Person

Bickerton, Francis Howard (1889 - 1954)

Born
15 January 1889
Iffley, United Kingdom
Died
21 August 1954
Borth, Wales
Occupation
Antarctic explorer and Mechanical engineer

Summary

Francis Bickerton was appointed mechanic to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, his role being to maintain the airplane which Douglas Mawson, leader of the Expedition, had acquired. Bickerton's appointment was through his friend, Aeneas Mackintosh who, with Mawson, had been a member of the 1907 - 1909 British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton. The plane, however, crashed in Adelaide. Bickerton was given the task of converting the wreckage into a tractor to pull sledges. He was leader of the sledging party that set out in December 1912 to explore the western coast of Commonwealth Bay, accompanied by Leslie Whetter and Alfred Hodgeman. After the engine of the sledges seized and the propeller shattered on the second day, the men had to haul the sledges themselves. During this expedition they found the first meteorite to be discovered in Antarctica. Bickerton was one of five men who volunteered to remain at Cape Denison for a second winter, in the hope that Mawson's overdue sledging party would return. During WWI Bickeron's service with the armed forces he continued to experiment with planes. His post-war life included many travels including to Africa and North America, working as a film writer and editor, and service in WWII with the British Expeditionary Force. Bickerton Cape in Davis Bay, Antarctica, was named in his honour.

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Details

Chronology

1906 - 1910
Education - Studied aeronautical engineering at City and Guilds College, London
1911 - February 1914
Career position - Mechanic, Australasian Antarctic Expedition
3 December 1912 - 18 January 1913
Career position - Leader of sledging party to explore western coast of Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica
September 1914 - May 1918
Military service - Served with the British Army and Royal Flying Corps
1915
Award - Polar Medal (Silver)

Related Events

Published resources

Books

  • Haddelsey, Stephen, Born adventurer: the life and times of Frank Bickerton, Antarctic pioneer (Stroud, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 2005), 255 pp. Details

See also

  • Jensen, David, Mawson's remarkable men: the personal stories of the epic 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expediton (Sydeny: Allen and Unwin, 2015), 183 pp. Details
  • Mawson, Douglas, The home of the blizzard: being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911 - 1914, 2 vols (London: J.B. Lippincott: Heinemann, 1915). Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 11 December 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/P007924b.htm

This Edition: 2026 February - 1926 Centenaries
Kooyang - Gariwerd calendar - Late summer: late January to late March - season of eels
Reference: https://www.bom.gov.au/resources/indigenous-weather-knowledge/indigenous-seasonal-calendars/gariwerd-calendar#bom-anchor-list__item-kooyang-season-of-eels

Publisher: Swinburne University of Technology.

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