashly attending to newly arrived mules who were cantankerous when bad weather kept them from exercising.

With the arrival of the Antarctic spring, a search party set out on 29th October to find the Polar party: 8 men with mules led by William Lashly made their way to One Ton Depot. The rest of the search party with the dog teams rendezvoused at the Depot less than two weeks later. The search party, now numbering 12 on their first day’s march from One Ton Depot on 12 November, spotted what looked like a cairn, not far from their course, around 11 miles from the depot. On closer inspection they found it was the snow-covered tent of the lost Polar party.

The search party leader, Surgeon Edward Atkinson asked Lashly to go into the tent with him to investigate. Digging down into the drifted snow they found the three bodies of Scott, Bowers and Wilson, though they were not identifiable in the gloom of the interior. Pulling away the canvas, the state of the party was revealed, Lashly was overcome with emotion as they recovered the personal effects of the corpses. Atkinson read from Scott’s diaries which revealed the last days of the Polar party. They then draped the tent back over the bodies and piled a snow cairn over it. A final touch was a cross made from the skis of Tryggve Gran placed on the cairn. It is extraordinary to consider that the humble but totally dependable William Lashly was both one of the last men to see Captain Scott alive and the first to set eyes on his lifeless body where it lay in its last resting place.

The search party for the missing Polar party. In command was Dr Edward Atkinson standing 4th from L, Lashly standing 2nd from right.

The search party camped overnight by the site and the next day made an attempt to find Captain Oates’ body. Soon realising it was a hopeless task they turned back to Hut Point. Arriving at Cape Evans on 25 November they found the six-man team of the northern Party had survived the winter, putting to rest a nagging uncertainty that they might too have perished.
 
Lt Evans, having recovered his health in New Zealand brought the Terra Nova back to Cape Evans on 18 January 1913 and the ship’s carpenter was commissioned to make a commemorative cross for the Polar Party. Early on 20January a small group, including Lashly, sledded the cross to Hut Point and erected it on Observation Hill bearing the legend To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield – the last line of Tennyson’s poem, Ulysses.
 
Although the Expedition included men of high rank in their scientific and knowledge fields, Lashly’s pragmatic understanding and provident actions held great value. For example, his forethought led him to raise a makeshift flag over the encampment with the ailing Evans that enabled the rescue team to spot them. His view on the fate of Scott’s party was that nothing more could have been done: even if they had made it to One Ton Depot, the severe weather would have halted them and their physical condition would have made trekking the last 130 miles impossible. Scott’s own last message to the world was ‘We very nearly came through, and it’s a pity to have missed it, but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark. No-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we had lacked support’. Lashly clearly realised that failing to provide the dog teams for the last stage of the Polar party’s return was a major factor in their fate but it seems he didn’t put strong emphasis on this and the chain of command that brought it about.

Others may have thought differently: one opinion was that if Lashly had been the fifth member of the polar team rather than Edgar Evans, things might have worked out very differently.

Group portrait of on deck of the Terra Nova with (L-R) Irish Antarctic explorer Petty Officer Tom Crean, Lieutenant E.R.G.R. “Teddy” Evans and Chief Stoker William Lashly

On 26 January 1913 Terra Nova set sail for home. The world only became aware of the fate of Scott and his polar party when Terra Nova docked at New Zealand on 10 February 1913 – nearly a year after the actual event. The news telegraphed back to Britain generated a wave of mourning and national pride with a memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral.

As part of his recognition of the support given by Cardiff, Scott promised that the Terra Nova would depart and return from the city; that promise was kept by the returning party when it docked on 14 June 1913. Lashly shared the heroes’ welcome with the other members of the expedition.

The vessel’s lengthy stay while it was refitted for Arctic whaling was overseen by Lashly in the capacity of keeper. In the months that followed came mourning and accolades for Scott with recognition of the feats of bravery and endurance by his men who received the Polar Medal from the King.

Back in Hambledon the children at the village school followed William’s exploits in the Antarctic. On August 1st 1913, the school Log Book records how he arrived at school just a few days after receiving his Albert Medal for saving Lieutenant Evans’ life on Scott’s second expedition to talk to the children:

“A most interesting Lecture on the Antarctic Expedition was given to 60 of the older children by Chief Stoker W. Lashly, a native of the Village and an old school boy – one of the survivors of the ill-fated expedition. The time occupied 2.30 to 3.15 was full of graphic descriptions of a life at high latitudes, and at the close the Medal awarded by the King at Buckingham Palace on the previous Saturday was handed round for inspection.”

The whole school then enjoyed an excellent tea, after which William was sent on his way to Portsmouth with “three hearty cheers”. The pupils continued their celebrations with maypole dancing and games until 7 pm.

1913 was the year Lashly became eligible for retirement from the Navy and while drawing his pension he was offered a job with Cardiff’s Board of rade. However, the very next day after his retirement in October, he signed up for the Royal Fleet Reserve at Portsmouth. Just months away was the outbreak of the Great War and in August 1914 his duties at Cardiff were suspended as he underwent training and eventually joined the battleship HMS Irresistible on 1 September. He was 47.

Surviving the Great War he was released from the Navy in February 1919. With wife Alice and their daughter, he returned to Cardiff to take up his position with the Board of Trade. He was still very much engaged with his Antarctic story and was a popular speaker, lecturing with lantern slides. He also remained in contact with his expedition colleagues, his journal and notes providing important detail for various memoirs by others and were finally published in 1969. A particularly memorable event reunited Lashly with Tom Crean and Teddy Evans at a celebration of Evans’ appointment as Captain of the battleship HMS Repulse at Portsmouth in 1926.

At age 65, in 1932, William Lashly retired from his position with the Cardiff Board of Trade; with wife and daughter he returned to Hambledon where his retirement home, Minna Bluff in West Street, had been built for him by Bantings. George Banting was Lashly’s brother-in-law, married to his sister Kate. Minna Bluff was a landmark outcrop into the Ross Ice Barrier near to Hut Point; it was named by Scott in 1902 while on the Discovery Expedition.

Minna was the wife of Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society who was a major supporter of the Expedition. No doubt Lashly had in mind the great sense of relief attached to his memories of setting out – and more important– returning to the haven of base camp and the relatively close proximity of the vessels that connected him with home. Minna Bluff housed mementoes of his Antarctic adventures, including the harness he and Tom Crean wore in the long trek that hauled Teddy Evans to safety.

Minna Bluff, Lashly’s retirement home in Hambledon as it is today
Chief Stoker William Lashly: formal portrait taken in his prime and at the height of his fame. On his chest alongside his Navy service medals are his octagonal Polar Medal (awarded twice) and the coveted Albert Medal to the left.

At age 65, in 1932, William Lashly retired from his position with the Cardiff Board of Trade; with wife and daughter he returned to Hambledon where his retirement home, Minna Bluff in West Street, had been built for him by Bantings. George Banting was Lashly’s brother-in-law, married to his sister Kate. Minna Bluff was a landmark outcrop into the Ross Ice Barrier near to Hut Point; it was named by Scott in 1902 while on the Discovery Expedition.

Minna was the wife of Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society who was a major supporter of the Expedition. No doubt Lashly had in mind the great sense of relief attached to his memories of setting out – and more important– returning to the haven of base camp and the relatively close proximity of the vessels that connected him with home. Minna Bluff housed mementoes of his Antarctic adventures, including the harness he and Tom Crean wore in the long trek that hauled Teddy Evans to safety.

William’s retirement was not a long one: the villagers of Hambledon at that time remember a quiet and private man yet the demand for his magic lantern shows continued. In 1939 he began to suffer ill-health and on 12 June 1940, William passed away in the Royal Hospital Portsmouth, age 72 and just 4 months after the death of his wife of 44 years, Alice. Lashly specified he should be buried in Hambledon’s Churchyard in an unmarked grave. While this was perfectly in keeping with this remarkable man’s modesty, one might think he would quite naturally choose a burial plot near to other members of his family such as his father who died in 1903.

But perhaps another consideration was his continuing affinity with his colleagues from the Antarctic whose mortal remains are hidden or lost yet they continue as subjects of legend. And nearly a century on, the legend of Lashly is not forgotten. The Geographical Journal (official publication of the Royal Geographical Society) printed an obituary shortly after his death:

“Men such as Lashly are rare. The keynotes of his character were honesty, loyalty, and simplicity. He was too modest to realize how far the strength both of leader and expedition depended upon the presence among the rank and file of men like himself and his comrades of the mess deck”.
 
William Lashly earned accolades in his lifetime – more than most. As well as the medals for his service, a range of mountains in Antarctica bear his name, and a glacier for good measure. Hambledon’s Lashly Meadow is the village’s memorial of this extraordinary man.
 
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This being the centenary of Captain Scott's ill-faced expedition to the Antarctic, I thought it appropriate, and perhaps of interest to new residents, to write a little about William Lashly, a crew member on both the Discovery and the
Terra Nova.

He was born in Hambledon on Christmas Day, 1867, the son of a thatcher. After attending the village school, he started working for his father. At the age of 21, William joined the Navy as a Stoker. He married in 1896 and his daughter, Alice, was born four years later. In 1901, Lashly was one of the Naval volunteers chosen for the Discovery expedition to Antarctica. He was described as a quiet sort of man who knew his job backwards, a teetotaller and non-smoker.

After the ship's return to England in 1904, he was promoted to Chief Stoker and went to the Royal Naval College at Osborne as an instructor to the Officer Cadets. Having proved his worth many times, William Lashly was a natural choice for Captain Scott's last expedition, and he joined the Terra Nova in the spring of 1910. Despite being in the last supporting party, Lashly was not selected by Captain Scott for the final push to the Pole in January 1912. It has since been said that if he had been taken, the whole story might have been different.

When the sledging season came around in October of that year, he was in the search party that found Captain Scott and his two companions. Lashly was taken into the tent by the Royal Naval surgeon because he was the oldest of them all and one of the last to have seen Scott and the missing members of the Polar party. When he came out he was visibly upset but said nothing. Upon their return to England in 1913, Lashly and Petty Officer Crean were awarded the Albert Medal for saving the life of Lieutenant Evans during their return to Base Camp. It is recorded that he visited Hambledon School in August of that year and spoke graphically to the older children of life in high latitudes, before showing them his medal.

After taking his pension, Lashly joined the Royal Fleet Reserve and in 1915 survived the sinking of HMS Irresistible in the Dardanelles campaign. He finally took up employment with the Board of Trade in Cardiff. In 1932 he returned to Hambledon and built a house, which he called Minna Bluff after a familiar Antarctic landmark. William Lashly travelled around the area, speaking and showing magic lantern slides. He explained to the Gosport Brotherhood on one such occasion, that when he first volunteered for the expedition he was asked whether he could sing, dance or play an instrument. His reply was 'You have not asked me whether I can work!' He also said 'A month was long enough to wear a shirt without turning it. You would not believe the comfort you get out of a shirt that has been turned!' He also commented that people often asked why he went on such expeditions, and his reply was 'What should we know if we did not go adventuring?'

He died and was buried in Hambledon in 1940, at the age of 73. It was his express wish that there was to be no headstone on his grave. My aunt, Edith Lashly and I were invited to the opening of Lashly Meadow in 1993. My grandfather was William Lashly's cousin.

Christine Trickett
West Street, Hambledon

In the last issue of The Hambledonian Christine Trickett wrote a splendid profile of her famous relative Chief Stoker William Lashly, who had accompanied Captain Scott on both of his expeditions to the Antarctic. Her grandfather was a cousin of William Lashly. This is the Centenary year of Captain Scott's Last Expedition to the South Pole in 1912 and it is regrettable that the lower Deck members of the expedition have been so neglected. Only Petty Officer Edgar Evans, who died on the return journey, has been remembered.

Among the neglected is our famous citizen William Lashly. He has been almost wholly forgotten. To Help us remember him better I have reprinted below the 'Appreciation' of William Lashly written at the time of his death in 1940 and included in the Polar Record of that year. It was written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, a companion on Scott's Expedition, and the author of the famous book The Worst Journey in the World. It really brings William Lashly to life.

''Lashly is dead. He was a Chief Stoker in the Navy and he was one of the last survivors who Served on both of Scott's Antarctic expeditions. Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Titus Oates, Atkinson and Wild - all are gone; and Crean who died about a year ago, and Pennell as good as any of them.

On the Discovery Lashly was one of Scott's companions who travelled westward over the newly discovered plateau. On the Last Expedition he was on the last supporting party. He saw the polar party as little black dots vanish into the southern horizon: and he did one of the longest man-hauling journeys on record, dragging a sick man part of the way.

Atkinson told me that he doubted if Lieutenant Evans could have lived another day, and that the best nurse in the world could have done no more than Lashly did. He had just brought him from the Barrier when I saw him. Crean helped him, that had not been man-hauling so long.

Lashly looked nothing out of the way till he was stripped. He stripped big and looked small: was tough as nails rather than muscular; and neither drank nor smoked. Behind that kindly smile, that half-filled the engine-room hatch on the Terra Nova, there were bottled up great reserves of quiet energy. He had much self-control; but he could burst like a sleeping volcano. He was good with animals, and the mules were left in his charge the last year down South. With them he came with us on the journey on which we found the bodies of the polar party. So now he lies at peace. No more facing the utmost physical toil, starvation and death together: no more knowing you can't go on and going on all the same: no more continual hunger awake or asleep; just peace.

When I was trying to write a book more than twenty years ago, I asked Lashly whether he could tell me anything about his journey back with the Last Return Party. He scratched his head and said he didn't know that he could, but he thought he had some old bits of paper with some notes on. He sent me a diary which must be known all over the world and one of my greatest difficulties when publishing it was to prevent the compositor altering the spelling. It ends - as he got into his sleeping-bag the evening the rescue party reached him: 'We are looking for a mail now. How funny we should always be looking for something else, now we are safe'.

So perhaps he is now looking for a good whack of pemmican: and still singing that cheery little ditty with which he used to end his day's work on earth."

 Nick Bailey

Tom Crean (1877-1938) was a member of three Antarctic expeditions. He joined Robert Scott’s Discovery Expedition of 1901-04. After Terra Nova his third and final expedition was as second officer on Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition.

After the ship Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, Crean and the ship’s company spent 492 days drifting on the ice before a journey in boats to Elephant Island.

He was a member of the crew which made a small boat journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia to seek aid.

Retiring from the Royal Navy in 1920,Tom Crean settled back in Annascaul, Co Kerry where he and his wife Ellen opened and ran the South Pole Public House until he died in 1938.

The pub remains there today and in the bar you can drink a pint of beer from his eponymous brewery, surrounded by memorabilia of his Antarctica exploits.

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