Edward Adrian Wilson was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England on 23 July 1872. He attended Cheltenham College and then proceeded to Cambridge where he read natural sciences and to St George's Hospital, London where he trained in medicine. His name is best known because of his participation in Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expeditions of. 1901–1904 and 1910–1913. He reached the South Pole with Scott on 17 January 1912 and died with him on the return journey on or after 29 March 1912.

There are two prominent monuments to Wilson in his hometown that are worthy of note. The first of these is the house, 91 Montpellier Terrace, Cheltenham, in which he was born (Fig. 1 and front cover) which bears an inscription to his memory (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1.

91 Montpellier Terrace, Cheltenham (watercolour by the author).

Fig. 2.

Inscription on 91 Montpellier Terrace.

The second is a superb statue of him by Kathleen Scott that was unveiled at The Promenade, Cheltenham, on 9 July 1914 by Sir Clements Markham (Figs 3, 4).

Fig. 3.

Statue of Wilson by Kathleen Scott.

Fig. 4.

Inscription on the plinth of the statue.

It is encouraging to note that both of these are well maintained and serve to indicate the civic pride with which Cheltenham still regards its most famous son.