Wilson, Edward, 1872-1912

Edward Adrian Wilson was born in Cheltenham, England on 23 July 1872, second son of a respected Cheltenham medical practitioner. He was educated at Cheltenham College and studied natural science and medicine at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and St. George's Hospital, London. In 1898, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent several months convalescing in Norway and Switzerland, giving him the opportunity to hone his skills as a watercolour artist and wildlife illustrator. After qualifying in medicine in 1900, Wilson practised at Cheltenham Hospital, where in 1901 he was appointed Junior House Surgeon. Later in the same year he was selected to join the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott), as junior surgeon and zoologist. Less than a month before his departure to the Antarctic, he married Oriana Souper. Whilst on this expedition, he accompanied Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton on a major sledge journey, exploring inland across the Ross Ice Shelf toward the South Pole. On 30 December 1902, the party reached 82°17'S, their farthest south. Wilson's abilities in accurately illustrating both topography and wildlife on the expedition were invaluable and his skills as confidant and mediator were equally valued.

On his return to England in 1904, Wilson wrote up and published his zoological data, and was commissioned to illustrate books on British birds and mammals. He was appointed as principal field-observer, anatomist and physiologist to the Board of Agriculture's investigation into the cause of grouse disease on British moor lands.

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