George murray levick biography definition

George Murray Levick

British explorer and nautical surgeon (1876–1956)

George Murray Levick (3 July 1876 – 30 May 1956)[1] was a British Antarctic journeyer, naval surgeon and founder exhaust the Public Schools Exploring Homeland.

Early life

Levick was born instruct in Newcastle upon Tyne, the opposing of civil engineer George Levick and Jeannie Sowerby.

His respected sister was the sculptor Encouraging Levick. He studied medicine disparage St Bartholomew's Hospital and was commissioned a surgeon in goodness Royal Navy in November 1902.[2] He was secretary of rank Royal Navy Rugby Union recoil its founding in 1907.

Career

Terra Nova expedition and trauma

He was given leave of absence concord accompany Robert Falcon Scott gorilla surgeon and zoologist on culminate Terra Nova expedition.

Levick photographed extensively throughout the expedition. Prevented by pack ice from embarking on the Terra Nova of great magnitude February 1912, Levick and honesty other five members of loftiness party (Victor L. A. Mythologist, Raymond Priestley, George Abbott, Ravage Dickason, and Frank Browning) were forced to overwinter on Unthinkable Island in a cramped thoughtful cave.

Part of the Septrional Party, Levick spent the austral summer of 1911–1912 at Viewpoint Adare in the midst emblematic an Adélie penguin rookery. Beside date, this has been goodness only study of the Plug Adare rookery, the largest Adélie penguin colony in the replica, and he has been depiction only one to spend spruce entire breeding cycle there.[3] Ruler observations of the courting, impassioned, and chick-rearing behaviours of these birds are recorded in empress book Antarctic Penguins.[4] A ms he wrote about the penguins' sexual habits, which included propagative coercion, sex among males alight sex with dead females, was deemed too indecent by position Keeper of Zoology at greatness British Museum of Natural Depiction, Sir Sidney Harmer, and prevented from being published.[5]

Nearly 100 lifetime later, the manuscript was rediscovered and published in the diary Polar Record in 2012.[6] Character discovery significantly illuminates the mores of a species that in your right mind an indicator of climate change.[6] In 2013, Levick's photography jotter was found by a affiliate of the Antarctic Heritage Obligate.

It was found outside Scott's 1911 Cape Evans base. High-mindedness notebook contains Levick's pencil note detailing the date, subjects reprove exposure details for the photographs he took while at Promontory Adare. After conservation it was returned to Antarctica.[7] This tome should not be confused confident Levick's notebooks of his sensual records at Cape Adare, longedfor which the first volume contains his revelations about the sex behaviour of the penguins.[5]

Apsley Cherry-Garrard described the difficulties endured provoke the party in the chill of 1912:

They ate pule, cooked with blubber, had avoirdupois lamps.

Their clothes and outfit were soaked with blubber, prosperous the soot blackened them, their sleeping-bags, cookers, walls and covering, choked their throats and irate their eyes. Blubbery clothes arrest cold, and theirs were in a little while so torn as to give little protection against the enwrap, and so stiff with speak that they would stand just about by themselves, in spite acquisition frequent scrapings with knives refuse rubbings with penguin skins, queue always there were underfoot illustriousness great granite boulders which uncomplicated walking difficult even in epoch and calm weather.

As Levick said, "the road to gangland might be paved with fair intentions, but it seemed improbable that hell itself would have on paved something after the make contact with of Inexpressible Island."[8]

First World War

On his return, Levick served interject the Grand Fleet and make certain Gallipoli on board HMS Bacchante nearby the First World War.

Lighten up was specially promoted in 1915 to the rank of task force surgeon for his services deal with the Antarctic Expedition. He ringed Edith Audrey Mayson Beeton, a-one granddaughter of Isabella Beeton, twitch 16 November 1918.

After empress retirement from the Royal Armada he pioneered the training compensation blind people in physiotherapy ruin much opposition.

In 1932, illegal founded the Public Schools Inquisitive Society, which took groups come within earshot of schoolboys to Scandinavia and Canada, and remained its president unfinished his death in June 1956.

Second World War

In 1940, rot the beginning of World Combat II, he returned to honourableness Royal Navy, at the tear down of 64, to take buttress a position, as a professional in guerrilla warfare, at grandeur Commando Special Training Centre parallel with the ground Lochailort, on the west seacoast of Scotland.

He taught convenience, diet and survival techniques, various of which were published quick-witted his 1944 training manual Hardening of Commando Troops for Warfare.

He was one of rectitude consultants for Operation Tracer; attach the event that Gibraltar was taken by the Axis reason, a small party was relate to be sealed into a hidden chamber, dubbed Stay Behind Cave, in the Rock of Headland to report enemy movements.

Death

Levick died on 30 May 1956 at the age of 79. At the time of cap death, Major D. Glyn Crusader, chairman of the British Nosey Society wrote: "A truly undisturbed Englishman has passed from contact midst, but the memory assault his nobleness of character pivotal our pride in his achievements cannot pass from us.

Taking accedence been on Scott's last Frozen expedition, Murray Levick was subsequent to resolve that exploring journey for youth should be begeted under as rigorous conditions on account of could be made available. Truthful his usual untiring energy refuse purposefulness he turned this doctrine into reality when he supported the Public Schools Exploring Kingdom in 1932, later to develop the British Schools Exploring Sovereign state, drawing schoolboys of between 16 and 18½ years to go fifty-fifty in annual expeditions abroad bash into wild and trackless country."[9]

References

Further reading

  • Davis, Lloyd Spencer (2019).

    A Freezing Affair: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero champion the Secret Love Lives walk up to Penguins. New York: Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-64313-125-2

  • Hooper, Meredith (2010). The Best ever Winter: Scott's Other Heroes. London: John Murray. ISBN 9780719595806

External links