Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates - Leeds Parish Church

I was walking around the interior of Leeds Parish Church on Kirkgate, Leeds when I came across a brass plaque on a wall dedicated to the memory of a man who was a hero from my childhood. I was very surprised to make this discovery because I never knew that he had a connection with this Yorkshire city that I call home.

Lawrence Oates was 31 at the time of his death, he was a soldier but his death and the manner of it was imprinted on my mind at a young age. He left as his last words the memorable line "I am just going outside and may be some time" and in his death achieved immortality.

Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates (17 March 1880 – 16 March 1912) was an English cavalry officer who famously was part of the Scott Terra Nova Antartic expedition of 1911. Educated at Eton Oates nickname was Titus after the historical figure, Oates was also known on the expedition to the South Pole as Soldier.

The expedition was a failure with Amundsen and his party beating them to the pole by 35 days. The British party under Robert Falcon Scott then had to escape the ice and return to civilisation. This at a time when an expedition to the South Pole was similar in hazard to the later trip to the Moon in 1969.

It was during the return trip after having endured appalling privation and hardship suffering severely frostbitten feet that Captain Oates decided to sacrifice himself that the others might survive without the burden on the party that had become.

Sadly the sacrifice that Oates made was in vain and the remaining members of the expedition, Scott, Wilson and Bowers eventually were halted by the terrible weather suffering from the cold and malnourished. The 3 men died in their tent only 11 miles from their objective.

In his diaries, Scott himself described Oates’ decision as “the act of a brave man and an English gentleman.”

Their frozen bodies were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912. Oates' body was never found. Near where he was presumed to have died, the 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. In March 1912, returning from the Pole, he walked willingly to his death in a blizzard, to try and save his comrades, beset by hardships.’ I cannot think of a better memorial after having departed this life.

The connection with Yorkshire is that Lawrence Oates in 1898 joined the 3rd West Yorkshire (Militia) Regiment. He saw military service during the Second Boer War as a junior officer in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, having joined in 1900 and been promoted to Lieutenant in 1902, then to Captain in 1906.

The brass monument to Lawrence Oates in Leeds Parish Church reads:

In memory of Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates
Captain 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons
Born 17th March 1880
Who having served his country with distiction
In the South African War 1901-2
Joined Captain Scott's Antartic expedition 1910
Reaching the South Pole 17th January 1912
And on the return journey Lat, 80°,8',8"
In the hope of saving the lives of his companions
Gave his own life
17th march 1912
This monument is placed here by fellow citizens
As a record of the brave act of
"A very gallant gentleman"
AD 1913.

Underneath this there is a Greek inscription but I was never much at the classics.

You can find out more about the life and death of Lawrence Oates, soldier, explorer and “gallant gentleman”, at The Oates Museum at Selborne in Hampshire.

This story shows that no matter how long you live in a town or city there are always things to discover just around the corner. Also that without my Leeds in Yorkshire daily photo blog I would most likely never have discovered Lawrence Oates connection with my home city.