Scott's last plea raised £76,000: widows were paid by their husbands' rank, and £10,000 founded the Scott Polar Research Institute

Robert Falcon Scott's last "Message to the Public" ended: "For God's sake look after our people." The news reached London in February 1913, and a Mansion House appeal raised £76,000. In June 1913 a Royal Society sub-committee advised against a separate memorial because donors expected the money to go to the dependants. Trust deeds were drawn up for Lady Scott, Peter Scott, Scott's mother, Mrs Wilson, Mrs Bowers, Mrs Edgar Evans, Mrs Brissenden and Mrs Abbott. Under the deeds the capital was invested and the income paid out. State pensions followed the husbands' rank. Kathleen Scott received a £200 a year Admiralty pension, a £200 a year government pension and a £693 gratuity. Lois Evans, widow of Petty Officer Edgar Evans and mother of three, received a 7s 6d weekly Admiralty pension, a 12s 6d weekly government pension plus child allowances, £52 back pay and £44 of expedition salary. Isobel Williams, Evans's biographer^†, records that Lois "professed herself well satisfied." A 2022 History Hit account says Lois received the least and struggled financially for the rest of her life. The press blamed Evans for slowing the party, and his children were bullied at school. £10,000 of the fund became a Polar Research Fund. In May 1920 its trustees granted £6,000 to Cambridge, and Frank Debenham founded the institute. Its Lensfield Road building opened on 16 November 1934. The institute holds over 300 letters between Scott and Kathleen, including his last, addressed "To my widow."