Edward W. Bingham

Surgeon Captain Edward W. Bingham, "Ted Bingham", was a British polar explorer who had the rare third clasp added to his Polar Medal.[1]

For the WW I Rear Admiral, see Edward Bingham. For the U.S. federal judge, see Edward Franklin Bingham.

Edward W. Bingham
Born2 January 1901
Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, UK
Died1 September 1993 (1993-10) (aged 92)
Halstock, Dorset, England, UK
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1929 - 1957
RankSurgeon Captain
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsPolar Medal
Order of the British Empire

Biography

Bingham was the son of the headmaster of Dungannon Royal School. In 1926 he graduated in medicine from Trinity College, Dublin. Shortly after he joined the Royal Navy, he volunteered to become a member of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition (BAARE) led by Gino Watkins. He took part as the expedition doctor and to be in charge of the expedition's sled dogs.[2][3] Together with surveyor Alfred Stephenson and geologist Lawrence Wager he went on a journey to map the ice cap border of the Schweizerland mountains and to attempt the ascent of Mont Forel, the highest point of the range. Back from Greenland he was appointed to carry out an hydrographic survey of the coastal area of the Labrador Peninsula on HMS Challenger. He wintered in Labrador and increased his experience in sled dog teams with the local huskies there.

Bingham went to Antarctica with the 1934-1937 British Graham Land Expedition, led by his former BAARE team mate John Rymill, where he took care of the dog sled teams. During World War II he served on HMS Duke of York, contributing with his Arctic and Antarctic knowledge to the manufacture of improved protective cold-weather clothing for Royal Navy ship watchkeepers and lookouts.[1]

Bingham was appointed to lead the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1945.[4] He returned to Europe in 1948, retiring from active Royal Navy service in 1957.[1]

Honours

The Bingham Glacier in Palmer Land, Antarctica, was named after him.[5]

He was appointed OBE in 1947 and was given a third clasp to his Polar Medal. In 1950 he was awarded the Murchison Grant by the Royal Geographical Society.

Further reading
  • Riley, Jonathan P. (1989). From pole to pole, the life of Quentin Riley 1905-1980. Bluntisham: Bluntisham Books.
  • Ridgway, John (1974). Gino Watkins. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-273136-4.
  • Courtauld, Simon, The Watkins Boys, London, Michael Russell, 2010. ISBN 9780859553186.
  • Scott, J.M., The Land That God Gave Cain, London, Chatto and Windus, 1933.

References
  1. Obituaries - Cambridge Journals
  2. BAARE - Rymill and fellow expeditioners Archived 18 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Beau Riffenburgh, Encyclopedia of the Antarctic, Vol. 1. Routledge, 2006 p. 195
  4. Sir Vivian Fuchs, Of Ice and Men: the story of the British Antarctic Survey 1943-73 ISBN 9780904614060
  5. "Bingham Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
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