Edgar Vernon Christian (6 June 1908 – June 1927) was an English adventurer and writer who died in Northern Canada. He was born in

Earls Barton Earls Barton is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, notable for its Anglo-Saxon church and shoe-making heritage. The village is in North Northamptonshire and was previously in the Borough of Wellingborough until 2021. At the time of t ...

, Northamptonshire, the son of Lt Col William Francis (Frank) Christian, RA and his wife Marguerite (née Hornby). He was one of five children in the family. Soon after he was born the family moved to

Cosham Cosham ( or ) is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering (mainland) and Bocheland ( Buckland), Frodington (Fratton) and C ...

, Hampshire. He attended prep school at the Grange School, Shorncliffe Road,

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

and hoped to follow his brother Charles to

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

, but eventually in 1924 he went on to

Dover College , motto_translation = I cannot refuse the task , established = , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , headmaster = Simon Fisher , r_head_label = , r_head ...

which was more local, despite the fact the family moved in 1919 to Bron Dirion in North Wales. After Dover College, at the age of 18, Edgar went to Canada. He left

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

in 1926 on a trapping expedition with his cousin

John Hornby John Hornby (1880–1927) was an English explorer, best known for his expeditions in the Arctic region of northern Canada, notably in the "Barren Lands" in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Biography Hornby was born to a wealthy family ...

("Hornby of the North") and a companion, Harold Adlard. Hornby was older and had been on similar expeditions before. They attempted to stay there for a year, but having missed the expected herd of migrating

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, they lacked sufficient food to survive the winter, and all died of starvation in a log hut near the

Thelon River The Thelon River ('' iu, Akilinik'', "on the other side") stretches across northern Canada. Its source is Whitefish Lake in the Northwest Territories, and it flows east to Baker Lake in Nunavut. The Thelon ultimately drains into Hudson Bay at C ...

barren lands. He was the last of the party to die, sometime after the first of June 1927. An edition of the diary kept by him detailing this misadventure, which was found placed in the stove of the cabin, was published (with portions omitted) in 1937 under the title "Unflinching". The diary is kept at his old school, Dover College, but the story has been told several other times in books and plays. On 15 November 1939 a half-hour programme, based on his diary, was broadcast by the BBC.''Radio Times'', November 10, 1939 A fuller edition of the diary by George Whalley, including Christian's letters to his father and mother, was published in 1980 as ''Death in the Barren Ground''. The Bruce Valpy play ''Hornby'' was performed in the 2007

Canterbury Festival The Canterbury Festival is Kent's international festival of the arts. It takes place in Canterbury (England) and surrounding towns and villages (including Faversham, Whitstable and Margate) each October/November and includes performances of a vari ...

by pupils from Dover College.

External links

"Please Don't Blame Dear Jack"
Edgar Christian's Last Letters
George Whalley: "Death in the Barren Ground: The Story of John Hornby's Last Journey"
CBC ''Trans Canada Wednesday Night.'' 3 March 1954. Radio.
George Whalley

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Edgar 1908 births 1927 deaths 20th-century English male writers Deaths by starvation

Further reading

External links

References