George Marston

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George Marston (photographed by Frank Hurley , around 1914)

George Edward Marston (born March 19, 1882 in Portsmouth , Hampshire , † November 22, 1940 in Taunton , Somerset ) was a British painter and printmaker. He became known as the illustrator of the Nimrod and Endurance expeditions under the direction of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton .

Life

Marston was born the son of a coach builder in the seaside resort of Southsea in the south of Portsmouth . His talent for drawing was already evident as a child. As a teenager he left his parents' home to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic in London . From 1901 he worked as an art teacher at a school in Surrey .

While still a student, Marston belonged to a group of young artists and art students that also included two sisters of Ernest Shackleton. Kathleen (1884–1961) and Helen Shackleton (1882–1962) proposed to Marston to apply in 1907 to participate in the Nimrod Expedition. Marston was able to convince Shackleton not only of his artistic skills, but also because of his physical strength and his satirical, derisive sense of humor. Marston was also very popular with other expedition participants because of this humor and received the nickname “Putty” (in German: putty ) through them . During the Nimrod expedition, he was responsible for the illustration of the Aurora Australis expedition book prepared in the base camp . He also took part in several supply marches to create depots for Shackleton's attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole .

The connection with Shackleton continued after the completion of the Nimrod Expedition in 1909. Marston's watercolors, which he made during the expedition, appeared in Shackleton's book The Heart of the Antarctic . He also accompanied the polar explorer on his next trip to Antarctica and was part of the Weddell Sea Party during the endurance expedition . After the Endurance went under, he stayed in the group led by Frank Wild , which was finally rescued on August 30, 1916 after five months of isolation on Elephant Island .

After returning to England, Marston returned to his old profession and taught at a craft school in Petersfield until 1922 . He then worked for the Rural Industries Bureau (RIB), an organization to support agriculture and employment in rural areas of England, Wales and Scotland, of which he became director in 1931.

George Marston had been married to his wife Hazel (nee Roberts) since 1913, with whom he had a daughter (Heather, born 1913) and a son (Bevis, born 1917). The couple later lived apart but did not get divorced. Marston died of a heart attack at the age of 58 and was buried in the East Lyng Cemetery near Taunton. His gravestone is decorated with an engraving of the expedition ship Endurance .

According to him, are Mount Marston and Marston Glacier named in Antarctica.

literature

  • Beau Riffenburgh: Nimrod - Ernest Shackleton and the extraordinary history of the South Pole expedition 1907–1909. (Translated by Sebastian Vogel) . Berlin Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3827005302 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Marston, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Putty; Marston, George Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British painter and printmaker
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Portsmouth , Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1940
Place of death Taunton , Somerset