[2] Having been denied a place in the army due to failing his medical exam, Meares spent the next decade traveling around Europe.

Lawrence Oates, the British Army captain on the expedition whose role was to look after the ponies, was disappointed in Meares's selection as they had "such deficiencies as: narrow chests, knocked knees, …aged" and were the "greatest lot of crocks I have ever seen".

After setting off as part of the support team on the journey to the South Pole in early November 1911, Meares and the Russian Gerov turned back north with the sled dogs on 14 December at the foot of the Beardmore glacier.

Sometime after his arrival back in Britain, Meares had a meeting with Caroline Oates, who was conducting personal interviews in regards to the death of her son.

"[6] Some controversy surrounds Meares's "unavailability" for further Barrier (Ross Ice Shelf) work for the 2 months prior to his boarding the Terra Nova to return home, while the base camp was under the command of George Simpson and then Edward L. Atkinson.

Meares's return to civilisation before the Antarctic winter of 1912 was not unexpected (in Scott's instructions to the commanding officer of the Terra Nova written before his departure for the pole he stated that Meares might return on the ship, depending on letters from home), but it remains unclear as to why he was not available to undertake sledge work with the dogs during the autumn season, nor why Simpson or Atkinson did not force him to do so, given that the expedition was run on strict naval terms.

I thought unwillingly then that he was flying the white feather [i.e. demonstrating cowardice] ... if you make a statement to that effect and if it was challenged, you would have to substantiate it in writing ...

Gardiner stated that he believed Meares' negligence in following Scott's orders resulted in a huge part of the failure of the Polar Party returning alive.

Meares was portrayed by Melville Crawford in the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic, and by Bill Nighy in the 1985 television serial The Last Place on Earth.