Matthew Henson

Matthew Henson was Robert Peary's chief assistant on the Arctic expeditions of 1891-1909. By Peary's own account he went with him on every northern expedition after the first, in 1886, and on almost every long sledge journey, as dog driver, hunter, interpreter and general assistant; he had first been hired in 1887 for Peary's Nicaragua survey.

In April 1909 Henson was one of the six men in Peary's final party, with four Inuit men, at the camp Peary reported as the North Pole. Peary's claim to have reached the Pole has been disputed ever since, and later researchers cited by reference works doubt it, so what is established is Henson's place in that final party and not the result.

Over about eighteen years Henson learned igloo building, dog driving and the Inuktun language from the Inughuit of northern Greenland. Peary wrote that, apart from the Inuit themselves, Henson was the best man he had for sledge travel, and Captain Robert Bartlett wrote that Henson was a better dog driver than he was.

During the winter of 1891-92 at Redcliffe House in northwest Greenland, Henson, who had come north as Peary's attendant, took over the cooking for the expedition's household from November until May. Josephine Peary's diary says he did this under her supervision, and records him hunting deer with the Inuit hunter Ikwa and travelling by boat that autumn.

The cooking, hunting and boat work alongside his duties as attendant illustrate how he took on new roles in an unfamiliar setting, which fits the adaptability this profile records; the diary is one witness's account. Adaptability

In the spring and summer of 1895 Peary, Hugh Lee and Henson crossed the Greenland ice cap and returned on short rations, with weakened dogs killed and fed to the others. Peary wrote that Lee and Henson 'never complained' and called Henson 'unhesitating and tenacious as a bulldog'.

Peary's account of the 1894-95 stay and this journey is consistent with persistence under hardship, though the praise comes from his employer and leader. Persistence

After the 1908-09 expedition Henson made no more Arctic journeys. He first worked parking cars in New York; on 26 February 1913 President Taft appointed him to the New York Custom House, where he served as a messenger and, from 1927, a clerk until his position was abolished in November 1936.

The move from field exploration to a salaried federal post is consistent with another change of working role, though the records do not state his own reasons. Adaptability