Clarence Howard Hare was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, on 2 December 1880. He was educated at East Christchurch School, after which he worked as a clerk in New Zealand and Fiji. It was while working as a clerk in Lyttelton that he was recruited as assistant steward on the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott). He took part in the sledging programme, including an attempt on Cape Crozier in March 1902. His one-year engagement terminated, he joined the relief ship Morning in March 1903, returning to Lyttelton, and went on to England in Discovery a year later.
On his return to New Zealand in 1904, he took various jobs on sheep and cattle farms before returning to office work in Christchurch. He became a professional piano tuner and repairer, working in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and he retired in 1957. He died in Australia on 31 May 1967.
From the guide to the Clarence Howard Hare collection, 1901-1965, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
