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Captain Oates: The Putney boy who became a national icon

Captain Oates: The Putney boy who became a national icon

By Hugh Thompson – retired Fleet Street journalist and Putney Society vice president

There is a story behind the blue plaque on 263 Upper Richmond Road.

In 1912, a man named Captain Lawrence “Titus” Oates walked bare-footed out of his tent on his way back from the South Pole, towards his certain death, to save his team. But long before that, he lived in Putney until he was eleven. His famous walk took place on March 17th – his 32nd birthday. The rest of Falcon Scott’s team died two weeks later. There is now a blue plaque on the house he once lived in on Upper Richmond Road. His sacrifice was held up in a country going to World War 1 as an example of how Englishmen should meet their fate.

Let’s start in Putney. His parents William and Caroline both came from Yorkshire gentry. William’s worth in today’s money was £36m. Until they had children, the couple lived at various places; not least the Oates’ Meanwood estate near Leeds. When Lawrence, the eldest son, was born, they needed a permanent home. Caroline liked London, and looked at properties in Swiss Cottage, South Hampstead and Kensington but settled on Putney.

Lawrence was always the favourite. Well after the nursery, he was always mum’s baby boy. Caroline was also deeply religious, so Lawrence grew up spoilt and dutiful. He was also dyslexic, so learning was difficult; exams almost impossible.

He attended pre school in nearby Dealtry Road, followed by Willington School, then what is now Wimbledon prep school and then onto Eton. “Good at games but a plodding type of scholar,” was his best report.

There was always going to be a time when this well heeled family would acquire an estate. In 1891 when Lawrence was eleven they moved to Gestinthorpe Hall in Essex, set in 300 acres near Sudbury. He had set his heart on the army, but he was not going to make it into the prestigious Sandhurst school, so after two years at Eton he went to a grammar in Eastbourne.

On the estate he became an accomplished horseman and founding member of the local hunt. By adolescence, he was a vigorous twelve stone, five eleven athlete who always gave 110 per cent. He may have been ‘mummy’s boy’ but he was also a man’s man. His early life had made him introverted, solitary, a man of few words.

Even after joining the territorials, the army refused him, but with the Boer war going badly in 1901 he was accepted and became a lieutenant with the 6th Innskilling Dragoons. He was quickly in action. Ambushed, surrounded and outnumbered, the Boers asked him to surrender; he famously replied: “I have come here to fight, not surrender.” After a while the Boers, with a fusillade of shots, left the scene. The shots smashed Oates’ leg, which became one inch shorter. He was recommended for a VC.

After South Africa, there was service in Ireland, Egypt and India. Oates became an accomplished horseman, jockey and hunter. Not only did he win several Military Cups at race meetings, he even took his own pack of hounds to India. But garrison life was not for Oates – he wanted adventure. Sailing and motor cycling were two of his other hobbies.

When he came back to Gestingthorpe on leave in 1909, the country was in uproar. The rivalry between Earnest Shackleton and Falcon Scott about who would get to the South Pole was reaching its peak. Scott announced a new expedition. Oates, already bored and worried about his forthcoming exams to become a major, saw his chance. Along with 8000 others he volunteered. He also offered expertise with horses and £1000-£150000 in today’s money. He was in.

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He was an immediate hit with the large party of scientists, sailors and adventurers. He got stuck in, had few airs and graces, knew his stuff about horses and was full of common sense. He may have had second thoughts about Scott – the brouhaha about doing it for King and country, his choice of ponies – but this was the game. It was a big adventure.

With the world’s greatest Arctic explorer, Norwegian Roald Admunsden, appearing on scene, the adventure had become an international race. Scott preferred ponies to dogs, never handled skiis, thought little about diet and took the harder route. The mechanised sledges didn’t work, the ponies – as predicted – did worse than the dogs, the food was inadequate, the weather even worse than normal. For the final push Scott decided on five instead of four, so he could include OatesOates had by December 1911 had begun to weaken and limp, scurvy had opened up his war wound and made it gangrenous and he told the others he didn’t want to go on. But Scott wanted an army man in the final team and was impressed with Oates’ efforts. It was fatal.

They reached the South Pole on January 18th 1912, only to find Admunsden had got there first. Suffering from scurvy, malnourished and now demoralised, they turned for the 900 mile walk back in minus 70, over the mountains and glaciers with winds of up to 100 miles an hour. Evans, Scott’s number two, started to lose his fingers and died on 18 February. Scott reported that Oates was  “too pathetic to watch.” His frostbite was so bad it took him an hour to put his boots on. Oates, always practical, had advocated taking a revolver so a beaten man could go the same way as the dogs and ponies.

On the 17th March, Scott wrote in his diary: “His last thoughts were of his mother and the regiment. He was a brave soul. He hoped not to wake. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ We have not seen him since.”

Two weeks later, Scott and the others died exhausted in a blizzard, trapped in their tent. Their bodies and Scott’s diary were discovered eight months later in November 1912. Caroline Oates never forgave Scott for killing her baby boy. George V knighted Scott posthumously and led the memorial service at St Paul’s.