Thomas Henry Tizard was born in Weymouth in 1839. He was educated at the Royal Hospital School in Greenwich, entering the Royal Navy as master's assistant in 1854 and serving with the Baltic fleet during the Crimean War between 1854 and 1856. He gained his first experience of surveying on the Newfoundland coast and, after advancing to second master in 1860, was appointed to a surveying vessel on the China station. Promoted master in 1864, he served as navigating lieutenant and senior assistant surveyor in the Mediterranean and Red Sea from 1868 until 1871, when he conducted an important series of observations on the surface and undercurrents in the Straits of Gibraltar.
In 1872, he joined the British naval voyage, 1872-1876 (Chief Scientist Charles Wyville Thomson) as navigating officer in HMS Challenger, collaborating closely with George Strong Nares and the expedition's scientific staff. After the expedition, Tizard spent three years at the Admiralty writing the narrative of the voyage in association with John Murray.
In 1879, Tizard resumed surveying duties, taking charge of the Home Survey in the following year. In 1889, he was promoted to staff captain and two years later, was appointed Assistant Hydrographer of the Navy. In 1896, he was placed on the retired list with the rank of captain, but continued to serve at the Admiralty until 1907. He died in Kingston-on-Thames in 1924.
Published work Report on the scientific results of the exploring voyage of HMS Challenger 1873-1876, under the command of Captain George Strong Nares, R.N., F.R.S., and the late Captain Frank Tourle Thomson, R.N. volume 1, Parts 1 and 2, Narrative of the cruise volume 2, by Thomas H. Tizard, Henry Nottidge Moseley, John Young Buchanan and John Murray, Her Majesty's Stationery Office London (1885) SPRI Library Shelf (7)91(08)[1872-1876]
From the guide to the Thomas Tizard collection, 1900-1912, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
