Sir Jameson Boyd Adams (6 March 1880 – 30 April 1962) was a British

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

explorer and

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

officer. He participated in the ''Nimrod'' expedition, the first expedition led by

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...

in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

Biography

Born in

Rippingale Rippingale is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 929 at the 2011 census. The village is situated on the A15 road (England), A15 ro ...

, Lincolnshire, the son of a doctor and the grandson of a captain in the Indian Navy, he ran away from school to enter the merchant navy at the age of 13. In 1902 he became a sub-lieutenant in the

, and on reaching the rank of Lieutenant he was one of the last to gain a Master Mariner's certificate under sail. But he gave up a promising career to join Ernest Shackleton as the second-in-command of the

Nimrod Expedition The ''Nimrod'' Expedition of 1907–1909, otherwise known as the British Antarctic Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton and his second time to the Continent. Its main target, among a range of ...

. Despite the expedition's ultimate failure, he was one of the party of four who reached the Polar Plateau for the first time ever, thus showing the way to the Pole. On 9 January 1909 they attained a Furthest South of , just from the South Pole, when they were forced by impending starvation to turn back. Shackleton nimrod 84

On his return from the Antarctic in 1909, he entered the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, where a year later he was appointed head of the North-Eastern Division of the Employment Exchanges. Recalled to the Navy on the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he became Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Hood commanding the Dover Patrol. Then, after a period of special work at the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

, he was posted to Flanders to command a battery of naval siege guns. A bad wound in the head necessitated his return in 1917, and he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

for his services. After the war, he returned to the Ministry of Labour as Controller for the North-Eastern Division, and such spare time as he had was largely devoted to helping boys' clubs. In 1928 was made

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. He left the service in 1935 to become Secretary of King George's Jubilee Trust for youth. He remained in this post, apart from further distinguished service in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the Second World War he was sent to Gibraltar in May 1942 with the rank of Captain RN, as Chief of the Contraband Control Service, he left Gibraltar in 1944 with the rank of Commander RN. He continued with King George's Jubilee Trust for youth until his retirement in 1948, when he was knighted in the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

. He lived above

Pratt's Pratt's is a gentlemen's club in London, England. It was established in 1857, with premises in a house in Park Place, off St James's Street, and close to the Ritz. History The club takes its name from William Nathaniel Pratt, who lived ther ...

and became the honorary appeals secretary for

King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers King Edward VII's Hospital (formal name: King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes) is a private hospital located on Beaumont Street in the Marylebone district of central London. Agnes Keyser, later known as Sister Agnes, established the hos ...

, where he worked right up to his death in 1962.

Character and legacy

In appropriate company, his use of somewhat crude invective was often unrestrained, and he was never deterred by convention from saying what he thought. He preferred to be known by allcomers, from porters to the royal family, simply as "The Mate". In November 2008, 100 years after the Nimrod Expedition began, one of "The Mate's" great-grandsons, Henry Adams, set off from the Shackleton Hut with two other members of the Shackleton Centenary Expedition to complete the whole to the South Pole on foot, hauling their own supplies, unassisted. In January 2009, another of "The Mate's" great-grandsons, David Cornell, joined the Expedition at the Farthest South to complete the last of unfinished family business.

References

External links

Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939–1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Jameson 1880 births 1962 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order English polar explorers British explorers of Antarctica Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Royal Navy officers of World War I Royal Navy officers of World War II Civil servants in the Ministry of Labour Civil servants in the Ministry of Munitions British Merchant Navy officers South Pole Royal Naval Reserve personnel Military personnel from Lincolnshire 19th-century Royal Navy personnel Royal Navy captains