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George E. Marston (1882-1940) -
Biographical notes
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 George Edward Marston
The Endurance Expedition
Marston took part in three sledging journeys
on the Nimrod expedition, including an ascent of Mount Erebus. He was
a graduate of the Regent Street Polytechnic art school in London and
joined the Nimrod expedition after being persuaded by Shackleton's two
sisters with whom he was friends. He contributed several lithographs
to the "Aurora Australis", a limited edition publication produced
during 1908 whilst the men were laid up for the winter at Hut Point,
and several paintings to "The Heart of the Antarctic" Shackleton's book
of the expedition.
Marston was rather a moody individual,
being up or down on an almost daily basis, he also had a tendency to
be pessimistic and was somewhat disliked by Shackleton as a result of
this.
He made sketches of life on the pack-ice
and also Elephant Island, once again contributing to Shackleton's official
account of the expedition. Marston made a not inconsiderable sacrifice
on Elephant Island in giving up his oil paints to be used to help caulk
the James Caird for the journey to South Georgia. |
Endurance
Personnel
Summary
Bakewell, William
Able Seaman
Blackborow, Percy
Steward (stowaway)
Cheetham, Alfred
Third Officer
Clark, Robert S.
Biologist
Crean, Thomas
Second
Officer
Green, Charles J.
Cook
Greenstreet, Lionel
First Officer
Holness, Ernest
Fireman
How, Walter E.
Able
Seaman
Hudson, Hubert T.
Navigator
Hurley, James F.
(Frank)
Official Photographer
Hussey, Leonard D. A.
Meteorologist
James, Reginald W.
Physicist
Kerr, A. J.
Second
Engineer
Macklin, Dr. Alexander
H.
Surgeon
Marston, George E.
Official Artist
McCarthy, Timothy
Able Seaman
McIlroy, Dr. James A.
Surgeon
McLeod, Thomas
Able
Seaman
McNish, Henry
Carpenter
Orde-Lees, Thomas
Motor Expert and Storekeeper
Rickinson, Lewis
First Engineer
Shackleton, Ernest
H.
Expedition Leader
Stephenson, William
Fireman
Vincent, John
Able
Seaman
Wild, Frank
Second in
Command
Wordie, James M.
Geologist
Worsley, Frank
Captain |
Biography
George Marston was born in Southsea,
Portsmouth on the 19th of March 1882, the son of a coach builder. Prior
to going to Antarctica, he worked as a School Board Art Teacher. He
had married to Hazel Roberts in 1913, in October of the same year, a
daughter, Heather was born.
Shackleton was keen to recruit Marston
as artist on the Endurance and was one of the first people he signed
up, being promised a salary of £350 per year. As well as being artist,
Marston was assigned as a dog-team leader and driver.
On return from the expedition Marston
taught at Bedales school in Petersfield from 1918 to 1922. In 1925,
he joined the Rural Industries Bureau (RIB) as Handicrafts Adviser,
having always been a lover rural life and countryside matters, he was
appointed Assistant Director in 1931 and Director in 1934.
The job for the R.I.B. involved travelling
around England, Wales and Scotland, the administrative centres being
London and Taunton, Somerset. George split with Hazel and they lead
separate lives though they never divorcing.
Marston died on the 22nd of November 1940 in Taunton of a coronary thrombosis
at the age of 58, he is buried in the village churchyard at East Lyng,
near Taunton, a sailing ship adorns his headstone.
References to George Marston in Shackleton's
book "South!"
buy USA
buy UK
 | The new quarters became known as "The
Ritz," and meals were served there instead of in the ward
room. Breakfast was at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m., tea at 4
p.m., and dinner at 6 p.m. Wild,
Marston, Crean, and Worsley
established themselves in cubicles in the wardroom, and
by the middle of the month all hands had settled down to
the winter routine. |
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| The dogs had been divided into six teams
of nine dogs each. Wild, Crean, Macklin, McIlroy,
Marston, and Hurley each
had charge of a team, and were fully responsible for the
exercising, training, and feeding of their own dogs. |
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| The few pieces of wood that we had were
laid across from keel to keel, and over this the material
of one of the torn tents was spread and secured with guys
to the rocks. The walls were ingeniously contrived and fixed
up by Marston. First
he cut the now useless tents into suitable lengths; then
he cut the legs of a pair of seaboots into narrow strips,
and using these in much the same way that the leather binding
is put round the edge of upholstered chairs, he nailed the
tent-cloth all round the insides of the outer gunwales of
the two boats in such a way that it hung down like a valance
to the ground, where it was secured with spars and oars. |
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| "Our reading material consisted at this
time of two books of poetry, one book of ‘Nordenskjold's
Expedition,' one or two torn volumes of the ‘Encyclopaedia
Britannica,' and a penny cookery book, owned by
Marston. Our clothes, though
never presentable, as they bore the scars of nearly ten
months of rough usage, had to be continually patched to
keep them together at all." |
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| A huge glacier across the bay behind
the hut nearly put an end to the party. Enormous blocks
of ice weighing many tons would break off and fall into
the sea, the disturbance thus caused giving rise to great
waves. One day Marston
was outside the hut digging up the frozen seal for lunch
with a pick, when a noise "like an artillery barrage" startled
him. Looking up he saw that one of these tremendous waves,
over thirty feet high, was advancing rapidly across the
bay, threatening to sweep hut and inhabitants into the sea.
A hastily shouted warning brought the men tumbling out,
but fortunately the loose ice which filled the bay damped
the wave down so much that, though it flowed right under
the hut, nothing was carried away. It was a narrow escape,
though, as had they been washed into the sea nothing could
have saved them. |
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| "The centre of the hut is filled with
the cases which do duty for the cook's bed, the meat and
blubber boxes, and a mummified-looking object, which is
Lees in his sleeping-bag. The near end of the floor space
is taken up with the stove, with Wild and McIlroy on one
side, and Hurley and James on the other.
Marston occupies a hammock
most of the night—and day—which is slung across the entrance.
As he is large and the entrance very small, he invariably
gets bumped by those passing in and out. His vocabulary
at such times is interesting. |
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| Marston
had with him a small penny cookery book. From this he would
read out one recipe each night, so as to make them last.
This would be discussed very seriously, and alterations
and improvements suggested, and then they would turn into
their bags to dream of wonderful meals that they could never
reach. |
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| We were just assembling for lunch to
the call of ‘Lunch O!' and I was serving out the soup, which
was particularly good that day, consisting of boiled seal's
backbone, limpets, and seaweed, when there was another hail
from Marston of ‘Ship
O!' Some of the men thought it was ‘Lunch O!' over again,
but when there was another yell from
Marston lunch had no further
attractions. |
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Landmarks named after George Marston
Feature Name:
Mount Marston
Feature Type: summit
Elevation: 1245
Latitude: 7654S
Longitude: 16212E
Description: A whaleback-shaped mountain, 1,245 m, standing at
the N side of Kar Plateau, 3 mi N of the terminus of Mackay Glacier
in Victoria Land. First mapped by the BrAE (1907-09).
Variant Name(s) - Whaleback
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Biographical information
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