Wilson, Edward ___ 1872-1912 ___ British ___ doctor, naturalist

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
The second son of a respected Cheltenham medical practitioner, Wilson was educated locally and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He trained as a surgeon at St George's Hospital, London, but spent several months in Norway and Switzerland recuperating from TB. While abroad, he developed drawing and painting skills. He went to work at Cheltenham Hospital, but was then selected to join the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, as junior surgeon and zoologist. Before leaving on the voyage, he married Oriana Souper. On returning to England in 1904, he published his zoological data, and this led to commissions for illustrated books on British fauna. He also held an official appointment during an investigation into the plague of grouse disease on British moors. Wilson returned to the Antartic with the 1910-1913 expedition, organised by Robert Scott, as chief of the scientific staff. He was then selected by Scott, in January 1912, to join the team which aimed to reach the South Pole. Having been beaten to the pole by Roald Amundsen, Scott's team faced a very difficult return journey. Overcome by the weather, Wilson died, along with Scott, in February-March 1912. The bodies along with diaries were discovered eight months later.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1889-1912 ___ exploration weather health nature

WEB TEXT LINKS
one page
several extracts
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Cambridge University: Scott Polar Research Institute
British Library, Manuscript Collections - 1911-912

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Diary of the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic Regions 1901-1904
Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic 1910-1912
Edward Wilson of the Antarctic, Naturalist and Friend
 

July 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.