John Walter Gregory was born on 27 January 1864 in London. He was educated at Stepney Grammar School and the University of London. In 1887, he was appointed assistant in the Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural History), remaining there until 1900. In 1896, he was selected as geologist on the British Exploring Expedition (leader William Martin Conway), sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society to explore the interior of central Spitsbergen. Gregory was a member of the sledging party, which claimed the first crossing of the island of Spitsbergen in July 1896.
In 1900, Gregory accepted the post of director of scientific staff of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott), but resigned in 1901 after his role became subject to dispute between the Royal Geographical and Royal Societies. Instead, in 1900 he accepted the chair of geology and mineralogy at the University of Melbourne. In 1904, he was appointed professor of geology at Glasgow University, a post he held until his retirement in 1929. Between 1928 and 1930, he was president of the Geological Society. He drowned in the Urubamba River in Peru on 2 June 1932.
Published work The first crossing of Spitsbergen . Being an account of an inland journey of exploration and survey, with descriptions of several mountain ascents, of boat expeditions in Ice Fjord, of a voyage to North-East-Land, the seven islands, down Hinloopen Strait, nearly to Wiches Land, and into most of the fjords of Spitsbergen, and of an almost complete circumnavigation of the main island by William Martin Conway, J.W. Gregory, Aubyn Trevor-Battye and E. J. Garwood, J.M. Dent & Co. London (1897) SPRI Library Shelf (32)91(08)[1896 Conway] The nature and origin of fiords by J.W. Gregory, John Murray London (1913) SPRI Library Shelf 551.331.52
From the guide to the John Walter Gregory collection, 1899-1904, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
