The First World War medal group (War, Victory and 1914-15 Star) awarded to Chief Petty Officer Frederick Parsons, Royal Navy, sold to a phone bidder for £19,000 at Sheffield Auction Gallery (22.2% buyer’s premium) on November 1 against an estimate of £8000-12,000.
The key medal in the lot was the silver Polar Medal with Antarctic 1910-13 Bar also included (on the far right in the group pictured).
Parsons was one of the 65 men and crew who sailed with Captain Scott on his ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1910. Reaching the pole second behind Norwegian Roald Amundsen, Scott’s party perished on their return journey on March 29, 1912.
Following his return aboard Terra Nova, Parsons served throughout the First World War. Records indicate he spent much of the war supporting the submarine fleet, including time on HMS Adamant which was a Submarine Depot Ship.
He left the RN in 1919 to run a shoe repair business and became the last survivor of the famous expedition to die, aged 91 in 1970.
