New Exhibition – Herbert Ponting: Explorer and Photographer

After years of taking photographs in America, Japan, other parts of Asia and in Europe, Herbert Ponting (1870-1935) became and remains best-known for his work on Captain Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910-3). A new exhibition opening Saturday 10 June will look at his life and work with photographs from Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, alongside artefacts and research carried out by biographer Anne Strathie.

Herbert Ponting & Southport

Herbert Ponting is world-famous for his photographs and films of Antarctica, but he was also Southport’s ‘local explorer’.

Ponting’s father was appointed Manager of Preston Banking Company in the 1880s and the family set up home in Park Road West, Southport. In 1888 Ponting began work at National Provincial Bank of England’s branch on Fenwick Street, Liverpool. While Ponting had a head for figures, the desk-bound work of a bank clerk did not suit him, but he enjoyed his leisure time outdoors exploring the Lake District and experimenting with his compact Kodak camera. In spring 1890 Ponting joined the Liverpool Amateur Photographic Association, which gave him access to darkrooms and talks by visiting lecturers. In 1892, after working briefly at Preston Banking Companies Southport branch on Lord Street, Herbert Ponting emigrated to California, where he became a professional photographer. When Ponting joined Captain Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, his parents had moved to Argyle Road, Southport’s so-called ‘Millionaire’s Row’. Ponting visited the town regularly, including for a season of Antarctic cinema-lectures at the Southport Palladium, and for the funerals at St Cuthbert’s church of his parents and younger brother.

When Ponting died in February 1935, the Southport Guardian’s appreciation of the town’s ‘local explorer’ was illustrated with the photograph now on the cover of Anne Strathie’s biography, Herbert Ponting: Scott’s Antarctic and Pioneer Filmmaker.

10 June – 2 September 2023