Walter B. (Walter Butler) Cheadle

author

Walter B. (Walter Butler) Cheadle

1835–1910

A Victorian doctor and explorer, he is best remembered for crossing western Canada in the 1860s and turning that demanding journey into a vivid travel narrative. His life joined medicine, adventure, and firsthand reporting from a period when much of the region was still unfamiliar to British readers.

1 Audiobook

The North-West Passage by land Being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains

The North-West Passage by land Being the narrative of an expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, undertaken with the view of exploring a route across the continent to British Columbia through British territory, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains

by Viscount William Fitzwilliam Milton, Walter B. (Walter Butler) Cheadle

About the author

Born in 1835, he studied at Caius College, Cambridge, and trained in medicine at St George’s Hospital in London. In 1862 he set out with Viscount Milton on an expedition across western Canada, a journey that lasted into 1864 and became the defining adventure of his life.

That expedition took him through difficult country by horseback, canoe, and on foot, and later formed the basis of The North-West Passage by Land, the book he wrote with Milton. The account helped introduce many readers to the Canadian West through a mix of travel writing, observation, and survival story.

He later continued his medical career in Britain and became known as a physician as well as an author. He died in 1910, leaving behind a reputation shaped by both professional medicine and one of the notable overland journeys of his era.