Those who knew William best saw him as a steadfast, caring person with a sense of humour and the ability not only to get on with others, but to have time for their needs and problems. The officers of the Terra Nova summed him up in the greatest tribute of all when they called him “the Wilson of the Lower deck", drawing a parallel with Edward Wilson whose patience, care, faith and humanity won him undying love and respect from officers and men alike.

Griffith Taylor, the Australian scientific member of the Terra Nova expedition, wrote in one of his reports for the Sydney Morning Herald about how much he loved exploring the ship. He recalled how “one expedition down to the cosy engine room resulted in a glorious hot bath – which is quite sufficiently a rarity to be chronicled". He tells how William, “this quiet officer (sic)” had “warmed a bucket of water by the Fijian method of dropping a red-hot lump of fire-bar therein” to provide him with the treat of a hot tub.

William appears to have gone about things in a relaxed and calm way and it was only rarely that he was to be found not humming or singing, even if Scott felt bound to comment on one occasion that his singing “can scarcely be called a finished performance." There was, however, at least once when Scott was grateful for William’s more sophisticated singing skills. Having gathered all the men for a morning church service he found that they couldn’t sing the hymns, so got William (who was a regular member of his village church congregation and also rang the bells) along with Bowers, Wilson and Debenham to form an impromptu choir that “led the less musical members where they should go.”

Scott was well aware of the strength of William's character. On the Western Journey, when he shared a three-man tent with William and Seaman Evans, he comments,

“My companions spare no time for solemn thought, they are invariably cheerful and busy. Few of our camping hours go by without a laugh from Evans and a song from Lashly.... However tiresome our day's march, or however gloomy the outlook, they always find something to jest about ... We were bruised, sore and weary, yet Lashly sang a merry stave as he stirred the pot.”

Recalling the crevasse incident during this journey, Scott adds,

“I saw what a frail support remained, and shouted to Lashly to ask what he could do, and then I knew the value of a level-headed companion”.

And on the polar journey he notes,

“Lashly is his old self in every respect, hardworking to the limit, quiet, abstemious and determined.”

Capacity for caring

It was William's capacity for caring that motivated Scott to give him partial responsibility for the ponies which had been given to the Terra Nova expedition by the Indian Government. And when Captain Oates left with Scott for the final push to the pole he gave William instructions for their care. William was a natural choice to look after the remaining ponies through the final winter when Oates failed to return. In the official report of the Expedition, Surgeon Atkinson writes that Lashly had been “in entire care of the ponies and continued so throughout the winter. Their condition throughout was splendid and spoke volumes for the care with which he had looked after them”. Commenting on their condition later Apsley Cherry-Garrard wrote, “Altogether they reflected the greatest credit upon Lashly, who groomed them every day and took the greatest care of them”, a view supported by the young Canadian scientist Charles Wright, who wrote, “Lashly was given charge of the mules and nobody could have given them more attention than he did throughout the winter”.

This capacity for caring is nowhere as obvious as in the part William played in the determined attempt he and Crean made to get Evans safely home after he fell ill while leading the final returning party. Commander Ellis records that when help eventually arrived,

"The Doctor was lost in admiration for Lashly's care and nursing of Evans. Other doctors have said that they have never read better non-medical case-histories than Lashly kept of Evans' condition.”

In his contribution to the official report of the expedition, Surgeon Atkinson observes, “Lashly looked after Evans, and his nursing arrangements were splendid.”

In a lecture presented to the Manchester Geographical Society on October 31^st 1913, soon after his return to Britain, Commander Evans explained:

“Lashly undoubtedly save my life by his careful nursing. It was very brave of him to stay with me as he only had three meals left, and if relief had not come in time he would never have walked in without food, as he himself was very done after hauling in my sledge-team for over 1500 miles”.