Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Third Supplement.djvu/431

 indicated the Smith Sound route as the best line of advance to the Pole. The vessels sailed on 29 May 1875 and reached winter quarters on the coast of Grant Land, the Discovery in latitude 81° 44′ N., and the Alert, with Nares, in latitude 82° 27′ N. In the following spring (Sir) Albert Hastings Markham [q.v.] in the Alert made the northern record, latitude 83° 20′ 26″ N., longitude 64° W., after terrible difficulties over very rough pack-ice. Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich of the Alert discovered and rounded Cape Columbia, the most northerly point of Grant Land, and reached Cape Alfred Ernest, while to the west Lieutenant Lewis A. Beaumont of the Discovery followed the coast of Greenland to Sherard Osborn fjord. Deciding that the route to the Pole was impracticable, Nares returned in 1876 and his ships reached Portsmouth in October. The discoveries made by this expedition were valuable, but were won at the cost of life and with much hardship, since the day had not yet come when scurvy was understood and could be avoided.

Nares, who had been elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1875, was created K.C.B. in 1876, and received the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1877 and a gold medal from the Geographical Society of Paris in 1879. In 1878 he was again in command of the Alert during the survey of the Magellan Straits. From 1879 to 1896 he was employed in the harbour department of the Board of Trade, having retired from active service in 1886. From 1896 to 1910 he was a conservator of the river Mersey. He was promoted rear-admiral in 1887 and vice-admiral in 1892.

Nares married in 1858 Mary (died 1905), daughter of William Grant, of Portsmouth, and had issue three sons and four daughters. He died at Surbiton on 15 January 1915. His name is commemorated in Nares harbour in the Admiralty Islands, the Nares Deep in the North Atlantic, Nares Land in Northern Greenland, Cape Nares in Grant Land, and Mount Nares in South Victoria Land.

 NETTLESHIP, EDWARD (1845–1913), ophthalmic surgeon, was born at Kettering 3 March 1845, the fourth son of Henry John Nettleship, solicitor, of Kettering, by his wife, Isabella Ann, daughter of the Rev. James Hogg, vicar of Geddington, near Kettering. Of their six sons four became distinguished in their professions; Henry [q.v.], John Trivett [q.v.], Edward, and Richard Lewis [q.v.]. Edward received his early education at Kettering grammar school. His boyish enthusiasm for natural history and his love of outdoor pursuits led to the decision that he should become a farmer. On leaving school he devoted several years to the study of agriculture and veterinary science. In 1867 he qualified as member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and shortly afterwards was appointed professor of veterinary surgery at the Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 1868 he obtained the membership, and in 1870 the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

About the year 1867 Nettleship entered as a student at Moorfields Eye Hospital and began the study of ophthalmology, the branch of medicine in which he afterwards became an acknowledged leader. In 1871 he was appointed curator of the hospital museum and library and soon afterwards he published in the Ophthalmic Hospital Reports the first of a long series of papers, clinical and pathological, on ophthalmic subjects. In 1873, at the request of the Local Government Board, he inspected the metropolitan poor-law schools in reference to the prevalence of ophthalmia. His report led to some much-needed reforms in the care of pauper children.

During his professional career Nettleship held a number of public appointments. The most important were those of ophthalmic surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital and surgeon to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. At these schools his reputation as a clinical investigator, surgeon, and teacher became firmly and widely established. In addition to his hospital duties he had a large private practice, yet he found time and opportunity for the preparation of many papers of lasting value, which he read before medical societies. He was one of the founders, in 1880, of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, of which he became the first surgical secretary and, in 1895, president.

In 1902 Nettleship retired from practice and devoted the remainder of his life to research. For many years he had been interested in the study of heredity in disease, especially in relation to disorders of the eye and vision. He now accomplished a remarkable amount of excellent 405