John Riddoch Rymill (13 March 1905- 7 September 1968) was an Australian polar explorer, who had the rare second clasp added to his Polar Medal.
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Rymill was born the son of a farmer on 13 March 1905 at Penola, South Australia. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School, where he first developed his love of polar literature, and at the Royal Geographical Society in London, where he studied surveying and navigation.[1][2]
Rymill prepared himself for polar exploration with alpine experience in Europe, flying lessons at the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd, Hendon and courses at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, under Professor Frank Debenham. In 1931 he was appointed to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to Greenland (1930–31) as surveyor and pilot. As a result of this, Rymill determined to mount an Antarctic expedition to South Graham Land and the Weddell Sea south of Cape Horn, South America. His British Graham Land Expedition (1934–37)[3] discovered a southern, permanently frozen channel, later named George VI Sound, extending to the Bellingshausen Sea.[2]
'The survey work of this expedition constitutes probably the largest contribution of accurate detailed surveys of the Antarctic Continent made by an expedition'. Citation of David Livingstone Centenary Gold Medal
In 1938, after completing the official account of the expedition Southern Lights, Rymill married Dr Eleanor Mary Francis, a geographer whom he had met at Cambridge. They went to live at and manage the Penola Estate, where he served as a district councillor. He died on the 7 September 1968, survived by his wife and their two sons.[2][4]
London, British Museum (Natural History), 1940–41, Vol. 1