John Hornby

John Hornby (1880–1927) was an English explorer, best known for his expeditions in the Arctic region of northern Canada, notably in the "Barren Lands" in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Hornby was born to a wealthy family in England; his father, A. N. Hornby, twice captained England in Test cricket. John migrated to Canada in 1904.

Hornby's first trip to the Arctic was to the Great Bear Lake region in 1908 and he developed a strong fascination with the Canadian Arctic wilderness. Apart from occasional trips to Edmonton and service in World War I, Hornby spent the rest of his life in Canada's wilderness.

He became known as the "hermit of the north" for his efforts to live off the land with limited supplies. In 1923, Hornby teamed up with an Englishman James Charles Critchell Bullock (1898-1953) in efforts to spend an entire year in the Arctic near Hudson Bay living off the land without supplies except for weapons. The pair barely survived and Critchell Bullock's diaries formed the basis of Malcolm Waldron's book Snow Man: John Hornby in the Barren Lands first published in 1931. Findings in an archive in England revealed letters that Bullock compiled into a manuscript to tell the tale from his own perspective. His manuscript was the base for the book Letters from The Barren Lands, published in 2020.

John Hornby's cabin on the Thelon River as it appeared in 1978
The late John Hornby at Fort Resolution, N.W.T., 1924.

In 1926, Hornby tried to spend a year in a spot by the Thelon River with his 18-year-old cousin Edgar Christian and another young man Harold Adlard. Unfortunately, the trio missed the caribou migration southward and therefore lacked sufficient food to survive the winter. Hornby died of starvation along with his companions in 1927. The graves of the three men can be found by the Thelon River.

Hornby recommended in a report following his expedition with Critchell Bullock that the areas near the Thelon and Hanbury Rivers be created as a wildlife sanctuary. The Thelon Game Sanctuary was established in 1927, renamed Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1956, and this area remains the heart of the largest area of wilderness in North America. The publication of Waldron's book proved successful and sparked further interest in the Northern wilderness.

Further reading
  • James Charles Critchell Bullock, Letters from the Barren Lands (edited by Carsten Iwers, Germany, 2020) ISBN 978-1071378977
  • Pierre Berton, "Prisoners of the North", Anchor Canada, 2005
  • Malcolm Waldron, Snow Man: John Hornby in the Barren Lands, Kodansha America 1997 reprint (originally published in 1931), ISBN 978-0-7735-1710-3
  • George Erickson, True North. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2000
  • George Whalley, The Legend of John Hornby. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1962.
  • Edgar Vernon Christian, Death in the Barren Ground (edited by George Whalley). Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0887503467
  • Clive Powell-Williams, Cold Burial: A Journey into the Wilderness. London: Viking, 2001.
  • Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2007.
  • Matthew Sturm, Finding The Arctic. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2012 (chap. 12 pp: 217-234 )
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