Maxime Charles Lester was born on 25 September 1891. He joined the Merchant Navy, and served in the Canadian and British Navies during the First World War, seeing service in the North Atlantic. He joined the British Expedition to Graham Land, 1920-1922 (leader John Lachlan Cope) and, along with Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe, travelled south in a whaling ship to Deception Island ahead of Cope and second-in-command George Hubert Wilkins. The party transferred to Andvord Bay, on the Danco Coast of Graham Land where they intended to set up a base. However, insufficient finance curtailed the expedition, and Cope and Wilkins withdrew. Lester and Bagshawe decided to remain, setting up a base at Waterboat Point on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between January 1921 and January 1922. Though ill equipped and with few comforts, they carried out scientific observations, including a study of the breeding biology of the neighbouring gentoo penguins.
Lester returned to the Merchant Navy, but spent more time in Antarctica with the Discovery Investigations, 1926-1927 (Captain George Metcalf Mercer), in RRS William Scoresby . The expedition conducted extensive surveys of the whaling grounds off South Georgia. He died in London on 3 March 1957.
From the guide to the Maxime Lester, 1920-1928, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
