Reginald William James
Reginald William James collection
1914 - 1957
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Expedition material (3 maps, 6 volumes, 288 leaves) and correspondence (7 leaves)
Reginald William James
English.
Reginald William James was born in London on 9 January 1891. He was educated at the Regent Street Polytechnic and read physics at St John's College, Cambridge. After two years research studentship in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, he joined the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea party], 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) as physicist.
After
Endurance was lost, James played an important part in the saving of the expedition members by determining the longitude of the floe on which they were drifting when the ship's chronometers had become unreliable.
On return to England James was commissioned in the Royal Engineers and did pioneer work in the development of sound ranging as a method of discovering the position of enemy guns. After the First World War he lectured in physics at Manchester University, gaining a worldwide reputation as an X-ray crystallographer. In 1937 he became Professor of Physics at the University of Cape Town,South Africa, retiring in 1957. James died in Cape Town on 7 July 1964.
The collection comprises of material relating to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) and later correspondence by James.
The collection is split into two sub-fonds, comprising of expedition material and correspondence respectively.
Further accessions possible.
By appointment.
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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.
Additional finding aids are available at the Institute.
Antarctica
Discovery and exploration
James
Reginald William
1891-1964
Physicist
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Weddell Sea
1914-1916
Reginald William James/British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party]
James, British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party]
1914 - 1942
5 journals, 4 diaries, 3 maps, 4 sets notes, 1 lecture
Reginald William James
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) set out to cross the Antarctic continent. When
Endurance was beset this goal was abandoned. The ship drifted for ten months before being crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and sinking in 1915. The entire company spent five months on the ice before escaping in the three lifeboats to Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands. Two of the life boats were made into a shelter for the company while Shackleton, Thomas Crean, Frank Worsley, Timothy McCarthy, Harold McNish and John Vincent sailed 1450Km to South Georgia in the James Caird. Arriving at South Georgia Shackleton, Crean and Worsley made the first major trek across the island to the whaling station at Stromness. The steam tug Yelcho rescued the men on Elephant island in August 1916.
- MS 1650/1;BJ Diary, 27 October 1914 to 15 February 1915, 1 volume, holograph
- MS 1650/2;D Diary, October 27 1914 [Account of South Georgia] 4 leaves, holograph
- MS 370/1:BJ Journal, volume I, 27 October 1914 to 20 October 1915 [In two parts with different pagination] typescript copy
- MS 370/2;BJ Journal volume II, 16 February to 20 October 1915, holograph
- MS 1605/4/1;D Diary, 24 October 1915 to 15 July 1916, 121 leaves, typescript
- MS 1537/3/2/1-3;D Diary, 24 October 1915 to 3 September 1916 [Point Wild, 30 July 1916] 90 leaves
- MS 370/3;BJ Journal, volume III, 30 October 1915 to 15 July 1916, 1 volume, holograph,
- MS 1605/4/2;D Notes about Cape Wild, 30 July 1916 [Part of diary] typescript
- MS 370/4;BJ Journal, volume IV, 16 July to 3 September 1916, 1 volume, holograph
- MS 370/5;BJ Journal, volume V, 30 July 1916, 1 volume, holograph
- MS 1650/3;D Diary, 15 September 1916 to 3 October 1916 [Punta Arenas to Mendoza] 11 leaves, holograph
- MS 1605/4/3;D Notes on Ice Formation, compiled August 1916 [From observations written 1915] typescript
- MS 1650/5;D Noon positions of Endurance, 18 leaves, typescript
- MS 1241;D Final list of noon positions of the Endurance, undated, 22 leaves, typescript
- MS 1605/14/2;MSM Manuscript map of Point Wild, May 1916 [Rough survey]
- MS 1605/14/3;MSM Cartography map, May 1916 [Cape Wild, Elephant Island Survey]
- MS 1605/14/4;D Sketch map, [1916] [Cape Wild, Elephant Island]
- MS 1650/6;D A paper given to the Philosophical Club of the University of Cape Town, 1942, [Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916] typescript
Chronological.
The Scott Polar Research Institute holds a number of photographs, film and other illustrative material in the Picture Library, some of which covers this expedition. The catalogue can be searched on line by going to the Picture Library Database and selecting the
Enter Polar Pictures link.
The Institute holds over thirty archival collections containing material relating to this expedition see SPRI collection GB 015 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, [Weddell Sea Party] 1914-1916, for more information.
Shackleton
Ernest Henry
1874-1922
Sir
Knight Explorer
Endurance (Steam yacht)
Weddell Sea (Antarctica)
Elephant Island (Antarctic region)
Reginald William James/Correspondence
Reginald William James, correspondence
1922 - 1957
Circa 4 letters
Reginald William James
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
General correspondence on polar matters including James memories of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton.
- MS 100/53/1-3;D Letters (3) to Hugh Robert Mill [Regarding Shackleton], 1922 to 1923, 5 leaves, holograph
- MS 634/4;D Letter to Sir James Wordie, 30 January 1957 [Discusses the paper by S.W. Visser 'The novaya-Zemlya phenomenon']
The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by recipient.
The life of Sir Ernest Shackleton by Hugh Robert Mill, first published 1923, SPRI Library shelf 92[Shackleton]
Mill
Hugh Robert
1861-1950
Geographer and Meteorologist