Masculinity and Religion in the Life and Posthumous Representations of Antarctic Explorer H. R. Bowers, c.1902 - 1939
This thesis is the first academic study of the life of Lt. Henry Robertson ('Birdie') Bowers, the fifth man of Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole of 1910 - 1913. Bowers played a central role in Scott's last expedition and the famous Cape Crozi...
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| Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2014
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| Online Access: | https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/2212c72c-e192-4bcf-8ca7-bc0e4b8e3a76 https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/files/54553613/FULL_TEXT.PDF |
| Summary: | This thesis is the first academic study of the life of Lt. Henry Robertson ('Birdie') Bowers, the fifth man of Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole of 1910 - 1913. Bowers played a central role in Scott's last expedition and the famous Cape Crozier Expedition with Edward Wilson and Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Scott included him in the final party of five that marched to the South Pole in January 1912, only to discover they had been preceded by a Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen. Bowers died alongside Scott and Wilson on their return journey from the Pole at the end of March 1912. This thesis presents the first academic analysis of Bowers in relation to three bodies of scholarship. Firstly, the thesis examines the specialist polar literature to map how Bowers has been represented. Secondly, the thesis engages with scholarship on gender, to situate representations of Bowers within broader trends in the history of masculinities in the first-half of the twentieth century, and to reveal how Bowers conceived of himself as man. Finally, the thesis uses a study of Bowers' faith to intervene in debates about the history of religion on the eve of the First World War.Chapter one demonstrates that Scott's representation of Bowers as described in his 1913 journals as strong, reliable, indefatigable and cheerful, became the de facto one echoed by Bowers' contemporaries. Chapter two shows that Scott's representation persisted in expedition narratives during the 1920s and 30s, culminating in the Reverend George Seaver's 1938 biography, Birdie Bowers of the Antarctic. Chapter three is the first study to analyse Bowers' correspondence in detail. It reveals a very different Bowers engaged in family life and expressing complex ideas on many subjects including sexuality, the role of women, politics and the passing of Empire. Chapter four charts Bowers' extensive, peculiar, and hitherto undocumented personal engagement with faith and, in particular, with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society ... |
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