Uncovering
Ernest Mansfield’s past
It is now recognised that discovery of Ernest Mansfield’s impressive past,
and the incredible quest for Spitsbergen minerals
by him and other Goldhanger men, is a piece of local history in its own right.
The many local and international contacts that were established and the
information supplied by them over a decade which can, in a large part, be
credited to the advent of the internet and email. Their contributions are
listed below in chronological order using just the initials of those
involved...
2006
local
historian LK loaned a copy of the obituary of The Revd.
Gardner from The Times for a Goldhanger history exhibition. LK suggested
reading Dr Salter's Diary and Reminiscences
with includes his Spitsbergen involvements in a chapter entitled: Gold In
Spitsbergen.
2007
A
reference was found to Ernest Mansfield, Revd. Gardner, Dr Salter and Charles
Mann on a Norwegian cultural heritage website at this time. An email enquiry to
the site resulted in a reply from SB who forwarded a copy of her published
paper about their early expeditions.
2008
Goldhanger
resident ME lent several high quality framed photos
thought to be connected to Charles Mann work on Spitsbergen. It transpired they
were of EM at his Camp Mansfield in British Columbia.
2008
Former
resident and the son of Charles Mann, BM lent an album
of Charles Mann photos of his trips to
Spitsbergen and allowed copies to be make.
2008
The
first newspaper articles were found in
the New York Times online archive. More articles were found in the Times online
archive referring to NEC and EM.
2008
Old
Parish Magazines reports written by the
Revd Gardner were found by Goldhanger resident IV that refered to his
Spitsbergen trips in 1904, 1905, 1906
& 1907.
2008
Discovered
on the net that copies EM’s two books “ASTRIA - The Ice
Maiden” and “Ralph
Raymond” were on offer by DK in Clare, Suffolk to any of EMs relatives
as the books had family photos pasted in them. They were initially borrowed by
DN.
2008
Via
local historian LK, RG in Australia lent a copy of an NEC prospectus which appears to be
largely written by EM.
2009
GN
in Nelson BC, made contact with SB via the internet and email. We learnt from
GN of EM’s many NZ, AU & CA
activities. The significance of EMs Ralph Raymond book was then realised. GN
supplied many references to newspaper reports
about EMs activities in BC, Canada.
2009
DN
contacted DK in Clare by email again and offered to buy the EMs two books which
he accepted. The books remain in Goldhanger.
2009
Found
many EM related newspaper reports on the
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
site and in NZ national library found a photo of EM in the Wanganui brass band.
2009
Created
the Goldhanger Past website with a Goldhanger to Spitsbergen page.
2010 onwards Several local talks have been given with the title of
“Goldhanger to Spitsbergen”.
2010
A
second NEC prospectus entitled “Marble Island” was
borrowed from RG in Australia.
2010
PA
in Chelmsford offered postcards and contact with the Leeds based author of “Greetings
from Spitsbergen” which refers to Gardner’s trip to Spitsbergen on a cruise
ship and includes a photo of his wife Poppy Gardner.
2011
From
the Douglas
archive learnt about role of Sholto Douglas, the 19th Earl of Morton and
his connection with Revd. Gardner. DN gave them some background text for their
website and was given permission to use some of Douglas archive photos showing
one of the Revd. Gardner’s trip.
2011
FK,
then at Groningen University in the Netherlands, made contact through SB. We
learnt from her of EM maps
held in the British Library. Our book is reference in her academic papers on
Svalbard mining. She visited Goldhanger to se where EM, CG and CM lived.
2011
RMcN
in Calgory made email contact with GN.
His family had many Booth family photos
and “day book” (diary). We learnt from RMcN about David and James Booth who
were brothers of Margaret Mansfield ne Booth who participated in EMs
Spitsbergen exporations. RMcN kindly gave us copies of the photos and a copy of
the day book.
2011
SB
proposed that a biography of EMs life should be written using the extensive
material we had collected with the plan to offer the book to Norwegian museums,
Svalbard cruise ships and around the world. Draft chapters were exchanges via
email.
2012
Mansfield’s
biography “Gold
or I’m a Dutchman” was published jointly by the three authors SB, GN and
DN. SB organised publication in Norway by Akademika Publishing. Copies continue
to be sold worldwide via the internet.
2014
WMcK
in Houston, Texas made contact via email having seen the website and queried
why we didn’t mention EMs WW-1 role. We had to admit we didnt know anything
about it, so WMcK supplied copies of many sportsman’s
Gazette articles including poems written by EM. Sadly it was too late for
the book, however the webpage has been extended to include this WW-1 period information. Some of the articles
are online within "Ernest
Mansfield - Journalist, Author and Publicist" (pages 84-91) and copies
of all the articles are in the archives.
2017
Relevant
new material continues to appear on the net, for example a Sotheby’s sale in
this year of a 19 page booklet with maps and photos of the
Shackleton/Wild/Ponting expedition to NEC sites on Spitsbergen in 1918. The
booklet sold for £6,800.
2017
DN
created a summary of Mansfield activities as YouTube video and
created a YouTube
play-list of other EM and Svalbard related videos.
2018
Goldhanger
resident AP found in the Masonic archives that the Revd. Gardner was once the
“Assistant Provicial Grand Master” of Essex Freemasonry. This finally confirmed that the original trio
of Mansfield, Salter and Gardner were all greatly involved in freemasonry and
this is may well be connected with their interest in gold and marble
exploration.
the catalogue of EM
activities and documents has over 600 entries
extracts from EMs
extensive writings are in "Ernest
Mansfield - Journalist, Author and Publicist"
EMs published
biography "Gold
or I’m a Dutchman” also has an extensive reference list
there are over 1100
files in the Spitsbergen Expedition
folder within the Goldhanger Digital
Archive
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