St. Charles

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Lore & Background

Oates was born in Putney, Surrey, in 1880, the elder son of William Edward Oates, FRGS, and Caroline Annie. The Oates family were wealthy landed gentry with land at Dewsbury and Leeds since the 16th century. He attended Willington School and Eton College, leaving Eton after less than two years due to ill health. His father died of typhoid fever in Madeira in 1896. In 1898, Oates was commissioned into the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. During the Second Boer War, a gunshot wound shattered his left thigh bone in March 1901, leaving it an inch shorter than the right. Twice called upon to surrender, he replied, "We came to fight, not to surrender." He was recommended for the Victoria Cross. Promoted to captain in 1906, he served in Ireland, Egypt, and India. He was often called "Titus Oates" after the historical figure.

In Their Own Story

In 1910, Oates applied to join Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition, accepted mainly for his experience with horses and a £1,000 financial contribution. Nicknamed "the soldier," his role was to look after the 19 ponies. When he first saw the ponies, he was horrified, calling them "a wretched load of crocks." He later wrote: "Scott's ignorance about marching with animals is colossal." He also wrote in his diary: "Myself, I dislike Scott intensely and would chuck the whole thing if it were not that we are a British expedition ... He is not straight, it is himself first, the rest nowhere ..." Scott called Oates "the cheery old pessimist."

On 4 January 1912, at latitude 87° 32' S, Oates was one of five men chosen to march the last 167 miles to the Pole. They reached it on 18 January 1912, only to find a tent left by Roald Amundsen's party, who had beaten them by 35 days. On the return, Edgar Evans died on 17 February. On 15 March, Oates told his companions he could not go on and proposed they leave him; they refused. According to Scott's diary, Oates walked out of the tent into a −40 °F blizzard, saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time." His body was never found. A search party erected a cairn and cross bearing the inscription: "Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain L. E. G. Oates, of the Inniskilling Dragoons."

Reader's Guide

Oates's act of self-sacrifice is often considered one of the most memorable examples of its kind in recent history. His understated final words are often cited as a veritable example of the traditional British "stiff upper lip" attitude. His reindeer-skin sleeping bag was recovered and is now displayed in the museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. The Oates Museum at Gilbert White's House, Selborne, Hampshire focuses on the lives of Lawrence Oates and his uncle Frank. The Royal Dragoon Guards, successor to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, have a regimental day on 17 March, his birthday and St Patrick's Day, to remember Oates. His Queen's South Africa Medal with bars and Polar Medal are held by the regimental museum in York. In 1913, his brother officers erected a brass memorial plaque to him in the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Gestingthorpe, Essex, which his mother polished weekly for the rest of her life. A painting of Oates walking out to his death, A Very Gallant Gentleman, by John Charles Dollman, hangs in the Cavalry Club in London, commissioned by officers of the Inniskilling Dragoons.

Did You Know?

• Oates died on his 32nd birthday, 17 March 1912.
• A gunshot wound in the Boer War left his left thigh bone an inch shorter than the right.
• He was recommended for the Victoria Cross after refusing to surrender, saying, 'We came to fight, not to surrender.'
• His final words as he left the tent were, 'I am just going outside and may be some time.'
• His reindeer-skin sleeping bag is displayed at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.