Kennington born Edward Whymper was a famed mountaineer who climbed many of the world’s most treacherous summits. He was the first to ascend several of the highest peaks in the Alps, the Canadian Rockies and the Andes. But it was his Matterhorn triumph and the subsequent tragedy that befell his party that he is most known for.
His Early Years
Edward Whymper was born on 27 April 1840 at Lambeth Terrace, Kennington Road. He was the second oldest son of 11 children to a painter and engraver Josiah Wood Whymper, Edward Whymper dropped out of school aged 14 to enter his father’s business in Lambeth as a wood-engraver. The earliest known address for him, in the 1830s, is Paradise Street, now called Old Paradise Street. Later on in his life (1860’s) Edward would return to Lambeth and live in a Georgian Town House at 19 Canterbury Place, off Lambeth Road which would now be on the site of Briant House.
Details of Edward’s early life in Kennington can be found in Ian Smith’s article in the Alpine Journal where he summarises Edward’s early diary and papers.
The family moved to Haslemere in Surrey in 1859 and it’s at that point that Edward was to move on to other adventures.
The new sport of Mountaineering
In 1860, at the age of 20, he travelled to the Alps to make illustrations for Longman’s, the publisher. He wrote that he wished ‘to acquire such a knowledge of snow and ice as might perhaps procure me a post upon some future English Arctic Expedition‘.
He quickly became fascinated by mountaineering. Before long, he had obsessively traded drawing mountains for climbing them.
His work as an illustrator was to provide him entry into a world frequented by the upper class and the new sport of mountaineering where he was to make his first ascents. Edward was different to the “Cambridge at play” men of the formed Alpine Club he had a very humble upbringing.
This was the golden age of Mountaineering when mountaineers—mostly British—raced to be the first to reach the peaks of mountains in the Alps and elsewhere. Surprisingly few of them died in the process of seeking to reach the top for glory, England and scientific advancement.
Between 1860 and 1864 he lead dozens of expeditions within the Alps that vastly contributed to the understanding of the local topography. In 1861, Edward completed the ascent of Mont Pelvoux.
He also completed the first assents of Barre des Ecrins (which at that time was the highest point in the French Alps), Aiguille d’Argentiere and Mont Dolent in 1864 and in 1865, Aiguille Verte, Grand Cornier and Pointe Whymper (Grands Jorasses, Chamonix), the latter named in his honour.
Specialized equipment wasn’t yet available in the 18th century. The Alpine Club developed a dedicated climbing rope a few years later, replacing the heavy ropes used before. But Whymper and his team brought ordinary rope, tied to each man’s waist, and their axes were heavy, wood-handled devices.
Their shoes were similar to those worn in farmers’ fields, with hobnailed leather soles to maximize grip. Their tweed suits helped with warmth and protection from wind. But they became heavy when wet and took a long time to dry.
The Challenge of the Matterhorn
On the 14th July 1865, he succeeded in reaching the summit of the Matterhorn by way of the eastern face (via the Hornli Ridge), after seven previous attempts had ended in failure. The Matterhorn at 4,478m was among the last major peaks in the Alps to finally be conquered. After only five years of climbing and at the age of 24, he was to succeed where so many had failed in the past.
In July of 1865, he assembled a group of alpinists. Edward’s team of seven consisted of three Englishmen-Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Hadow and Charles Hudson, French climber Michel Croz and two Swiss guides, a father and son tandem both named Peter Taugwalder.
The triumph would soon turn to disaster as on the descent four of the party were to fall to their death’s following a slip by Douglas Hadow the youngest and most inexperienced climber led to him, Lord Douglas, Charles Hudson and Michel Croz falling to their deaths. The thin rope holding the group together snapped, allowing the survival of Whymper and two local guides.
“For a few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding downward on their backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavoring to save themselves; then they disappeared one by one and fell from precipice to precipice into the Matterhorn glacier below, a distance of nearly 4,000 feet in height,”
“From the moment the rope broke it was impossible to help them,”
Edward Whymper – Scrambles among the Alps (1871 )
Three bodies were later recovered, while the fourth—that of Lord Francis Douglas—was never found. Only Whymper and a father-and-son pair who had been guiding the group survived.
His account of the accident featured in Scrambles among the Alps (1871), which is illustrated with his own engravings. For the rest of his life, the dream-become nightmare haunted him.
Later life
Whymper later took part in many scientific expeditions to far-flung places, including Greenland, the Rockies and the Andes. He made the first recorded ascents of the Ecuadorian peaks Chimborazo and Cotopaxi – a live volcano where he set a new record for the highest altitude overnight camp. Whymper was later asked by the Canadian Pacific Railway to identify trails that would help to promote the Rockies as a tourist destination.
He designed a tent that became known as the “Whymper tent“.
In 1906 he married Edith Levin (40 years his junior) and the couple moved to the large detached house at 82 Waldegrave Road, Teddington – his final home and the only one he ever owned. While there they had a daughter, Ethel, who also became a mountaineer. However, the couple separated in 1910, after just four years. His choice of a wedding gift to her, an ice axe, perhaps hinted at the likely success of the union.
In 1911 he Died at Chamonix on his annual visit to French Alps. Edward Whymper died at the age of 71, most appropriately shortly after his last climb in the Alps. He is buried in Chamonix, France.
“Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”
— Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps
Further Reading
Works by Edward Whymper at Project Gutenberg
Works by Edward Whymper at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
