Katy Green, an archivist at the University of Cambridge-based Magdalene College, has digitized the letters exchanged between Everest mountaineer George Mallory and his wife Ruth.
These letters were written between 1914 and 1924.
George Mallory was a world-famous mountaineer. He and his team were the first to climb to 27,300 feet (8,230 m) on Mt. Everest. They missed the peak by just 1,735 feet (620 m).
He was also the only mountaineer who took part in all three initial Everest expeditions between 1921 and 1924. “Mallory was a heroic figure. People like him are perhaps hard to relate to as they seem superhuman,” Katy told IE.
However, in the letters to his wife, Mallory shows a more human and relatable side, “Where he has doubts, shows he misses her and feels guilty at leaving her and the children, and outlines his hopes for the future which are similar to our own experiences,” Katy added.
The mysterious death of George Mallory
Before his third expedition in 1924, a reporter asked Mallory why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest. To this Mallory famously replied, “Because it’s there.”
Unfortunately, the expedition turned out to be his last adventure. He and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, began their journey to the summit in June, but the world never heard back from them. Their sudden disappearance sent shock waves across Britain, but nobody could find out what had happened to them.
Whether they ever made it to the peak also remains a mystery. Irvine’s body was never found and Mallory’s was discovered 75 years later in 1999. Along with the body, three letters were also found in his Jacket’s pocket.
“The 3 letters that were found on Mallory’s body when it was discovered in 1999 were wrapped in a handkerchief and kept in his jacket pocket,” Katy told IE.
In addition to these three, Katy and her colleagues also digitized 361 letters, three sets of diary entries, two sonnets (written by George Mallory), 447 letters (written by Ruth Mallory to her husband), 21 letters, and telegrams of condolence.
Interestingly, George Mallory was an alumnus of Magdalene College, where Katy works as an archivist.
“It has been a real pleasure to work with these letters. Whether it’s George’s wife Ruth writing about how she was posting him plum cakes and grapefruit to the trenches, or it’s his poignant last letter, where he says the chances of scaling Everest are “50 to 1 against us.” They offer a fascinating insight into the life of this famous Magdalene alumnus,” Katy notes.
What do the letters reveal?
When Mallory first saw Everest in 1921, he wrote the following words in his letter to Ruth, “My darling this is a thrilling business altogether – I can’t tell you how it possesses me & what a prospect it is. And the beauty of it all!”
During the second Mt. Everest expedition in 1922, an avalanche killed eight Sherpas, Tibetan people living in the Himalayan region. The Sherpas are known for helping and supporting climbers in many ways during the expeditions. In one of the letters Mallory wrote after the expedition, he blamed himself for the tragic death of the Sherpas.
The last letter he wrote to Ruth suggests that he was confident about reaching the Everest summit in 1924. Here is an excerpt from that letter.
“Darling I wish you the best I can – that your anxiety will be at an end before you get this – with the best news. Which will also be the quickest. It is 50 to 1 against us but we’ll have a whack yet & do ourselves proud. Great love to you. Ever your loving, George.”
Ruth, on the other side, was happy for George, but she missed her husband. “I am keeping quite cheerful and happy but I do miss you a lot,” She wrote to her husband in one of her letters.
In her letters, she also wrote about managing the household, servants, being a landlady to their tenants, investing their money, and managing the household accounts.
“She also expressed her views on the state of the war, how it was viewed at home, politics, religion, how they should bring up their children, the position of women in society, and her views on art and literature,” Katy said.
Some letters from George reveal details about his experience in the army during the First World War. Also, apart from Ruth, he exchanged letters with his sister.
You can read all the digitized letters here.
