Cecil Henry Meares
Cecil Meares, ca 1915. BC Archives MS-0455Cecil Henry Meares was an adventurer, explorer and British naval officer. In 1910-1911 he was part of Scott's British Antarctic Expedition, and from 1914, he served in the Corps of Interpreters and as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer in the Royal Naval Air Service.
He was fluent in a number of European and Asian languages. Most of his letters are to his fiancée, Lola, whom he sometimes addresses as “Snuffy”. Although he did not write very lengthy letters, or describe many military operations, he was quite prescient, remarking several times in the fall of 1914 that he thought the war would be very long.
He was part of the 7th Division when they came under heavy fire in November 1914 and wrote “We have come back from the firing line for a few day’s rest; there are very few left of the splendid 7th Division, the fighting has been beyond anything in the history of the world and we have had to bear the brunt of it.“
Meares survived, and later went to Japan as part of the British Air Mission, advising the Japanese Naval Air Service. In the late 1920s he retired to Victoria, where he died in 1937.
Predominantly letters from Cecil Henry Meares to his fiancée, Lola Spengler.
Find these records in the BC Archives
MS-0455, Cecil Henry Meares papers, Box 1, File 1 Selected letters, 1914 - 1918