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Abstract
The paper assesses the candidacy of members of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition for the Polar Medal, instituted in 1904, and, more particularly, the widely held assertion that it was Sir Clements Markham who effectively prevented its award. Contemporary documentation indicates such royal denial of the medal to Bruce’s expedition arose not from doubts as to its scientific achievements, or from the malign influence of individuals, but paradoxically from its self-sufficiency in requiring neither government monies nor Admiralty rescue. King George V was not prepared, in 1910, eight years after the expedition, to overturn the decision of his father King Edward VII by honouring Bruce and thereby setting a precedent by widening the scope of the medal.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank The National Archives, the National Records of Scotland and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) for making available with skill and efficiency the archival material upon which this paper is based. They would also like to thank the Royal Archives for their assistance.
Funding
This work has been funded in part by the Polar Regions Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom as part of our ongoing research into British history in Antarctica.
Notes
1 Fogg, “A Century of Antarctic Science,” 2005; Dudeney and Walton, “From Scotia to ‘Operation Tabarin’,” 2012.
2 Mossman et al., The Voyage of the Scotia, 1906; Brown, A Naturalist at the Poles, 1923.
3 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003.
4 Ibid.
5 Bruce, “Scottish National Antarctic Expedition,” 1902.
6 Bruce, Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1907–1920; Speak, The Log of the Scotia Expedition, 1992.
7 Bruce, Polar Exploration, 1911, v–vi.
8 Ibid.
9 Bruce, Polar Exploration, 1911, 193–8.
10 Bruce, Polar Exploration, 1911, 236–42.
11 Ibid.
12 Speak, Bruce, William Speirs (1867-1921), 2004.
13 Haddelsey, Shackleton’s Dream, 2012, 11–2.
14 Poulsom, The White Ribbon, 1968.
15 “New Polar Medal,” The Times, September 12, 1904.
16 “The Return of the Discovery,” The Times, September 14, 1904.
17 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Archives, file number CRM/1/15, the personal journal of Sir Clement Markham, entry for 13 September 1904.
18 The Times, September 14, 1904.
19 National Records of Scotland, The Scottish Office, Home and Health Department, file number HH 1/1943, Polar Medal 1913–1915.
20 The National Archives, Treasury file number T 1/11599, Treasury Board Papers and In-letters, Admiralty Award of Polar Medal 1914.
21 “Royal Warrant: The Polar Medal,” London Gazette, May 18, 1954, 2926.
22 “The Polar Medal: Royal Warrant,” London Gazette, September 14, 1998, 9916.
23 The National Archives, Treasury file number T 1/11396, Treasury Board Papers and In-letters, British Antarctic Expedition 1907.
24 National Records of Scotland, The Scottish Office file number HH 1/1943.
25 Ibid.
26 National Records of Scotland, The Scottish Office file number HH 1/1943.
27 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 128–9.
28 Allan and Linton, “Robert Neal Rudmose Brown,” 1957.
29 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21, Admiralty correspondence, memoranda and papers, Polar medals Scottish Antarctic Expedition 1914.
30 “The Antarctic Expedition: Polar Medal Awards,” The Times, July 26, 1913.
31 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
32 The National Archives, Treasury file T 1/11599.
33 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
34 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
35 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
36 Ibid.
37 The National Archives, Treasury file T 1/11599.
38 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
39 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
40 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
41 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 71.
42 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 72–5.
43 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 74–5.
44 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 126.
45 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Archives, file number CRM/1/15, the personal journal of Sir Clement Markham, entry for 17 May 1905.
46 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
47 The National Archives, Admiralty file ADM 1/8367/21.
48 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Archives CRM/53, the personal journal of Sir Clement Markham, entry for 9 September 1912; Anon, “Antarctic Discovery,” 1912a, “Geography at the British Association,”1912b; and Markham and Bruce, “Antarctic Discovery at the British Association,” 1912.
49 Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Archives CRM/53, the personal journal of Sir Clement Markham, entry for July 16 1909.
50 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 129–31.
51 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 127.
52 Speak, William Speirs Bruce, Polar Explorer and Scottish Nationalist, 2003, 128–9.
53 Parliamentary Papers, Volume XVI, Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Research and Development in the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands, 1920.
54 The National Archives, Treasury file T 1/11679, Treasury Board Papers and In-letters, Grants to Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1914.
55 Brown, “Obituary. W.S. Bruce,” 1922.