View source for Frank Wild

{{refimprove|date = February 2024}}
{{Short description|English sailor and polar explorer (1873–1939)}}
{{distinguish|Frank Wilde}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Frank Wild
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnom|country=GBR|CBE|FRGS|size=100%}}
| image              = FrankWild.png
| caption            = Wild in 1914
| birth_name         = John Robert Francis Wild
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1873|04|18|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Skelton-in-Cleveland]], [[Yorkshire]], [[England]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1939|08|19|1873|04|10|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Klerksdorp]], [[Cape Province]], [[Union of South Africa]]
| burial_place        = [[Grytviken]], [[South Georgia Island|South Georgia]]
| burial_coordinates = {{coord|-54.28511944401586|-36.50727886228288|scale:10000|display=inline}}
| occupation         = [[Antarctic explorer]], sailor
| awards             = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Royal Geographical Society's Back Award]] (1916)
* [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Order of the&nbsp;British&nbsp;Empire]]&nbsp;(1920)
* [[Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Medal]] (1924)
* [[Polar Medal]] with four clasps}}
| module             = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes
 |branch_label       = Branch
 |branch             = {{plainlist|
* {{flagd|UK|civil|size=20px}} [[Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)|Merchant Navy]]
* {{flagd|UK|naval|size=20px}} [[Royal Navy]]}}
 |serviceyears_label = Service&nbsp;years
 |serviceyears       = 1889–1939
 |rank               = [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]
 |unit               = [[Royal Naval Reserve]]
 |battles_label      = Expeditions
{{ubl|style=font-weight:normal;font-size:95%;margin-left:0.5em|1901–1904|1907–1909|1911–1914|1914–1917|1921–1922}}
 |battles            = {{ubl|5 total|[[Discovery expedition|''Discovery'' expedition]]|[[Nimrod expedition|''Nimrod'' expedition]]|[[Australasian expedition]]|[[Transantarctic expedition]]|[[Shackleton–Rowett expedition]]}}}}
}}

'''John Robert Francis Wild''' {{postnom|country=GBR|CBE|FRGS}} (18 April 1873&nbsp;– 19 August 1939) was an English sailor and explorer. He participated in five expeditions to [[Antarctica]] during the [[Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration]], for which he was awarded the [[Polar Medal]] with four bars, one of only two men to be so honoured, the other being [[Ernest Joyce]].<ref name="stein" />

==Early life==

Frank Wild was born in [[Skelton-in-Cleveland]], [[North Riding of Yorkshire]], the eldest of eight sons{{sfn|Bickel 2001|p=27}} and three daughters born to Benjamin Wild, a schoolteacher, and his wife Mary (née Cook), a [[seamstress]]. The family came from Skelton close to [[Marton, Middlesbrough|Marton]], birthplace of [[Captain James Cook]], to whom the family claimed ancestry through Mrs. Wild;{{sfn|Bickel 2001|p=27}}<ref name="visit" /> her father was Robert Cook, who claimed to be a grandson of the great explorer. By 1875, the Wild family had moved from Skelton to [[Stickford]] in Lincolnshire, and in late 1880 moved again to [[Wheldrake]] near [[York]].<ref name="visit" />

Wild's family next moved to the village of [[Eversholt, Bedfordshire|Eversholt]] in Bedfordshire.<ref name="visit" /> Here his father was appointed clerk of the Eversholt Parochial Charity at [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]].{{sfn|Nature Obit, 30 September 1939}} Frank Wild was educated at [[Bedford]]. He joined the [[Merchant Navy]] in 1889 at the age of 16, receiving his early training in sail in the clipper ship ''Sobraon''. In the [[British Merchant Navy]], he rose to the rank of second officer. In 1900, aged 26, he joined the [[Royal Navy]]. The 1901 census shows that at that time, aged 27, he was serving as an [[able seaman]] on {{HMS|Edinburgh|1882|6}}, anchored in [[Sheerness]] Harbour.

==Antarctic exploration==

[[File:TheSouthernParty (cropped).jpg|thumb|Frank Wild (left side) beside Shackleton]]
Wild took part in the following Antarctic expeditions:

* In 1901, he was a member of [[Robert Falcon Scott]]'s crew as an [[able seaman]] on the ''[[RRS Discovery|Discovery]]'', along with [[Ernest Shackleton]], who was then a sub-lieutenant.
* In 1908–1909, he was a member of Shackleton's [[Nimrod Expedition]] and was a member of the team that crossed the Ross Barrier and [[Beardmore Glacier]] at a record latitude of 88º23'S.
* In 1911, he joined [[Douglas Mawson]]'s ''[[SY Aurora|Aurora]]'' expedition and was in charge of the western base on the [[Shackleton Ice Shelf]].
* From 1914 to 1916, he served as Shackleton's second-in-command on the [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]].
* In 1921–1922, he served as second-in-command of the [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]].

As second-in-command of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Wild was left in charge of 21 men on desolate [[Elephant Island]] as Shackleton and a crew of five undertook an epic open-ocean voyage to [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands|South Georgia]] aboard the lifeboat ''[[Voyage of the James Caird|James Caird]]'' in order to seek rescue. For more than four months, from 24 April to 30 August 1916, during the Antarctic winter, Wild and his crew waited on Elephant Island, surviving on a diet of seal, penguin and seaweed. They were finally rescued by Shackleton aboard the Chilean ship ''[[Yelcho (1906)|Yelcho]]''. [[Point Wild]] on Elephant Island is named after Frank Wild; a monument dedicated to the Chilean captain [[Luis Pardo]], who rescued him and his men, now stands at the site.

On returning to the United Kingdom in 1916, Wild volunteered for duty during [[World War I]] and was made a temporary lieutenant in the [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]]. After taking a [[Russian language]] course, Wild became the [[Royal Navy]]'s transport officer at [[Arkhangelsk|Archangel]], where he superintended the war materials which arrived during the [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Allied intervention in Russia]]. After the war, Wild went to the [[Union of South Africa]], where he farmed in [[Nyasaland]] with [[Francis Howard Bickerton|Francis Bickerton]] and [[James McIlroy (surgeon)|James McIlroy]], two former Antarctic comrades.<ref name="stein" />

From 1921 to 1922, Wild was second-in-command of the [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]], on the converted Norwegian ship ''[[Quest (ship)|Quest]]''. Shackleton died of a heart attack on [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands|South Georgia]] during the expedition, and Wild took over command and completed the journey, combating unfavourable weather to Elephant Island and along the Antarctic coast.<ref name="stein" />

Wild's younger brother [[Ernest Wild]] also went on to become a [[Royal Navy|Royal Naval]] seaman and [[Antarctic]] explorer, receiving a [[Polar Medal]].

==Later years==

On 24 October 1922, Wild married Vera Alexandra Altman (née Bogosoff), the widow of a tea planter of [[Borneo]], at [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] Register Office. They had first met in 1918 when Wild was serving in Russia, and he had assisted her to obtain a passage home to England. After the [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]], Wild returned to South Africa with Vera where he continued to farm. He bought some land in the Mkuzi valley in [[Natal Province|Zululand]] where he tried to grow cotton.

The enterprise was a financial disaster and after five years of drought followed by flood, Wild gave up. Next he was involved in railway construction and for a time had some success with a contract to extend the South African railway to the border with [[Swaziland]]. However, the contract ended and he was forced to seek employment elsewhere.<ref name="visit" />

Wild's marriage to Vera was in difficulty shortly after arriving in [[Natal (province)|Zululand]] and she asked for a divorce, which became absolute on 27 December 1928. Next, Wild took a temporary job as a hotel barman at Gollel in [[Swaziland]] which was owned by a friend of his. Caught in the 1930 Depression, he was forced to move from job to job, including working as a battery manager at a diamond mine which went bankrupt, prospecting in [[Rhodesia]] and managing a quarry. He subsidised his meagre income by giving the occasional lecture on the ''[[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition|Endurance]]'' expedition.

He married for the second time on 18 March 1931. His new wife, Beatrice (Trixie) Lydia Rhys Rowbotham, was 47&nbsp;years old and ten years his junior. They settled in [[Germiston]], where in 1932, he worked supervising a stone-crushing machine at a [[Witwatersrand]] gold mine. Wild earned enough money not only to buy a car (a [[Wolseley Motors|Wolseley]]) but to take two holidays in the hinterland and coast of South Africa.

Due to ill health, he was forced to leave the mining job and he was given a job by his brother-in-law Pat O'Brien Frost to oversee the building of Frost's house in [[Haenertsburg]] in the Eastern Transvaal. However, he had little respect for Frost; that and the demands of building the house in an extremely remote part of the country caused him to return to [[Johannesburg]]. He received the offer of a job as a storekeeper on the Babrosco Mine near [[Klerksdorp]] from his friend Jack Scott, the mining magnate. He had also been awarded the [[Civil List pension]] from Downing Street.

==Death==

Wild died of [[pneumonia]] and [[diabetes]] in Klerksdorp on 19 August 1939, aged 66&nbsp;years. He was cremated on 23 August 1939 at [[Braamfontein Cemetery]] in [[Johannesburg]].

In the 2000s, while journalist and author Angie Butler was researching a book about Wild she discovered his ashes were still in a vault at Braamfontein Cemetery. On 27 November 2011, the ashes of Frank Wild, Shackleton's "right-hand man", were interred on the right-hand side of Shackleton's grave site in [[Grytviken]], [[South Georgia Island|South Georgia]]. Wild's relatives and Shackleton's granddaughter, the Hon.&nbsp;[[Alexandra Shackleton]], attended a service conducted by the Rev Dr [[Richard Hines]], rector of the [[Falkland Islands]]. Butler said, "His ashes will now be where they were always supposed to be. It just took them a long time getting there."{{sfn|Telegraph, ''Forgotten hero'', 8 December 2011}} The journey to South Georgia, the service and the interment were the subject of a [[BBC Radio 4]] programme in the ''[[Crossing Continents]]'' series.

His grave is marked with a rough-hewn granite block with the inscription: "Frank Wild 1873–1939, Shackleton's right-hand man."

==Honours and memorials==

Wild was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in the [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom|New Year Honours List]] of 1920, and in May 1923 he was made a [[Freeman of the City of London#Borough Freedom of the City of London|Freeman of the City of London]].<ref name="Ward coolantarctica" /> He was also the recipient of a number of awards for his contributions to exploration and for advancing geography: He received the [[Royal Geographical Society]]'s [[Back Award]] in 1916 and the Society's [[Patron's Medal]] in 1924.

[[Cape Wild]] and [[Point Wild]] on [[Elephant Island]] in the Antarctic are named after him, as is [[Mount Wild (Queen Alexandra Range)|Mount Wild]] in the Queen Alexandra Range and [[Mount Wild (Graham Land)|Mount Wild]] in Graham Land. His CBE and four-bar [[Polar Medal]] sold for £132,000 in September 2009, more than double the estimate.<ref name="Times 21 Sept 2009" />

On 25 November 2011, the Government of [[South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands]] issued a set of commemorative postage stamps honouring Frank Wild along with other Antarctic pioneers. The set comprises eight stamps in four [[Se-tenant (philately)|se-tenant]] pairs with denominations of 60, 70 and 90&nbsp;pence, and £1.15. They are available from the [[Falkland Islands]] Philatelic Bureau.

In April 2012, [[BBC2]] broadcast "Frank Wild: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero", presented by [[Paul Rose (TV presenter)|Paul Rose]], which placed Wild's achievements alongside those of Shackleton and the other explorers of the Heroic Age. The documentary film also featured commentary from polar historian Dr.&nbsp;[[Huw Lewis-Jones]], author [[Francis Spufford]] and explorer Sir&nbsp;[[Ranulph Fiennes]].<ref name="BBC News" /> Of Wild, Paul Rose has said: "''He was a true great. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Shackleton. They made the perfect team. With Shackleton’s great leadership skills, and Frank’s cool head and experience, they were able to handle almost anything that the Antarctic could throw at them.''"<ref name="BBC" />

On 29 September 2016, a statue of Wild was unveiled in his hometown of [[Skelton-in-Cleveland]].

==References==

{{reflist
| refs =

<ref name="stein">{{cite web| url=http://www.antarctic-circle.org/medals.htm| title=Antarctic Medals – Frank Wild's Medals| author=Glenn M. Stein, FRGS| date=15 September 2012 | publisher=The Antarctic Medals website| access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="visit">
[http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/factfiles/obit27.asp] Visit and Learn website
</ref>

<ref name="Ward coolantarctica">{{cite web| url=http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/biography/wild_frank.htm| title=Frank Wild (1873–1939) – Biographical Notes| author=Paul Ward| publisher= Cool Antarctica| access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="Times 21 Sept 2009">
''[[The Times]]'' 21 September 2009, p. 15
</ref>

<ref name="BBC News">{{cite web| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17756155| title=Could polar hero Wild have saved Captain Scott's life?| date=19 April 2012| work=BBC News| access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="BBC">{{cite web| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dy10x| title=Frank Wild: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero| publisher=BBC| access-date=6 May 2013}}</ref>

}}

==Sources==

* {{cite book
  | last = Bickel
  | first = Lennard
  | year = 2001
  | title = Shackleton's Lost Men
  | publisher = Random House
  | location = London
  | isbn = 978-0-7126-6807-1
  | ref = {{sfnRef|Bickel 2001}}
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/shackletonsforgo00lenn
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Lansing
  | first =  Alfred
  | year = 1959
  | title = Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
  | url = https://archive.org/details/enduranceshackle0000lans
  | url-access = registration
  }}
* [[Huw Lewis-Jones]] (2009). ''Face to Face: Polar Portraits''. Conway and Polarworld, 288 pages. {{ISBN|978-1-84486-099-9}}.
* [[Leif Mills]] (1999). ''Frank Wild''. Caedmon of Whitby, 350 pages.
* Angie Butler (2011). "The Quest for Frank Wild". Jackleberry Press, 214 pages.
* [[Huw Lewis-Jones]] and [[Kari Herbert]] (2011). ''In Search of the South Pole''. Conway, 192 pages. {{ISBN|978-1-84486-137-8}}.
* {{cite web
  | last = Naidoo
  | first = Romaana
  | date = 20 October 2011
  | title = Wild's ashes found in Joburg
  | website = joburg.org.za
  | publisher = City of Johannesburg
  | url = http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7328&catid=88&Itemid=266
  | access-date = 10 December 2011
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | doi = 10.1038/144578b0
  | last = Marr
  | first = James W. S.
  | date = 30 September 1939
  | title = Commander F. Wild, C.B.E.
  | journal = Nature
  | volume = 144
  | issue = 3648
  | pages = 578–579
  | bibcode = 1939Natur.144..578M
 | ref = {{sfnRef|Nature Obit, 30 September 1939}}
  | doi-access = free
  }}
* F.A. Worsley, ''Shackleton's Boat Journey''
* {{cite news
  | last = Lusher
  | first = Adam
  | date = 27 November 2011
  | title = Forgotten hero Frank Wild of Antarctic exploration finally laid to rest, beside his 'boss' Sir Ernest Shackleton
  | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph
  | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/8917630/Forgotten-hero-of-Antarctic-exploration-finally-laid-to-rest-beside-his-boss-Sir-Ernest-Shackleton.html
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111128051949/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/8917630/Forgotten-hero-of-Antarctic-exploration-finally-laid-to-rest-beside-his-boss-Sir-Ernest-Shackleton.html
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = 28 November 2011
  | access-date = 10 December 2011
  | ref = {{sfnRef|Telegraph, ''Forgotten hero'', 8 December 2011}}
  }}

==External links==

{{Commons category}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=50243|name=Frank Wild}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}

{{Polar exploration}}
{{Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, Frank}}
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1939 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Castaways]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:English emigrants to South Africa]]
[[Category:English explorers]]
[[Category:British explorers of Antarctica]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
[[Category:Personnel of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]]
[[Category:People from Redcar and Cleveland]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Polar Medal]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Navy sailors]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Reserve personnel]]
[[Category:19th-century Royal Navy personnel]]
[[Category:British Merchant Navy personnel]]