Fonds F1491 - Henry Roger Pocock fonds

Henry Roger Pocock, 1865-1941, adventurer, seaman, soldier and author, was born in England and came to Canada with his missionary father in the 1880s. He joined the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1884, but was discharged with a pension in 1887 after freezing his feet and losing the toes of his right foot.

He then guided sportsmen, gold seekers and explorers in Alberta and British Columbia, before embarking on a variety of other adventures. He served as a missionary in New Caledonia, was a seaman with the Yokohama pirates, revisited many NWMP posts, 1897-1898, made a solitary horseback trip from Fort Macleod to Mexico City along the backbone of the Rockies, 1899, served in the South African War, was a missionary in Africa, and travelled to Greenland, before founding the Legion of Frontiersmen in London in 1904. He then sailed around the world, 1908-1909, fought in the First World War, engaged in deep sea fishing, 1919-1921, and went to Spitzbergen with the Oxford Expedition. He last visited Canada in 1935. He was the author of many adventure books, articles and short stories.

For further information see One Hundred Years of the Legion of Frontiersmen / Geoffrey A. Pocock. -- London : Phillimore & Company, 2004; and Outrider of Empire : The Life and Adventures of Roger Pocock / Geoffrey A. Pocock. -- Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, 2007.