Henry Bowers

Henry Robertson Bowers was born in Greenock - 29th July 1883 - in a house at the corner of North Street on the Esplanade. The Esplanade consisted of only a few isolated villas at this time, and this house being quite remote was known as “Bowers’ Folly”. 

When he was only 4 years old, Bowers’ father died in Rangoon and he and his mother moved to Kent. Bowers however made frequent holiday visits to Greenock and also visited his mother when she returned to Scotland and settled on Bute in a house called “Caerlaverock” at Ardbeg.  

 From an early age he longed for the sea and adventure, and joined the navy as a cadet on HMS Worcester.

  He was a short, stocky man with red hair and a large nose which quickly earned him the nickname Birdie. After serving his apprenticeship and gaining his first mate’s ticket, he was gazetted to the Royal Indian Marine and travelled to the Persian Gulf and East of Suez. As a result of a lunch invitation on HMS “Worcester”, Bowers met Sir Clements Markham, who had organised Captain Scott’s earlier successful Antarctic expedition. The conversation centred on polar exploration and Bowers so impressed Sir Clements that he recommended him as a recruit for Scott’s forthcoming expedition to the South Pole. Bowers received a telegram from Scott offering him a place on the “Terra Nova” without even an interview.

Photographed at the Pole, Left to Right: Wilson, Evans, Scott, Oates, and Bowers

In 1910 the “Terra Nova” sailed south. Fate seemed against the expedition from the start; there were numerous delays, the motor sledges broke down, the horses had to be shot, the dogs couldn’t cope with the extreme conditions and the weather was particularly severe. Bowers is frequently praised by Scott in his diary and letters: “Little Bowers remains a marvel — nothing comes amiss to him and no work is too hard”, and, "The greatest source of pleasure to me is to realise that I have such men as Bowers and P.O. Evans for the Southern journey". 

From Bowers notes we can see in some way the measure of this man. While attempting to rescue ponies that were required for the expedition one pony was to slip and fall back into the water with each attempt and when the killer whales showed up, Bowers shouted, "I can't leave him alive to be eaten by those whales". He grabbed the axe and killed him.

 The final blow to the team to conquer the Pole, consisting of Scott, Bowers, Captain E. G. (Titus) Oates, Dr. Edward A. Wilson and Petty Officer Edgar Evans, was when they discovered that they had been beaten by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen. Blizzards hampered the tragic return journey, supplies ran short and frost-bite set in. Evans died after sustaining a severe concussion, Oates walked out into the blizzard suffering from frost-bite and Scott, Bowers and Wilson fought on for 4 days until they too died, only 11 miles from their supply camp.

The brother officers of the late Lieutenant Bowers have erected a memorial tablet  in the at St Ninian's Church at Rothesay, and the Cathedral at Bombay  The inscription runs - "To the Glory of God and sacred to the Memory of Henry Robertson Bowers a lieutenant of the Royal Indian Marine who lost his life in the Scott Antarctic Expedition on the return journey from the Pole, on or about the 27th March, 1912. Aged 28 years. 'As the troubles have thickened about us his dauntless spirit ever shone brighter and he has remained cheerful, hopeful, and indomitable to the end' R. F. Scott. This tablet was erected by his brother officers on the active and retired list as a mark of their admiration of his zeal and integrity at all times."