Tragic explorer's medal to go under the hammer in Shropshire
A polar expedition medal posthumously awarded to a Midlands doctor who was one of three members of a British Antarctic Survey team killed when their tractor fell into a crevasse is to be sold at auction in Shrewsbury next month.
The medal was awarded to Stafford-born Dr John Kershaw Wilson, 29, who was a member of the polar expedition team to Norwegian sector of Antarctica in 1965.
It will be going under the hammer at fine art auctioneers Halls’ auction of fine art, silver, jewellery, coins and medals in Shrewsbury on June 21 with an estimate of £2,500.
Included with the medal will be Dr Wilson’s diaries, birth certificate, photographs and letters from when he was a student at Oxford University.
The base doctor at Halley Bay, Dr Wilson died together with Jeremy Bailey and Dai Wild on October 14, 1965 while on a summer field trip. He had planned to stay a further year in Antarctica.
Sir Vivien Fuchs described the circumstances leading up to loss of the trio in his book Of Ice and Men: He said: “Wild believed that by following the route he had travelled the previous season, they would be able to reach a point 30 miles south of the nunataks without crossing any dangerous areas.
“On their first day, they covered only 12 miles, held up by difficult terrain associated with an ice fall 10 miles from Pyramid Rock. Then the going was excellent, although low drifting snow obscured the surface and it was agreed to travel late. At eight o'clock in the evening, having made 38 miles, the accident happened.
“Wild, Bailey and Wilson were in the Muskeg. The dog team, with Ross sitting on the sledge, was attached to the last of two tractor sledges, thus 30 yards behind his companions. While he happened to be glancing backwards his sledge suddenly stopped moving. He turned to see the leading sledge tilted up over a yawning hole, and there was no sign of the tractor which hauled it.
“Anchoring himself with rope, he rushed forward and peered down to see the Muskeg jammed in a crevasse more than 100 feet below. There was no immediate response to his continual shouts, but 20 minutes later he heard Bailey's agonised voice crying out that both Wild and Wilson had been killed, while he himself was badly injured and could not survive. Poor Ross lowered a rope but Bailey ceased to answer his calls."
The expedition team returned to the accident spot on October 23 to find that the three occupants of the tractor had been crushed by the cab as it fell between ever-narrowing walls in the crevasse. They were unable to recover their bodies.
Born in Stafford, Dr Wilson worked at Middlesex Hospital and the East Suffolk Hospital before volunteering with the British Antarctic Survey in 1964. He spent five months working for the Department of Human Physiology at the Medical Research Council developing a research project to carry out at Halley Bay on manual dexterity and sensitivity of touch in degrees of coldness.
Derek Ainsworth, Halls’ medals specialist, said the auction house, which is based at Battlefield was delighted to be offering the rare medal for sale on behalf of a descendant of Dr Wilson and anticipates great interest from collectors at next month’s auction.
