Cherry-Garrard, Apsley
People > Cherry-Garrard, Apsley
From History in Bedfordshire, Volume 6, No 1, Autumn 2012, the newsletter of the Bedfordshire Local History Association.
2012 was the centenary of Captain Scott's ill-starred expedition to the South Pole and Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard, who was born in Bedford on 2 January 1886 and died in London on 18 May 1959, was a member of that expedition. He wrote an acclaimed historical account of the expedition, The Worst Journey in the World.
Early life
Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard was born
in 1886 at 15 Lansdowne Road, Bedford, as Apsley George Benet Cherry, the son of
Major-General Apsley Cherry (53) (later Cherry-Garrard) of Denford Park in
Berkshire and his wife, Evelyn Edith (28), daughter of Henry Wilson Sharpin of
Bedford.1 He was the eldest son of a typically Victorian upper-middle-class
household.
As a child, he enjoyed his own company and, aged 7, was sent to the Grange
Preparatory School at Folkestone. After Winchester College he went to Christ
Church, Oxford, to read Classics and Modern History. He was a keen rower and, in
1908, helped his college eight to win the Grand Challenge cup at Henley. After
Oxford, because the Cherry-Garrards were rich, Apsley had no immediate purpose
in life but was looking for meaning and direction. He had always loved the
stories of his father's achievements, and felt that he must live up to his
example. Direction and meaning were found when he met 'Bill' Wilson, an
inspirational scientist through whose efforts he obtained a place on Scott's
expedition.
Antarctica
At the age of 24, 'Cherry' was one of the youngest members of Robert Falcon Scott's 1910–13 expedition. The previous year, at the age of 21, he had inherited his father's estates and spent some of his wealth travelling around the World, on cargo ships. He heard of Captain Scott's proposal for a second Antarctic expedition and Scott's aim to be the first man at the South Pole. Apsley wrote to Dr Wilson to volunteer. He was twice rejected, but Scott was eventually persuaded to take 'Cherry' on as an assistant zoologist for the scientific programme, after he gave the expedition a donation of £1,000 (worth about £60,000 now).
Life on board the Terra Nova was all he had hoped it would be. 'I really have never seen anyone with such a constant expression of “this is what I have been looking for” on his face', Wilson wrote. All his crewmates testified to his pluck, charm and enthusiasm.
Scott and 65 members of the Expedition arrived in Antarctica in January 1911. They first explored King Edward VII land and set up food and fuel depots for use on the journey to the Pole and Cherry reissued the South Polar Times previously published by Shackleton on the Discovery expedition.
Cherry was commended by Scott for his efficiency, unselfish sledging and tent-sharing. He was well liked. On June 27 Wilson, Cherry and Henry Bowers started on a journey to Cape Crozier to get an unhatched Emperor Penguin's egg. Temperatures dropped as low as –60°C as they hauled their sledge 60 miles to the Cape. They arrived at the penguin site exhausted and in a blizzard and, when they tried to camp, their tent was blown away and they were left in their sleeping bags in the snow drifts. When the wind ceased, they found their tent wedged in nearby rocks. They collecting three eggs, and slowly made their way back to Scott's camp. Cherry said this trip was the 'the hardest that has ever been made', which later suggested the title for his book.
Polar trek and the recovery operation
In October 1911, Scott and 15 others, including Cherry, started for the South Pole – most of them would be sent back at various stages but they did not know who. It was not a good journey. Motor-sledges failed, exhausted ponies were shot and blizzards forced them to use rations reserved for later. Cherry went as far as the top of the Beardmore Glacier where, on 22 December 1911, due to his youth, they sent him back to base, with Edward Atkinson and Patrick Keohane. On the return, Cherry navigated, but he was short-sighted and could not see much without glasses which could not be worn while sledging. He used the sight of the others, until snow-blindness prevented this and then used the gleam of the sun which he could still just make out.
On 26 February 1912, Cherry and dog handler Dimitri Gerov made a final supply run out to the 'One Ton Depot'. They waited there seven days hoping to meet the South Pole team on their return journey, although their mission was to resupply, not to provide an escort for the polar party. Cherry turned back on 10 March 1912 to preserve his dog team which was short of food, and out of concern for the health of Gerov. Nineteen days later, Scott, Wilson and Bowers died 11 miles (18 km) south of the One Ton Depot in a blizzard.
By April 1912, the Antarctic winter was approaching, and it was obvious to Cherry and the remaining expedition members that the South Pole team would not return. Atkinson took command, and Cherry, suffering from strain, was appointed record keeper and continued his zoological work. Scientific work continued through the winter and it was not until October 1912 that, led by Atkinson, a team including Cherry headed south to find the South Pole team. On 12 November, the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers were found in their tent, along with the diaries, records and geological specimens. Cherry was deeply upset, especially by the deaths of Wilson and Bowers, with whom he had made the journey to Cape Crozier.
Later life
Cherry joined the army during the First World War and commanded a squadron of armoured cars in Flanders. Invalided out in 1916, he had developed a number of health problems, including irritable bowel syndrome, as well as depression. At that time post-traumatic stress disorder was unknown and, though his psychological problems were never cured, he treated himself by writing of his experiences, al-though he spent many years bed-ridden. Confined by his illnesses he worried over whether anything could have prevented the deaths of Scott, Wilson and Bowers and secured the success of the Expedition. In 1922, he published The Worst Journey in the World – since said to be the greatest true adventure story ever written. His friend and neighbour George Bernard Shaw encouraged him and friendships with other literary men included H G Wells and Arnold Bennett and there were also adventurers, like Mallory of Everest and Lawrence of Arabia. Cherry also published an obituary of the expedition photog-rapher, Herbert Ponting, and wrote an introduction to Edward Wilson of the Antarctic: Naturalist and Friend, a book by George Seaver on 'Bill' Wilson. He also contributed an essay in remembrance of T E Lawrence in the first edition of a volume edited by Lawrence's brother A W Lawrence: T E Lawrence, by His Friends. In this essay Cherry thought that Lawrence undertook his extraordinary feats out of a sense of inferiority and cowardice and a need to prove himself.
He regained some strength during the later 1920s, but was haunted by his past. He gave up shooting and fox-hunting, and the clergy near his estates lost his support in parish matters. He took Mediterranean cruises and collected first editions.
Cherry-Garrard, aged 50, met 20-year-old Angela Katherine Turner (1916–2005), the daughter of Kenneth Turner of Fairfields in Suffolk, on a Norwegian cruise in 1937. When the ship docked they went for a walk on their own and sat on a bench where Cherry picked up a small piece of quartz and offered it to Angela. 'Years later, when she had become an Antarctic expert, Angela discovered that the courtship ritual of the penguin centres around stone-giving, stones being a vital commodity for the construction of the nest.' At that time, practically no one in the world would have known this. This type of non-verbal communication was a perfect solution for a man who felt things deeply but had trouble talking about them. They married in 1939 three days after the outbreak of World War Two. He chose not to have children for fear of passing down mental health issues.
After the War, ill-health and tax demands forced him to sell Lamer Park which was, unfortunately, demolished. He moved to a flat in London where he lived to the age of 73, dying in London on 18 May 1959. He is buried in the north-west corner of St Helen's churchyard at Wheathampstead and there is a bronze statue commemorating his life inside the church.
The three intact penguin eggs that Wilson, Bowers and Cherry brought back from Cape Crozier are now in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. A blue plaque in memory of Apsley Cherry-Garrard's birth was unveiled in Lansdowne Road, Bedford, on Wednesday, 17 November 2010.
References and further reading
- Cherry-Garrard, Apsley: Obituary: Mr H G Ponting (1935) 85(4) The Geographical Journal 391.
- Cherry-Garrard, Apsley: The Worst Journey in the World (Penguin Books, 1970)
- Evans, Admiral Sir Edward: South With Scott (Collins, 1938)
- Ford, David Nash: Aspley Cherry Garrod 1886-1959 (Nash Ford Publishing)
- Smith, Michael: An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor (Headline Books, 2000)
- T E Lawrence by his friends ed by A W Lawrence (Jonathan Cape, 1938)
- Wheeler, Sara: Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Jonathan Cape, 2002)
Note
1.
Major-General Apsley Cherry was a cousin of the Cherrys of
Burghfield,
and descended from the Cherrys of
Maidenhead
cousins of the famous non-juror,
Francis Cherry
(1685–1713), of
Shottesbrooke House.
Apsley was brought up at Denford Park, Kintbury, Berks, until the age of six,
when his father inherited Lamer Park at Gustard Wood, above Wheathampstead in
Hertfordshire.
Cherry's father, who had fought with merit in India and China for
the British Defence Forces, inherited the Hertfordshire estates from his brother
and aunt, when they died shortly after one another. The only condition for the
inheritance was to take on the Garrard name and arms.
The
family moved there and changed their name to Cherry-Garrard. His father became
High Sheriff
of Hertfordshire. Denford Park was rented out and later sold.
Apsley Cherry-Garrad - a short biography by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2004
Page last updated: 24th September 2014