Henry [Harry] Ernest Wild was born in Nettleton, Lincolnshire, in 1880, the brother of John Robert Francis [Frank] Wild. After leaving school at the age of fifteen, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving at home and abroad, and was promoted to petty officer. He joined the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Ross Sea Party], 1914-1917 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton), as a general assistant.
Wild participated in the gruelling sledging programme to lay a chain of depots across the Ross Ice Shelf towards the Beardmore Glacier, providing all that was needed for those crossing the continent with Shackleton.
After the expedition, he returned to the Navy, joining the minesweeper HMS Biarritz at Malta. In February 1918, he contracted typhoid and died on 10 March 1918. Five years later, he was awarded the Albert Medal posthumously for his bravery in Antarctica.
From the guide to the Henry Ernest Wild collection, 1914-1916, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
