Hugh Robert Mill
Hugh Robert Mill collection
1897-1943
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Correspondence (Circa 50 leaves), notes, catalogues (Circa 30 loose leaves and 2 volumes)
Hugh Robert Mill
English.
Hugh Robert Mill was born at Thurso, Scotland, on 28 May 1861. He read chemistry and physics at Edinburgh University and specialised in marine chemistry, working on the scientific reports of the Challenger expedition under Sir John Murray. In 1887, he became lecturer in geography and physiography at Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, and four years later, published
The realm of nature, an important textbook of scientific geography. In 1892, he was appointed librarian of the Royal Geographical Society, where one of his first tasks was to draw up a set of instructions for naturalists visiting the Antarctic regions. Soon afterwards, he recommended William Speirs Bruce and Charles William Donald as naturalists for the British whaling exploration (from Dundee), 1892-1893. He was also responsible for the Antarctic bibliography, published in The Antarctic manual for the use of the expedition of 1901. On Robert Falcon Scott's invitation, he accompanied the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, to Madeira in order to give practical instruction in meteorology and oceanography to the scientific staff.
Mill resigned his post with the Royal Geographical Society to become Director of the British Rainfall Organization, a post which he occupied from 1901 until 1919, when he handed over the work to the Meteorological Office. He was a member of many scientific societies and for eight years was British representative on the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In 1901, he was appointed President of the Geography Section of the British Association, and in 1907 became President of the Royal Meteorological Society, receiving the society's Symons Memorial Medal in 1918. Mill was closely involved with the Scott Polar Research Institute from its foundation, becoming a member of the Institute's Committee of Management in 1926 and Chairman of the Committee from 1930 until 1939. On his retirement, he presented the Institute with his unique collection of Antarctic books. Throughout his life, he maintained personal friendships with many Polar explorers and acquired an expert knowledge of Antarctic exploration. He died in East Grinstead on 5 April 1950.
Published work,
The siege of the South Pole, the story of Antarctic exploration by Hugh Robert Mill, Alston Rivers, London (1905) SPRI Library Shelf (7)91(091)[1905] The realm of nature, an outline of physiography by Hugh Robert Mill, John Murray London (1907) SPRI Library Shelf 551.4 'A bibliography of Antarctic exploration and research' by Hugh Robert Mill in The Antarctic manual for the use of the expedition of 1901 edited by George Murray, Royal Geographical Society, London (1901) SPRI Library Shelf (7) The Record of the Royal Geographical Society 1830-1930 by Hugh Robert Mill, Royal Geographical Society, London (1930) SPRI Library Shelf 061.2[GB Royal Geographical Society] The life of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE, (Mil), LlD. by Hugh Robert Mill, William Heinemann Ltd. London (1924) SPRI Library Shelf 92[Shackleton, E.H.]
The collection comprises of notes regarding polar exploration and polar explorers particularly in regard to Mill's biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton and a catalogue of the books held by Mill on the polar regions. The second part of the collection comprises of a large amount of correspondence by Mill written to polar explorers and their families over a period of thirty-six years.
The collection is split into two sub-fonds covering the notes and correspondence respectively.
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Clive Holland
Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Garland Publishing, New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.
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The Scott Polar Research Institute holds a number of photographs, film and other illustrative material in the Picture Library, these include photographs of Mill. The catalogue can be searched on line by going to the Picture Library Database and selecting the
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Mill
Hugh Robert
1861-1950
Geographer and Meteorologist
Hugh Robert Mill/Polar papers
Mill, polar papers
1901-1938
Circa 30 loose leaves and 2 volumes
Hugh Robert Mill
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
The notes relate to polar explorers and expeditions covering both the Arctic and Antarctic. A large part of the notes relate to
The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, published in 1924.
- MS 1537/2/5/17;D Testimonial for Ernest Henry Shackleton, 30 November 1903 [As secretary of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society]
- MS 215/6;D Notes on exploration of the Beaufont sea, 22 June 1921 [Suggested plans for and expedition by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton which did not eventuate] 8 leaves, holograph
- MS 215/5;D Notes on suggestions for the Quest, 6 August 1921 [Accompanied by a map originally published in Geographical Journal, volume 24 number 2 1904] 15 leaves
- MS 1591/30/1;D Notes on Shackleton's Last Voyage, 28 December 1922, 4 leaves, holograph
- MS 367/3/1;D Notes on sources used for The life of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (London, Heinemann, 1923) [Letters, papers etc] holograph
- MS 367/3/2;D Note, 14 June 1925 [Regarding a conversation about Shackleton with Admiral Sir Reginald Skelton on 13 June 1925] holograph
- MS 367/23;ER A collection of unpublished documents relating to the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 and the royal geographical society, 1938 [Preserved by Sir John Scott Keltie and collated by Mill with explanatory note] 1 volume
- MS 95;BJ Catalogue of books on the Antarctic regions, May 1941 [Books collected by Mill and arranged according to subject] 1 volume
Chronological
Shackleton
Ernest Henry
1874-1922
Sir
Knight Explorer
British Antarctic National Expedition
1901-1904
Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
South Georgia and Antarctic regions
1921-1922
Arctic regions
Discovery and exploration
Antarctic
Discovery and exploration
Hugh Robert Mill/Correspondence
Mill, correspondence
1897-1943
Circa 44 letters
Hugh Robert Mill
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
General correspondence regarding polar matters, personalities and personal recollections. Correspondents include William Speirs Bruce, John Lachlan Cope, Sir Clements Markham, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
- MS 101/62/1-10;D Letters (10) to William Speirs Bruce, 1897-1910 [Various polar subjects of mutual interest] 11 leaves, holograph
- MS 117;D Letter to Mr Burdon, 11 January 1924 [Reply to congratulations on his Shackleton book] 1 leaf, holograph
- MS 932/10/1-5;D Letters (5) to John Lachlan cope, 1919-1925 [Regarding Cope's proposed Antarctic expedition, baggage left by Cope with Mrs Foote] holograph
- MS 932/11;D Letter to Mrs Foote, 15 October 1925 [He agrees to look after some baggage that Cope had left with her] holograph
- MS 100/77/1-2;D letters (2) copies to J Gordon Hayes, 7 November and December 1930 [Regarding synopsis of the proposes Conquest of the South Pole] 6 leaves, typescript
- MS 100/78;D Letter to W H Hobbs, 21 February 1939, typescript
- MS 1591/1/8/1;D Letter to Alexander Hepburne Macklin, 16 December 1922 [Request for Macklin, John Robert Francis Wild and Frank Worsley to check draft of Life of Shackleton and comment on the last four chapters] holograph
- MS 1591/1/8/2;D Letter to Alexander Hepburne Macklin, 8 January 1923 [Comments about the typescript of the Quest book] holograph
- MS 1591/1/8/3;D Letter to Alexander Hepburne Macklin, 22 January 1923 [Comments on the meteorological report of the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition, 1921-1922] holograph
- MS 367/25;D Letter to Sir Clements Markham, 17 February 1905 [Regarding Antarctic place names] holograph
- MS 356/73/1-5;D Letters (5) to Robert Neal Rudmose Brown, 20 July 1923 to 25 September 1928 [Various polar matters] 5 leaves, holograph
- MS 366/15;ER Letters (2) to Robert Falcon Scott, 8 October 1903 and 8 June 1904 [In papers of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, volume 5 items 65-66] autograph
- MS 1537/2/16/6;D Letter to Emily Shackleton, 22 June 1908 [Refers to British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909]
- MS 1537/2/34/1/1;D Letter to Emily Shackleton, 1 June 1916 [Congratulations on Ernest Shackleton's arrival in South Georgia] holograph
- MS 1537/2/5/9;D Letter of recommendation for Ernest Henry Shackleton, 30 November 1903 [As secretary of Royal Scottish Geographical Society]
- MS 1537/2/5/10;D Letter to Ernest Henry Shackleton, 15 December 1903
- MS 100/79;D Letter to Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, 5 November 1921, copy
- MS 100/80;D Letter (copy) to a Stevens, 24 November 1928 [Regarding Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916] 1 leaf, holograph
- MS 1418/6;D Letter to the Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 6 April 1943 [Regarding his recollections of Alexander Turnbull in 1914] 2 leaves, typescript (carbon)
MS 1537/2/16/6;D and MS 1537/2/5/9;D relate to [1456/22] [1456/84] in the Fisher papers, a collection of papers collated by James and Margery Fisher during their work on the life of Ernest Shackleton.
The Institute holds over ninety archival collections which contain letters addressed to Mill, these include, Roald Amundsen, Louis Charles Bernacchi, Castern Egeberg Borchervink, William Speirs Bruce, Frank Debenham, Joseph Dalton Hooker, John Scott Keltie, Sir Clements Markham, Nils Otto Nordenskjld, Raymond Priestley, Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Edward Adrian Wilson and Sir Charles Wright amounts others.