William and the public

William Lashly - the Public Face

Those who have written about William Lashly generally portray him as a reserved and self-effacing man. Yet he was also very proud of what he and his colleagues had achieved and was always happy to share their experiences. In August 1913, after receiving the Albert Medal from King George V, William visited his old school where the log book recorded, 'A most interesting Lecture on the Antarctic Expedition was given to 60 of the older children by Chief Stoker W. Lashly, a native of the Village and an old school boy – one of the survivors of the ill-fated expedition. The time occupied 2.30 to 3.15 was full of graphic descriptions of a life at high latitudes, and at the close the Medal awarded by the King at Buckingham Palace on the previous Saturday was handed round for inspection'.

After his service in the Navy during WWI William returned to Cardiff where he lived and worked until his retirement. He maintained an active interest in Antarctic matters and attended meetings of the Cardiff Naturalists’ Society and gave at least one talk about his experiences to the Junior Branch. Michael Tarver of the Cardiff based Captain Scott Society reported that in 1995 William was still remembered by some older residents at Penarth giving lantern slide lectures in church halls. When he eventually retired from his Tape Holder post at Cardiff Docks to a house he had had built in Hambledon he was equally well-known in and around the village for his presentations on Antarctica. It was then that he was approached by Robert Gibbings for permission to use his story in a small book to be designed and published by his students. Lashly was happy to oblige, arguing that the youth of the day needed to hear of the struggle of the explorers. The small and now very rare 37 page book was designed and produced by young printers’ apprentices and illustrated with engravings by students of Book Production at Reading University in a limited edition of just 75 copies. William was very pleased with it and wrote to Gibbings asking him to pass on his thanks to all who had a hand in its production.

BBC Broadcast

Perhaps the most notable example of his willingness to share his story occurred in 1930 when William accepted an invitation from the BBC to give a short radio broadcast called The Last Journey of Captain Scott on the Welsh radio service. It was broadcast from Cardiff on Friday 14^th February at 5.15pm, going out immediately after the nationally broadcast Children’s Hour in a 15 minute spot often used by local radio transmitters for broadcasting matters of more local interest. Though the broadcast was short and regional it featured in the Radio Times listings for the day, accompanied by photographs of William and Captain Scott.