Robert Falcon Scott - Waterloo Place, London, UK
N 51° 30.413 W 000° 07.914
30U E 699034 N 5710095
Scott of the Antarctic has a statue in Waterloo Place in central London.
Waymark Code: WMC46T
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/23/2011
Views: 16
This statue to Scott stands in Waterloo Place, London. It
is a fitting location as statues to many other great British heroes have been
erected here.
The statue stands about 5 metres in height from ground to
the top of Scott's head. The lower part is a plinth, of just over 3 metres (10
feet) in height, made of granite on which there is an inscription on a bronze
plaque. The plaque reads:
"Robert Falcon Scott / Captain Royal Navy / who with
four companions / EA Wislon. HR Bowers. LEG Oates. E Evans / died March 1912
returning from the South Pole / 'Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell /
of the hardihood endurance and courage / of my companions which would have
stirred / the heart of every Englishman / these rough notes and / our dead
bodies must tell the tale'"
The bronze statue that is lifesize shows Scott standing in
his Antarctic clothing. In his right hand he holds a pole ad a bag tied around
his waist. The statue was erected in 1915.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO (6 June 1868 – c29 March
1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the
Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra
Nova Expedition, 1910–13. During this second venture, Scott led a party of five
which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that they had been
preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. On their return journey,
Scott and his four comrades all perished from a combination of exhaustion,
starvation and extreme cold.
Before his appointment to lead the Discovery Expedition, Scott had followed the
conventional career of a naval officer in peacetime Victorian Britain, where
opportunities for career advancement were both limited and keenly sought after
by ambitious officers. It was the chance for personal distinction that led Scott
to apply for the Discovery command, rather than any predilection for polar
exploration. However, having taken this step, his name became inseparably
associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed
during the final twelve years of his life.
Following the news of his death, Scott became an iconic British hero, a status
maintained for more than 50 years and reflected by the many permanent memorials
erected across the nation. In the closing decades of the 20th century, the
legend was reassessed as attention focused on the causes of the disaster that
ended his and his comrades' lives, and the extent of Scott's personal
culpability. From a previously unassailable position, Scott became a figure of
controversy, with questions raised about his competence and character.
Commentators in the 21st century have on the whole regarded Scott more
positively, emphasising his personal bravery and stoicism while acknowledging
his errors, but ascribing his expedition's fate primarily to misfortune.
Text source