William James Lloyd Wharton was born in London on 2 March 1843. He was educated at the Royal Navy Academy in Gosport, entering the Royal Navy in 1857. Advancing to lieutenant in 1865, he served in a surveying vessel on the North America station. In 1869, he was appointed flag-lieutenant at the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth, and three years later, was promoted commander. From 1872 to 1880, he conducted surveys in the Mediterranean and on the east coast of Africa. Promoted captain in 1880, he conducted surveys on the coast of South America and, in 1882, published Hydrographical Surveying, a Description of the Methods employed in constructing Marine Charts, which became a standard textbook on the subject.
In 1884, he was appointed Hydrographer to the Royal Navy, resigning this post in 1904 due to ill-health. He was promoted rear admiral on the retired list in 1895 and was knighted in 1897. In 1899, he took a prominent part in the work of the Joint Antarctic Committee of the Royal and Royal Geographical Societies. While on a visit to South Africa in 1905, Wharton contracted enteric fever and died on 29 September 1905.
From the guide to the Sir William Wharton collection, 1901-1903, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
