King William Wickham

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Biografie:
William Wickham King (1862-1959)
It is seldom that a member of the A.C. who has resigned is commemorated, since contact is easily lost, but the late W. W. King, a member of the Club for forty-two years (1895-1937) deserves mention. He died on December 11, 1959, at the age of ninety-seven, and he belonged to an early group of climbers, in Skye in particular, though also in the Lakes. In Clark and Pyatt's Mountaineering in Britain he appears in a group portrait (no. 38b) at Sligachan in 1898, but he had been climbing a good deal earlier than that.
In 1891, with J. N. Collie, he made the first crossing of the Thearlaigh-Dubh Gap (Coolins); in 1892, in the Lake District, he was on the first ascent of Buckbarrow by both the Rowan Tree and the Left Face Gullies; in 1898 in Skye he made several new routes, including what came to be called “King's Chimney”; in 1908 he made the first ascent of the north chimney of Bruach na Firthe (Coolins).
But mere ' firsts' in no way indicate his activities; he appears to have begun climbing in 1885 at Wasdale and his first visit to Skye was in 1887. With Collie he had climbed almost every pinnacle of the Coolins by the time of his joining the A.C.; he had also climbed round Glencoe and Torridon.
He visited the Alps in 1888, but made no serious ascents until 1890. In 1892, 1893 and 1895 he was again in the Alps and in 1894 in Norway. His climbing companions included, in addition to Collie, W. W. Naismith, W. C. Slingsby, W. J. Petherick, G. A. Solly, and Dr. Backer-Gröndal. His climbs comprised the principal peaks in the Oberland and Valais, sometimes guideless, and he did a good deal on walking tours, including (1893) a geological tour with Professors Lapworth and Heim (S.M.C.J., Ill, 40). Other ascents include the Meije, Dru and various Dolomite peaks. His last season (in Norway) would appear to have been in 1912.
He was educated at Radley, where he distinguished himself at rowing, and was by profession a solicitor at Stourbridge, as his father had been before him. He was a very keen geologist and received both the Wollaston Award and the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society.
He was an original member of the Climbers' Club and a member of the S.M.C. from 1891. He never contributed to the Alpine Journal, but several entries will be found in the early volumes of the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, and his passing removes one of the few climbers, in Scotland particularly, who were active in these islands seventy years ago. To his widow and family we convey our sympathy in their loss.
T. S. Blakeney
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 65, 1960, Seite 93-94


Geboren am:
1862
Gestorben am:
11.12.1959