fifth daughter of Gottlob Schreiner, was born at Wittebergen mission station 24 March 1855. After spending several years as a governess in South Africa, Miss Schreiner came to England in 1881. She brought with her the manuscript of her earliest and most successful published work, The Story of an African Farm, which, read for press and praised by George Meredith, appeared in 1883 under the pseudonym ‘Ralph Iron’. In 1889 Miss Schreiner returned to South Africa, and in 1894 married Samuel Cron Cronwright, a South African politician, who took the name of Cronwright-Schreiner. Among other works, she wrote An English South African's View of the Situation (1899) and Women and Labour (1911). For the greater part of her life she was troubled by ill-health, and she died at Cape Town 11 December 1920. An uncompleted novel by her, entitled From Man to Man, was published, with an introduction by her husband, in 1926. She had been engaged upon it intermittently since 1876, or even earlier, and frequently refers to it in her diaries and letters. She evidently regarded it as her most important work, and wove into a story of strong emotional appeal much of her own social and moral philosophy.
[B. Williams, Cecil Rhodes, 1921; G. R. Hofmeyr, Life of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, 1913; private information. See also, S. C. Cronwright-Schreiner, The Life of Olive Schreiner, 1924, and the introduction to From Man to Man.]
SCOTT, ROBERT FALCON (1868–1912), naval officer and Antarctic explorer, was born 6 June 1868 at Devonport, the second son of John Edward Scott, of Outlands, Devonport, by his wife, Hannah, daughter of William Bennett Cuming. His ancestors were of Scots extraction, but the family had lived in Devon for three generations. He was educated at Stoke Damerel and Stubbington House, Fareham, until in 1880 he passed into H.M.S. Britannia. In 1882 he became a midshipman and joined the Boadicea; in 1888 he served as sub-lieutenant in the Spider, and later as lieutenant in the Amphion (1889). He was promoted first lieutenant in 1897. In 1899, having been appointed in the previous year torpedo-lieutenant in the Majestic, flagship of the Channel squadron, he was offered, on the recommendation of Sir Clements Robert Markham [q.v.] and Sir R. Egerton, the command of the National Antarctic expedition. On taking up his duties in the Discovery in 1900 he was promoted commander. The expedition was organized by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society, and although the personnel was drawn largely from the navy, the ship sailed under the merchant flag. The objects of the expedition were the scientific exploration of South Victoria Land and the ice barrier, discovered by Sir James Clark Ross [q.v.] in 1841, and the penetration of the interior of the Antarctic continent.
The Discovery left England in August 1901 and reached the Ross Sea via Lyttelton, New Zealand, in January 1902. A course was made southward along the coast of South Victoria Land and then eastward along the edge of the ice barrier. Ross's ‘appearance of land’ was confirmed by the discovery of King Edward VII Land. The ship returned westward and entered McMurdo Sound, where an anchorage off Hut Point, Ross Island, in lat. 77° 50′ 50″ S., was selected as a suitable place for wintering. This remained the base of the expedition for about two years, since in the following summer the ice failed to break up and liberate the ship. The expedition was excellently staffed and equipped for the varied scientific work which was actively pursued throughout the two years. Of many sledge journeys the two principal were led by Scott. Accompanied by (Sir) Ernest Henry Shackleton and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson [q.v.] he went south over the barrier along the edge of the plateau to lat. 82° 16′ 33″ S. (30 December 1902), discovering the southward continuation of the South Victoria Land mountain-range and making the southern record. Dog teams were used on the outward journey, but they were little help on the return, which was also made difficult by the serious breakdown of Shackleton and by an outbreak of scurvy which attacked the three men. A year later Scott made a long journey westward over the high plateau of Antarctica to lat. 77° 59′ S., long. 146° 33′ E. This was the first long journey towards the interior of the continent, and it amplified the work done by Lieutenant A. B. Armitage on his pioneer journey to the plateau in the previous season. Other important results of the expedition were the survey of the coast of South Victoria Land, the sounding of the Ross Sea, and investigations into the nature of the barrier and into the structure of the Antarctic continent. The researches in zoology, magnetism, and meteorology were also of great value. The Discovery with its two relief ships,
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