Thomas Soulsby Williamson was born in Sunderland in October 1877. He ran away to sea at the age of thirteen, and was serving in the Royal Navy on board HMS Pactolus when he joined the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott), as able seaman on board the expedition ship Discovery . He took part in the sledging programme undertaken, including a journey in September 1903 to the Cape Crozier emperor penguin rookery.
He served as petty officer on the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (again led by Scott), and was amongst those who landed at Cape Evans in January 1911. Returning to New Zealand in Terra Nova, he rejoined the main party in February 1912. In April of that year, he was one of those attempting the relief of Victor Campbell's Northern Party. Later, he was a member of a major sledging expedition heading south from Hut Point, Ross Island, on the final search for those missing with Scott. On 12 November 1912, eleven miles beyond One Ton Depot, they found the tent containing the bodies of Scott, Edward Adrian Wilson and Henry Bowers.
After the expedition, he rejoined the Royal Navy, serving in destroyers during the First World War, and was severely wounded when a mine blew up his ship. He was working as a labourer in a Portsmouth dockyard when he died in January 1940.
From the guide to the Thomas Williamson collection, 1901-1930, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
