Cherry-Garrard, Apsley
People > Cherry-Garrard, Apsley
On 29th January 1885 at St. Paul's Church, Bedford, Colonel Apsley Cherry, himself the son of a General, but then Commanding Officer of the garrison at Kempston Barracks, married Evelyn Edith Sharpin the eldest child of Dr. Henry Wilson Sharpin, of 1 St. Paul's Square, Bedford. He was House Surgeon at Bedford Infirmary, and had a private practice at his home. Evelyn was twenty five years younger than her suitor but her parents appear to have been entirely satisfied with the match.
A son Apsley was born at their new home in Lansdowne Road, Bedford (now marked with a Blue Plaque), on 2nd January 1886.
In June the following year the Colonel decided to retire from the regiment and move to the Cherry family owned estate at Denford in Berkshire.
Five years later, on the death of an Aunt of his father, Colonel Cherry also inherited the larger Garrard family estates at Lamer Park near Wheathampstead. These had been in the ownership of that family for over 300 years. He decided to lease out Denford, move the whole family to Lamer and henceforth to adopt the family name Cherry-Garrard.
The young Apsley Cherry-Garrard was a shy somewhat introverted character, happy in his own company but constantly living in the shadow of his accomplished military hero father and grandfather.
After education at Winchester College and Oxford it became clear that due to medical problems, and in particular sight issues, he would be prevented from embarking on an army career to emulate his father. Being interested in Antarctica he was determined to join Scott on his Terra Firma Expedition of 1910 and although his first and second applications were turned down he persisted even offering a financial contribution towards the cost of the venture. Having finally been accepted he was given the job of Assistant Biologist responsible for the collection of eggs of the Emperor Penguin.
The Terra Nova sailed from London with Cherry aboard on 1st June 1910 and in July 1911 with Wilson and Bowers. The three men hauled a sledge over 60 miles across the ice from base camp to Ross Island to collect unhatched penguin eggs. Frozen and exhausted they had their tent ripped from over their heads during a terrible blizzard and for two days the three men lay in their sleeping bags with the snow drifting over them. They sang hymns and simply waited to die but miraculously the blizzard subsided and the tent was discovered just a few yards away, caught up on some ice.
They returned to base in terrible physical condition and Cherry says 'that it was so cold that all of his teeth shattered'. He was then given the job of laying supply camps for Scott and the returning South Pole party. On 26th February 1912 Cherry made one last run out with supplies, hoping to meet his colleagues. They did not arrive and with the weather worsening and the risk of being snowed in himself he finally gave up waiting.
In October and November of that year a team led by Cherry-Garrard and Atkinson embarked upon a search for the missing Scott, Bowers and Wilson and finally found them dead, frozen in their tent, sadly just twelve miles from where Cherry had actually been waiting.
The decision to leave was to haunt him for the rest of his life for although purely following the orders of Scott he constantly tormented himself with the thought that he should have ignored instructions, risked his own life and stayed.
Cherry-Garrard returned to Lamer a broken man regularly suffering bouts of nervous depression. He served in the First World War in France and although happily married late in his life, he never fully recovered from his antarctic experiences.
Cherry recounts his story in his own book ‘The Worst Journey in The World', recognised as a classic and still said to be the greatest adventure story ever written. He died in London in May 1959 and is buried in Wheathampstead Churchyard in the family grave. There is also an impressive bronze statuette of him in the Church.
Further reading:
- Cherry: a life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard by Sara Wheeler (2001)
Apsley Cherry-Garrard, by Trevor Stewart, 2015
Page last updated: 24th August 2015