Frederick Whymper

Frederick Whymper 1838 - November 26, 1901 was a British artist and explorer.

Frederick Whymper was born in London, 1838, the oldest son of Elizabeth Whitworth Claridge and Josiah Wood Whymper a celebrated wood-engraver and artist. His younger brother Edward Whymper was a renowned Alpinist after his first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865.

Even in youth, Whymper was a talented artist working to produce engravings for publication and having his landscapes on exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 1859 to 1861.

He signed up for adventure and traveled to Victoria, British Columbia and places all around the far Northern Pacific from 1862 to 1866 ? Much of his early travels were by steamship; his drawings include volcanos on Kamchatka and magnificent Alaska glaciers. While in the far north, Whymper served on the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition, the Western Union Telegraph Expedition (1865), spending the winter of 1866 at Nulato, Alaska with W.H. Dall and traveling up the Yukon River to Fort Yukon where he was when the first American flag was raised over the new territory of Alaska.

In November 1867, Whymper arrived back in England where his massive tome "Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska" was published in 1868. In 1869, he went back to the United States, by way of New York to San Francisco and supported himself as a journalist, an artist and a mining engineer. In 1871 he was a founding member of the San Francisco Art Association.

In 1869 he returned to San Francisco by way of New York and worked on the staff of the newspaper Alta California. City directories describe him as an artist and mining engineer, and in 1871 he was a founding member of the San Francisco Art Association. He returned to England at some point, publishing "The Heroes of the Arctic and their Adventures" and :The Sea: Its,Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril and Heroism," prior to his death in London on November 26, 1901 by what is listed as "failure of the heart, probably due to indigestion, arising from sedentary pursuits," in his obituary.

Mount Whymper north of Lake Cowichan, is named in honour of the early explorer, artist and writer.

Sources

*cite book|last=Dall|first=William H|title=The Yukon Territory: The Narrative of W.H. Dall, Leader of the Expedition to Alaska in 1866-1868 |year=1898
*cite book|last=Elms | first="Lindsay| title=Beyond Nootka. A Historical Perspective of Vancouver Island Mountains.|year=0000|publisher=Misthorn Press | ISBN = 0968015905
*cite book|last=Gilmore| first=Berenice| title=Artists Overland: A Visual Record of British Columbia, 1793-1886| publisher= Burnaby Art Gallery. Burnaby, B.C. | date=1980
*cite book|last=Hayman| first=John| title=Frederick Whymper - Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 10| publisher=University of Toronto Press. Toronto, Ontario | year=1972
*cite book| last=Whymper|first= Frederick| title=Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska| publisher = John Murray. London, England | date=1868

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7143 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]