Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Lore & Background

Cherry-Garrard was born in Bedford, the eldest child of Apsley Cherry and Evelyn Edith Sharpin. He was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read classics and modern history and rowed in the 1908 Christ Church crew that won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley. His surname changed to Cherry-Garrard by the terms of his great-aunt's will, through which his father inherited the Lamer Park estate. Apsley inherited the estate on his father's death in 1907. Inspired by his father's military achievements, he volunteered for the Terra Nova expedition after meeting Edward Adrian Wilson and Robert Falcon Scott in September 1907. His initial application was rejected, but after a second application with a £1,000 donation, Scott accepted him as assistant zoologist.

In July 1911, Cherry-Garrard, Wilson, and Henry Robertson Bowers made a winter journey to Cape Crozier to collect emperor penguin eggs. They endured extreme cold, darkness, and a blizzard that destroyed their tent and shelter. They retrieved three eggs and returned after 19 days, a journey Cherry-Garrard later called the 'worst journey in the world.' He suffered shattered teeth from chattering in the cold. In November 1911, he accompanied the polar party as part of a supporting group, turning back at the Beardmore Glacier in December. In February 1912, he was sent with dog handler Dimitri Gerov to One Ton Depot, where they waited seven days before turning back on 10 March. Scott's party perished 11 miles south of the depot. Cherry-Garrard later joined the search party that found the bodies of Scott, Wilson, and Bowers in November 1912.

After returning from Antarctica, Cherry-Garrard assisted Edward Atkinson in China studying parasitic flatworms. During the Great War, he converted his family estate into a field hospital, volunteered with Major Edwin Richardson using dogs to find wounded soldiers, and later commanded a squadron of armoured cars in Flanders. Invalided out in 1916, he suffered from clinical depression and ulcerative colitis. He partially treated himself by writing his experiences, though he spent many years bed-ridden.

Reader's Guide

Cherry-Garrard's significance lies primarily in his firsthand account of the Terra Nova expedition, The Worst Journey in the World, which remains a classic of polar literature. His participation in the winter journey to Cape Crozier, which he described as the worst journey in the world, demonstrated extraordinary endurance under extreme conditions. His role in the depot-laying and the subsequent failure to meet Scott's returning party has been a subject of historical discussion, though the article notes his justification based on weather and lack of dog food. His later life, marked by physical and psychological struggles, reflects the long-term costs of polar exploration. The article does not provide any assessment of his legacy beyond his acclaimed book, but his documentation of the expedition's events and his own experiences have contributed to the historical record of Antarctic exploration.

Did You Know?

• Cherry-Garrard's surname was changed from Cherry to Cherry-Garrard by the terms of his great-aunt's will.
• He shattered most of his teeth due to chattering in the frigid temperatures during the winter journey to Cape Crozier.
• He donated £1,000 to the Terra Nova expedition even after his application to join was rejected a second time.
• The title of his book, The Worst Journey in the World, was suggested by his neighbour George Bernard Shaw.