Frederick Whymper
Encyclopedia
Frederick Whymper was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
ist and explorer.
Whymper was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1838, the eldest son of Elizabeth Whitworth Claridge and Josiah Wood Whymper
Josiah Wood Whymper
Josiah Wood Whymper RI was an English wood engraver, illustrator and painter. Born the son of a brewer, he was apprenticed to a stonemason. He soon turned to drawing and painting, settled in London in 1829 and studied under William Collingwood Smith...
, a celebrated wood-engraver and artist. His younger brother Edward Whymper
Edward Whymper
Edward Whymper , was an English illustrator, climber and explorer best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. On the descent four members of the party were killed.-Early life:...
was a renowned alpinist who made the first ascent of the Matterhorn
Matterhorn
The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
in 1865.
In his 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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from 1859 to 1861.
He travelled to Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
in 1862 and to the Cariboo
Cariboo
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...
in the following year. In 1864 he joined road builders in the area of Bute Inlet
Bute Inlet
Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is 80 km long from its head at the mouths of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers to the continental headlands at its mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages about 4 km in width...
leaving shortly before the Chilcotin War
Chilcotin War
The Chilcotin War, Chilcotin Uprising or Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in people in British Columbia and white road construction workers...
Many of his early travels were by steamship; his drawings include volcanos on Kamchatka and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
n glaciers. While in the far north, Whymper served on the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition
Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition
The Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition explored areas of the Colony of Vancouver Island that remained unknown outside the capital of Victoria and settlements in Nanaimo and the Cowichan Valley. The expedition went as far north as the Comox Valley over four and one half months during the summer...
, the Western Union Telegraph Expedition (1865), spending the winter of 1866 at Nulato, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
with W.H. Dall and travelling up the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
to Fort Yukon, where he witnessed the first American flag being raised over the new territory of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
In November 1867, Whymper arrived back in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where his account of his travels, Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska, was published in 1868. In 1869, he went back to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, by way of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
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
San Francisco Art Association
The San Francisco Art Association was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated...
.
In 1869 he returned to San Francisco by way of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
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
San Francisco Art Association
The San Francisco Art Association was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established an art school. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated...
. He returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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 26 November 1901 by what is listed as "failure of the heart, probably due to indigestion, arising from sedentary pursuits", in his obituary.
Mount Whymper
Mount Whymper
Mount Whymper is a mountain located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It is the highest point in Canada located south of the 49th parallel and is located between the headwaters of the Chemainus River and the South Nanaimo River north of Honeymoon Bay....
north of Lake Cowichan, is named in honour of the early explorer, artist and writer.