George Murray Levick was a British Antarctic explorer, and founder of the British Schools Exploring Society

BSES Expeditions

-History:BSES Expeditions is one of the longest-running and most distinctive youth development charities of its kind. Based at the Royal Geographical Society, BSES Expeditions was founded in 1932, by an original member of Captain Scott's final Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13, Surgeon Commander...

.

He was born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, the son of George Levick and Jeannie Sowerby. After a short medical career, he joined the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1910 but was quickly given leave of absence to accompany Robert Scott

Robert Falcon Scott

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...

 on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition

Terra Nova Expedition

The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...

. Part of the Northern Party, Levick spent the austral summer of 1911–1912 at Cape Adare

Cape Adare

Cape Adare is the northeastern most peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape separates the Ross Sea to the east from the Southern Ocean to the west, and is backed by the high Admiralty Mountains...

 in the midst of an Adélie Penguin

Adelie Penguin

The Adélie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast. They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, as are the Emperor Penguin, the South Polar Skua, the Wilson's Storm Petrel, the Snow Petrel, and the Antarctic Petrel...

 rookery; his observations of the courting, mating, and chick-rearing behaviours of these birds are recorded in his book Antarctic Penguins. Prevented by pack ice from embarking on the Terra Nova in February 1912, Levick and the other five members of the party (Victor Campbell

Victor Campbell

Victor Lindsay Arbuthnot Campbell DSO & Bar, OBE , was a British sailor and renowned explorer.-Terra Nova expedition:In 1910, he was First Officer on Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition...

, Raymond Priestley

Raymond Priestley

Sir Raymond Edward Priestley was a British geologist and early Antarctic explorer.-Biography:Raymond Priestley was born in Bredon's Norton,Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in 1886, the second son and second of eight children of Joseph Edward Priestley, headmaster of Tewkesbury grammar school, and his...

, George Abbott, Harry Dickason, and Frank Browning) were forced to overwinter on Inexpressible Island

Inexpressible Island

-History:Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition comprised several groups. One of these, the Northern Party, led by Victor Campbell, did not accompany Scott into the interior but wintered at Cape Adare. In 1912, that group , began the long journey homewards and began making their way to Cape...

 in a cramped ice cave

Ice cave

The term ice cave refers to any type of natural cave that contains significant amounts of perennial ice...

. Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard was an English explorer of Antarctica. He was a survivor of the Terra Nova Expedition and is acclaimed for his historical account of this expedition, The Worst Journey in the World....

 described the difficulties endured by the party in the winter of 1912:
On his return he served in the Grand Fleet and at Gallipoli

Gallipoli

The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, 1914–1918. After his retirement from the Royal Navy he pioneered the training of blind people in physiotherapy against much opposition. In 1932 he founded the British Schools Exploring Society, of which he remained President until his death in June 1956. The work of the society was to take young men on expeditions to remote and unknown parts of the world.

At the time of his death, Major D. Glyn Owen, Chairman of the British Schools Exploring Society wrote: