Henry Robertson Bowers (29 July 1883 – c. 29 March 1912) was one of Robert Falcon Scott's polar party on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913, all of whom died during their return from the South Pole.

After Bowers fell 19 feet into a hold when loading the ship (someone had carelessly left the cover off), Scott was less impressed by the short, stout young man.

Originally appointed as a junior officer of the ship's party in charge of expedition stores, Bowers quickly distinguished himself as an extremely hard-working, highly skilled organiser.

Six months after arriving in Antarctica, Bowers made the winter journey to the emperor penguin breeding grounds at Cape Crozier in July 1911 with Edward Adrian Wilson and Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

In almost total darkness and with temperatures ranging from −40 to −70 °F (−40 to −57 °C), they man-hauled their sledge 60 miles (97 km) from Scott's base at Cape Evans to the far side of Ross Island.

Having successfully collected three eggs and desperately exhausted, they eventually arrived back at Cape Evans on 1 August 1911, five weeks after setting off.

Cherry-Garrard later referred to this trip as The Worst Journey in the World, which became the title of his book published in 1922 recounting the fate of the 1908–1912 expedition.

In addition, adding a fifth man to the party meant squeezing another person into a tent made for four, and having to split up rations that were packed in units for four men.

To back this theory up, it was Bowers who eventually took the sights to fix the exact location of the geographic South Pole for the Polar party.

The search party collapsed the tent over them, thus burying them where they lay under a snow cairn topped by a cross made from a pair of skis.

Among the items they found and took back with them were the Kodak film rolls with the photographs at the South Pole and geological specimens which later proved the Gondwana theory.

Cherry-Garrard's book, The Worst Journey in the World, also included letters from Bowers in which he assures his family he will be "O. K. in any temperature",[3] acknowledging that others had started to wear their Shetland gear and he was still comfortable in his cotton shirts.

As he was one of the two or three greatest friends of my life I find it hard to give the reader a mental picture of Birdie Bowers which will not appear extravagant.

Such men may be at a discount in conventional life; but give me a snowy ice-floe waving about on the top of a black swell, a ship thrown aback, a sledge-party almost shattered, or one that has just upset their supper on to the floorcloth of the tent (which is much the same thing), and I will lie down and cry for Bowers to come and lead me to food and safety.

[3]: 55  In a letter to Bowers's mother retrieved from the tent containing their bodies, Scott wrote "I write when we are very near the end of our journey, and I am finishing it in company with two gallant, noble gentlemen.

"[3]: 373 Bowers's life is celebrated with a small display at Rothesay Museum on the Isle of Bute, near where his mother and sister went to live; he visited them during shore leave and loved walking in the Scottish Highlands.