View source for Edward Whymper

{{Short description|English mountaineer (1840–1911)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox climber
| image            = Edward Whymper.jpg
| image_size       = <!--Only for images narrower than 220 pixels.-->
| caption          = Edward Whymper, engraving, 1881
| name             = Edward Whymper
| nationality      = English
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=y|1840|04|27}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=y|1911|09|16|1840|04|27}}
| death_place      = [[Chamonix]], France
| occupation       = Mountaineer, illustrator, author
| knownfor         = [[First ascent of the Matterhorn]]
| firstascents     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Aiguille d'Argentière]]
* [[Aiguille Verte]]
* [[Chimborazo]]
* [[Grand Cornier]]
* [[Grandes Jorasses]]
* [[Matterhorn]]
* [[Mont Dolent]]
* [[Mount Whymper (Edward)|Mount Whymper]]
* [[Stanley Peak (Ball Range)|Stanley Peak]]
}}
}}

'''Edward Whymper''' [[FRSE]] (27 April 1840{{snd}}16 September 1911) was an English [[Mountaineering|mountaineer]], explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the [[First ascent of the Matterhorn|first ascent]] of the [[Matterhorn]] in 1865.  Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Cliffhanger at the top of the world|author=Fleming, Fergus|date=3 November 2000|journal=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/nov/04/historybooks.books}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Blueplaque commemorates Matterhorn climber Edward Whymper|date=15 September 2011|journal=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/15/blue-plaque-edward-whymper-matterhorn}}</ref> Whymper also made important first ascents on the [[Mont Blanc massif]] and in the [[Pennine Alps]], [[Chimborazo]] in South America, and the [[Canadian Rockies]]. His exploration of Greenland contributed an important advance to Arctic exploration. Whymper wrote several books on mountaineering, including ''[[s:Scrambles amongst the Alps|Scrambles Amongst the Alps]]''.

==Early life==
[[File:Edward Whymper Calkin.jpg|thumb|left|Painting by [[Lance Calkin]]]]
Edward Whymper was born at Lambeth Terrace on Kennington Road in [[London]] on 27 April 1840 to the artist and [[wood engraving|wood engraver]] [[Josiah Wood Whymper]] and Elizabeth Whitworth Claridge. He was the second of eleven children, his older brother being the artist and explorer [[Frederick Whymper]]. He was trained to be a wood-engraver at an early age. In 1860, he made extensive forays into the central and western [[Alps]] to produce a series of commissioned alpine scenery drawings. Among the objects of this tour was the illustration of an unsuccessful attempt made by Professor Bonney's party to ascend [[Mont Pelvoux]], at that time believed to be the highest peak of the [[Dauphiné Alps]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Whymper, Edward|volume=28|page=617}}</ref>

In 1861, Whymper successfully completed the ascent of Mont Pelvoux, the first of a series of expeditions that threw much needed light on the topography of an area which at the time was very poorly mapped. From the summit of Mont Pelvoux, Whymper discovered that it was overtopped by a neighbouring peak, subsequently named the [[Barre des Écrins]], which, before the annexation of [[Savoy]] added [[Mont Blanc]] to the possessions of France, was the highest point in the French Alps.<ref name="EB1911"/> Whymper climbed the Barre des Écrins in 1864 with [[Horace Walker]], [[Adolphus Warburton Moore|A. W. Moore]] and guides [[Christian Almer]] senior and junior.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

The years 1861 to 1865 were filled with new expeditions in the [[Mont Blanc massif]] and the [[Pennine Alps]],<ref name="EB1911"/> among them the first recorded ascents of the [[Aiguille d'Argentière]] and [[Mont Dolent]] in 1864, and the [[Aiguille Verte]], the [[Grand Cornier]] and ''Pointe Whymper'' on the [[Grandes Jorasses]] in 1865. That same year he also made the first crossing of the Moming Pass. According to his own words, his only failure was on the west ridge of the [[Dent d'Hérens]] in 1863.<ref>"This was the only mountain in the Alps that I have essayed to ascend, that has not, sooner or later, fallen to me. Our failure was mortifying ..." Quoted in Dumler, Helmut and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994, p. 157.</ref> As a result of his Alpine experience, he designed a tent which came to be known as the "[[Whymper tent]]" and tents based on his design were still being manufactured 100 years later.

==The Matterhorn==
{{main|First ascent of the Matterhorn}}
[[File:Scrambles amongst the Alps.jpg|thumb|upright|Title page of the 6th edition (1936) of ''Scrambles amongst the Alps'']]
Professor [[John Tyndall]] and Whymper emulated each other in determined attempts to reach the summit of the Matterhorn by the south-western, or Italian, ridge.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1865, Whymper, who had failed eight times already, attempted unsuccessfully to climb a [[couloir]] on the south-east face with [[Michel Croz]]. After Croz left for a prior engagement with [[Charles Hudson (climber)|Charles Hudson]], Whymper was unable to secure the services of Val Tournanche guide Jean Antoine Carrel, and instead planned to try the eastern face with [[Lord Francis Douglas]] and the two [[Zermatt]] guides, [[Peter Taugwalder]] and his son of the same name.

Whymper was convinced that the Matterhorn's precipitous appearance when viewed from Zermatt was an optical illusion, and that the dip of the strata, which on the Italian side formed a continuous series of overhangs, should make the opposite side a natural staircase. This party of four was joined by Hudson and Croz, and the inexperienced [[Douglas Robert Hadow|Douglas Hadow]]. Their attempt by what is now the normal route, the [[Hornli Hut|Hörnli ridge]], met with success on 14 July 1865, only days before an Italian party. On the descent, Hadow slipped and fell onto Croz, dislodging him and dragging Douglas and Hudson to their deaths; the rope parted, saving the other three.<ref name="EB1911"/>

A controversy ensued as to whether the rope had actually been cut, but a formal investigation could not find any proof, and the elder Peter Taugwalder was acquitted. The rope had snapped between Taugwalder and Lord Francis Douglas. Whymper asked Taugwalder to show him the rope. To his surprise, he saw that it was the oldest and weakest of the ropes they brought, and one which had been intended only as a reserve. All those who had fallen had been tied with a Manila rope, or with a second and equally strong one, and consequently it had been only between the survivors and those who had fallen where the weaker rope had been used. Whymper also had suggested to Hudson that they should have attached a rope to the rocks on the most difficult place, and held it as they descended, as an additional protection. Hudson approved the idea, but it was never done.<ref>Edward Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 1872.</ref> It can be deduced that Taugwalder had no other choice but to use a weaker rope, as the stronger rope was not long enough to connect Taugwalder to Douglas. The account of Whymper's attempts on the Matterhorn occupies the greater part of his book, ''Scrambles amongst the Alps'' (1871), in which the illustrations are engraved by Whymper himself.<ref name="EB1911"/> The accident haunted Whymper:
{{blockquote|Every night, do you understand, I see my comrades of the Matterhorn slipping on their backs, their arms outstretched, one after the other, in perfect order at equal distances—Croz the guide, first, then Hadow, then Hudson, and lastly Douglas. Yes, I shall always see them ...}}

==Exploration in Greenland==
Whymper's 1865 campaign had been planned to test his route-finding skills in preparation for an expedition to [[Greenland]] in 1867. The exploration in Greenland resulted in an important collection of fossil plants, which were described by [[Oswald Heer|Professor Heer]] and deposited in the [[British Museum]]. Whymper's report was published in the report of the British Association of 1869. Though hampered by a lack of supplies and an epidemic among the local people, he proved that the interior could be explored by the use of suitably constructed sledges, and thus contributed an important advance to Arctic exploration.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Another expedition in 1872 was devoted to a survey of the coastline.{{citation needed|date = April 2025}}<!--and what happened?-->{{explain|date=April 2025}}

==South American exploration==
[[File:Picswiss VS-01-16.jpg|thumb|Commemorative plaque in Zermatt]]
Whymper next organised an expedition to [[Ecuador]], designed primarily to collect data for the study of [[altitude sickness]] and the effect of reduced air pressure on the human body. His chief guide was [[Jean-Antoine Carrel]], who later died from exhaustion on the Matterhorn after bringing his employers to safety through a snowstorm.<ref name="EB1911"/>

During 1880, Whymper made two ascents of [[Chimborazo (volcano)|Chimborazo]] (6,267m), including its first ascent; though [[Alexander von Humboldt]] had climbed on the volcano in 1802, he did not reach the summit.<ref>"Alexander von Humboldt: A Chronology from 1769 to 1859" in ''Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial regions of the New Continent'' by Alexander von Humboldt. London: Penguin Classics 1995, p. lxviii.</ref> Whymper spent a night on the summit of [[Cotopaxi]] and made first ascents of [[Sincholagua Volcano|Sincholagua]], [[Antisana]], [[Cayambe (volcano)|Cayambe]], Sara Urco and [[Cotacachi Volcano|Cotacachi]].  In 1892, he published the results of his journey in a volume entitled ''Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator''.<ref name="EB1911"/>

His observations on altitude sickness led him to conclude that it was caused by a reduction in atmospheric pressure, which lessens the value of inhaled air, and by expansion of the air or gas within the body, causing pressure upon the internal organs. The effects produced by gas expansion may be temporary and dissipate when equilibrium has been restored between the internal and external pressure.  The publication of his work was recognised on the part of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] by the award of the Patron's medal.<ref name="EB1911"/>

His experiences in South America having convinced him of certain serious errors in the readings of aneroid [[barometer]]s at high altitudes, he published a work entitled ''How to Use the Aneroid Barometer'', and succeeded in introducing important improvements in their construction. He afterwards published two guide-books to Zermatt and Chamonix.<ref name="EB1911"/>

While in Ecuador, Whymper made a collection of amphibians and reptiles that he handed over to [[George Albert Boulenger]] at the [[British Museum]]. The collection received some praise from Boulenger, who said that "though containing no striking novelties", the collection was "interesting on account of the care bestowed by its collector in recording the exact locality from which every specimen was obtained".<ref name=Boulenger/> Boulenger [[species description|described]] four new species from the materials, three of them named after Whymper: the snake ''Coronella whymperi'' (now a junior [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]] of ''Saphenophis boursieri'') and the frogs ''[[Hyloxalus whymperi|Prostherapis whymperi]]'', ''[[Atelopus elegans|Phryniscus elegans]]'', and ''Hylodes whymperi'' (now a junior synonym of ''[[Pristimantis curtipes]]'').<ref name=Boulenger>{{cite journal |last1=Boulenger |first1=G. A. |year=1882 |title=Account of the reptiles and batrachians collected by Mr. Edward Whymper in Ecuador in 1879–80 |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History|series=Series 5 |volume=9 |pages=457–467 |doi=10.1080/00222938209459079 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/84520}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beolens |first1=Bo |last2=Watkins |first2=Michael |last3=Grayson |first3=Michael |title=The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians |publisher=Pelagic Publishing |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-907807-44-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZY3BAAAQBAJ&q=eponym+dictionary+of+amphibians+whymper&pg=PT361}}</ref>

==Canadian Rockies==

In the early 1900s,  Whymper visited the [[Canadian Rockies]] several times and made arrangements with the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] (CPR) to promote the Canadian Rockies and the railway in his talks in Europe and Asia. In exchange, the CPR agreed to pay transportation costs for him and his four guides. According to the surveyor and mountaineer [[Arthur Oliver Wheeler|A. O. Wheeler]], Whymper was hired to “conduct explorations and surveys in the interests of the Canadian Pacific railway company” (Wheeler, 1905). In 1901, Whymper and his four guides (Joseph Bossoney, [[Christian Kaufmann (alpine guide)|Christian Kaufmann]], [[Christian Klucker]] and Joseph Pollinger) made the first ascents of [[Mount Whymper (Edward)|Mount Whymper]] and [[Stanley Peak (Ball Range)|Stanley Peak]] in the [[Vermilion Pass]] area of the Canadian Rockies.<ref>{{BCGNIS|22079|Mount Whymper (Edward)}}</ref><ref name="Peakware">{{citation |url=http://peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=353&view=overview |title=Mount Whymper |access-date=2 June 2012|encyclopedia=Peakware World Mountain Encyclopedia |publisher=Peakware.com  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bivouac.com//MtnPg.asp?MtnId=1562 |title=Mount Whymper British Columbia #1562 |access-date=2 June 2012 |work=Bivouac.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321094104/http://www.bivouac.com/ |archive-date=21 March 2016  }}</ref>

His [[Frederick Whymper|brother Frederick]] also has a mountain in [[British Columbia]] [[Mount Whymper (Frederick)|named after him]], from his days as artist illustrator with the [[Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Caithness)|Robert Brown]]'s [[Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition]] in 1864.<ref name="Frederick">{{cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7143 |title=Whymper, Frederick |access-date=19 May 2012 |work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online |publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval |year=2000 }}</ref><ref>{{BCGNIS|22078|Mount Whymper (Frederick)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5994 |title=Brown, Robert |access-date=2 June 2012 |work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online |publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval |year=2000 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | editor-last = Hayman | editor-first = John | title = Robert Brown and the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition | place = Vancouver | publisher = [[University of British Columbia Press]] | year = 1989 | isbn = 0-7748-0322-3}}</ref>

==Illustrator==
When not climbing, Whymper pursued his profession as an engraver of illustrations for books and periodicals. Among the books he illustrated was his fellow-mountaineer [[Florence Crauford Grove]]'s ''The Frosty Caucasus'' (1875)<ref>Grove, Florence Crauford, ''The Frosty Caucasus: an account of a walk through part of the Range and of an ascent of Elbruz in the summer of 1874'' (London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1875, 341 pp.)</ref> Whymper also illustrated and engraved [[John Tyndall]]'s "Hours of Exercise in The Alps" (1871) and [[Augusta Bethell]]'s ''Helen in Switzerland'' (1867).
He illustrated books for Isabella L. Bird<ref>{{cite web|title=''Among the Tibetans'' |work=Project Gutenberg |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41635/41635-h/41635-h.htm}}</ref> but his brother Charles Whymper was the designer of the Henrietta Amelia Bird memorial clock tower in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland. It was built in 1905, funded by Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop) in memory of her sister.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Life of Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop) by Anna M. Stoddart  |work=Project Gutenberg |year=1906 |url=https://archive.org/stream/lifeofisabellabi00stoduoft/lifeofisabellabi00stoduoft_djvu.txt}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=DSA Architect Biography Report: Charles Whymper|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=204249|website=scottisharchitects.org.uk|publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410051814/http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=204249|archive-date=10 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Final years==
[[File:Whymper Grave.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Whymper's Grave in [[Chamonix]], France]]
On 25 April 1906, aged 65, Whymper married Edith Mary Lewin aged 23 (born 1883) at Emmanuel Church in [[Forest Gate]], [[Essex]] (now [[London]]).<ref name="whymper.com">{{cite web|title=Marriage to Edith Mary Lewin |work=Whymper.com |url=http://edward.whymper.com/edward_whymper_marriage_to_edith_mary_lewin.php |access-date=12 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112211216/http://edward.whymper.com/edward_whymper_marriage_to_edith_mary_lewin.php |archive-date=12 November 2013  }}</ref> The service was presided over by Canon J. M'Cormick, who had assisted the mountaineer after the Matterhorn accident.<ref name="whymper.com"/> The marriage produced one daughter, Ethel. The couple separated in 1910.<ref name="whymper.com"/> Edith remarried in 1913 and died the following year from complications of pregnancy.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lewin|first1=Greg|title=Edith and the Mountaineer|url=http://greglewin.co.uk/fh/Whymper.php|website=Greg's Family History|access-date=2 February 2016}}</ref>

Shortly after returning to [[Chamonix]] from another climb in the Alps, Whymper became ill, locked himself in his room at the Grand Hotel Couttet, and refused all medical treatment.<ref name="whymper-death">{{cite web|title=Death of Edward Whymper |work=Whymper.com |url=http://edward.whymper.com/death_of_edward_whymper.php |access-date=12 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112210148/http://edward.whymper.com/death_of_edward_whymper.php |archive-date=12 November 2013  }}</ref> Whymper died alone on 16 September 1911, at the age of 71.<ref name="whymper-death"/><ref name="nytimes-obit">{{cite journal|title=Whymper Expected End |date=18 September 1911 |journal=The New York Times |page=4|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0CE2DC163CE633A2575BC1A96F9C946096D6CF}}</ref> A funeral was held four days later. He is buried in the English cemetery in Chamonix.<ref name="whymper-death"/>

==Works==
* [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008601400 ''Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860–69'']. London: John Murray, 1871. {{ISBN|978-0898150438}}.
* ''Winter Pictures: By Poet and Artist''. London: Religious Tract Society, 1875.
* ''The Ascent of the Matterhorn''. London: John Murray, 1880. {{ISBN|978-0862993474}}.
* ''How to Use the Aneroid Barometer''. London: John Murray, 1881.
* [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006010956 ''Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator''. London: John Murray, 1891].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator'' by Edward Whymper and ''Mountaineering'' by C. T. Dent|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=October 1892|volume=175|pages=348–371|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092526565;view=1up;seq=364}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0879052812}}.
* ''Chamonix and the Range of Mont Blanc: A Guide''. London: John Murray, 1896. 
* ''The Valley of Zermatt and the Matterhorn: A Guide''. London: John Murray, 1897.
* ''The Apprenticeship of a Mountaineer: Edward Whymper's London Diary, 1855–1859''. Ed. Ian Smith. London: London Record Society, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0900952432}}.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080911061256/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/bird/isabella/tibet/index.html ''Among the Tibetans'' by Isabella L. Bird] (1894, as illustrator)

==References==
{{Reflist|28em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Gos|first=Charles|title=Alpine Tragedy|chapter=The Matterhorn Catastrophe|others=Trans. Malcolm Barnes|location=New York City|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]|year=1948|pages=24–34}}
* {{cite book|first=Alan|last=Lyall|title=The First Descent of the Matterhorn|location=[[Llandysul]]|publisher=[[Gomer Press]]|others=(Privately)|year=1997}}
* {{cite book|first=Ian M.|last=Smith|title=Shadow of the Matterhorn: the life of Edward Whymper|publisher=Carreg|year=2011|isbn=978-0-9563163-1-8}}
* {{cite book|first=Frank S|last=Smythe|title=Edward Whymper|publisher=[[Hodder and Stoughton]]|year=1940}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edward-whymper}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=39217| name=Edward Whymper}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edward Whymper}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1357}}
* {{cite crdb|id=81|name=Edward Whymper|subject=people}}
* Peter H. Hansen, 'Whymper, Edward (1840–1911)', [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36884 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography], Oxford University Press, 2004
* {{cite book |title=Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator |publisher=J. Murray |author=Edward Whymper |year=1892 |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsamongstg03whymgoog
|quote=editions:0zxuHccFK-hE6Z02OBomfy. }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whymper, Edward}}
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1911 deaths]]
[[Category:English mountain climbers]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:19th-century English explorers]]
[[Category:British magazine illustrators]]
[[Category:Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh]]