This being the centenary of Captain Scott’s ill-faced expedition to the Antarctic, I thought it appropriate, and perhaps of interest to new residents, to write a little about William Lashly, a crew member on both the Discovery and the
Terra Nova.
He was born in Hambledon on Christmas Day, 1867, the son of a thatcher. After attending the village school, he started working for his father. At the age of 21, William joined the Navy as a Stoker. He married in 1896 and his daughter, Alice, was born four years later. In 1901, Lashly was one of the Naval volunteers chosen for the Discovery expedition to Antarctica. He was described as a quiet sort of man who knew his job backwards, a teetotaller and non-smoker.
After the ship’s return to England in 1904, he was promoted to Chief Stoker and went to the Royal Naval College at Osborne as an instructor to the Officer Cadets. Having proved his worth many times, William Lashly was a natural choice for Captain Scott’s last expedition, and he joined the Terra Nova in the spring of 1910. Despite being in the last supporting party, Lashly was not selected by Captain Scott for the final push to the Pole in January 1912. It has since been said that if he had been taken, the whole story might have been different.
When the sledging season came around in October of that year, he was in the search party that found Captain Scott and his two companions. Lashly was taken into the tent by the Royal Naval surgeon because he was the oldest of them all and one of the last to have seen Scott and the missing members of the Polar party. When he came out he was visibly upset but said nothing. Upon their return to England in 1913, Lashly and Petty Officer Crean were awarded the Albert Medal for saving the life of Lieutenant Evans during their return to Base Camp. It is recorded that he visited Hambledon School in August of that year and spoke graphically to the older children of life in high latitudes, before showing them his medal.
After taking his pension, Lashly joined the Royal Fleet Reserve and in 1915 survived the sinking of HMS Irresistible in the Dardanelles campaign. He finally took up employment with the Board of Trade in Cardiff. In 1932 he returned to Hambledon and built a house, which he called Minna Bluff after a familiar Antarctic landmark. William Lashly travelled around the area, speaking and showing magic lantern slides. He explained to the Gosport Brotherhood on one such occasion, that when he first volunteered for the expedition he was asked whether he could sing, dance or play an instrument. His reply was ‘You have not asked me whether I can work!’ He also said ‘A month was long enough to wear a shirt without turning it. You would not believe the comfort you get out of a shirt that has been turned!’ He also commented that people often asked why he went on such expeditions, and his reply was ‘What should we know if we did not go adventuring?’
He died and was buried in Hambledon in 1940, at the age of 73. It was his express wish that there was to be no headstone on his grave. My aunt, Edith Lashly and I were invited to the opening of Lashly Meadow in 1993. My grandfather was William Lashly’s cousin.
Christine Trickett
West Street, Hambledon