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Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)
Details
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)
A collection of letters by various correspondents to Shackleton, and documents signed by Shackleton, 1907-1921, comprising:
letters to Shackleton by Lord Rosebery (three letters and a card, 1911-1913), Robert Baden-Powell (1914), Claude Grahame-White (two, 1912 & 1914), Edward Carson (1917), Lord Beaverbrook (1918), Landon Ronald, Prince Henry of Prussia, Count Paul Wolff-Metternich, Lord Aberdare and others, including a letter about Amy Shackleton, with autograph annotations by Shackleton, and a note from an unidentified correspondent at the Geographical Institute, Edinburgh, 12 February 1907, expressing encouragement for the 1907 British Antarctic Expedition and showing the expedition driving to the South Pole (with a waiting Scotsman) in Shackleton's motor car, altogether 21 letters, (the letter from Baden-Powell torn in two and repaired with tape), envelopes;
with 5 documents signed by Shackleton relating to the Tabard Cigarette Company (December 1912 - July 1913); and a formal document of thanks from the Union League Club of New York, 9 January 1913, decorated in red, blue, pink and liquid gold, on vellum; an unsigned 'Ode to the Shackleton Boot'; and an typescript without attribution discussing the possibility of flying to the South Pole; with copies of printed appreciations of Shackleton's lectures in 1921 and of The Heart of the Antarctic; altogether 33 letters, manuscripts and envelopes, 8 printed documents.
PROVENANCE:
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922), and thence by descent.
A miscellaneous correspondence, embracing the range of Shackleton's activities between the Nimrod expedition and the departure of the Quest. Of the letters from public figures, Lord Beaverbrook writes with reference to Shackleton's report on his activities supervising British propaganda in South America in 1918, Edward Carson in 1917 in relation to the difficulty of procuring Shackleton a commission in the Royal Navy, Lord Rosebery thanking him for a book, and apologising for a tactless remark, and Paul Metternich in a very graceful letter refers to his own retirement as German ambassador at the court of St James' ('My dogs and sleighs will have a quiet time and my compass will guide me, I hope, to a quiet shelter'). Baden-Powell writes with an invitation to dinner at the Mercer's Company in 1914; a letter of 1913 from the Boy Scouts' Assocation invites Shackleton to address the assembled scouts on the virtues of 'cheerfulness in difficulties'. A letter from Prince Henry of Prussia cordially declines a request that he recommend Shackleton's Tabard Cigarettes to the R.A.C.; three from Landon Ronald (composer and director of the Guildhall School of Music) also discuss Shackleton's cigarettes, and look forward to a visit to the Endurance; five certificates signed by Shackleton concern share-dealings in the Tabard Cigarette Company, the longest-lived of his numerous financial schemes in his efforts to pay off the liabilities of his Nimrod expedition. Two documents provide examples of the honours accorded Shackleton after the success of the Nimrod expedition: a letter from Trinity House announces his election as a Younger Brother, while a presentation document from the Union League Club of New York expresses thanks for a lecture.
Of more direct relevance to Shackleton's Antarctic activities is a typescript discussing the potential of the aeroplane in the Antarctic - its advantages in negotiating pack ice, and the difficulties and dangers of attempting a flight to the Pole ('To attempt a flight to the Pole without a line of depôts to fall back on ... would be, in my opinion, impracticable and suicidal') - the letters may relate to discussions between Shackleton and Tryggve Gran (of the Terra Nova expedition) in 1913 on the possibility of incorporating air travel into the Endurance expedition; letters from the pioneer aviator Claude Grahame-White are further evidence of Shackleton's interest in the potential of air travel. A more humorous light is cast on Antarctic matters by an unattributed 'Ode to the Shackleton Boot', evidently written in Russia ('I am the guy I'm the giddy galoot/Who tried to chase in the Shackleton boot'), referring to the design for a polar boot adopted on the Endurance expedition (in reality based upon a design by Roald Amundsen). A letter of July 1921 indicates the complications of relationships within the Shackleton family, and of the explorer's financial affairs: from a lawyer acting for the second of his sisters, Amy, it makes a series of allegations concerning the irregularity of Shackleton's allowance to his family and oustanding debts left by his father. The letter has a series of outraged marginal comments in Shackleton's autograph - 'this is not correct .. I paid them off ... I paid more than £500 for his debts etc'.
(31)
A collection of letters by various correspondents to Shackleton, and documents signed by Shackleton, 1907-1921, comprising:
letters to Shackleton by Lord Rosebery (three letters and a card, 1911-1913), Robert Baden-Powell (1914), Claude Grahame-White (two, 1912 & 1914), Edward Carson (1917), Lord Beaverbrook (1918), Landon Ronald, Prince Henry of Prussia, Count Paul Wolff-Metternich, Lord Aberdare and others, including a letter about Amy Shackleton, with autograph annotations by Shackleton, and a note from an unidentified correspondent at the Geographical Institute, Edinburgh, 12 February 1907, expressing encouragement for the 1907 British Antarctic Expedition and showing the expedition driving to the South Pole (with a waiting Scotsman) in Shackleton's motor car, altogether 21 letters, (the letter from Baden-Powell torn in two and repaired with tape), envelopes;
with 5 documents signed by Shackleton relating to the Tabard Cigarette Company (December 1912 - July 1913); and a formal document of thanks from the Union League Club of New York, 9 January 1913, decorated in red, blue, pink and liquid gold, on vellum; an unsigned 'Ode to the Shackleton Boot'; and an typescript without attribution discussing the possibility of flying to the South Pole; with copies of printed appreciations of Shackleton's lectures in 1921 and of The Heart of the Antarctic; altogether 33 letters, manuscripts and envelopes, 8 printed documents.
PROVENANCE:
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922), and thence by descent.
A miscellaneous correspondence, embracing the range of Shackleton's activities between the Nimrod expedition and the departure of the Quest. Of the letters from public figures, Lord Beaverbrook writes with reference to Shackleton's report on his activities supervising British propaganda in South America in 1918, Edward Carson in 1917 in relation to the difficulty of procuring Shackleton a commission in the Royal Navy, Lord Rosebery thanking him for a book, and apologising for a tactless remark, and Paul Metternich in a very graceful letter refers to his own retirement as German ambassador at the court of St James' ('My dogs and sleighs will have a quiet time and my compass will guide me, I hope, to a quiet shelter'). Baden-Powell writes with an invitation to dinner at the Mercer's Company in 1914; a letter of 1913 from the Boy Scouts' Assocation invites Shackleton to address the assembled scouts on the virtues of 'cheerfulness in difficulties'. A letter from Prince Henry of Prussia cordially declines a request that he recommend Shackleton's Tabard Cigarettes to the R.A.C.; three from Landon Ronald (composer and director of the Guildhall School of Music) also discuss Shackleton's cigarettes, and look forward to a visit to the Endurance; five certificates signed by Shackleton concern share-dealings in the Tabard Cigarette Company, the longest-lived of his numerous financial schemes in his efforts to pay off the liabilities of his Nimrod expedition. Two documents provide examples of the honours accorded Shackleton after the success of the Nimrod expedition: a letter from Trinity House announces his election as a Younger Brother, while a presentation document from the Union League Club of New York expresses thanks for a lecture.
Of more direct relevance to Shackleton's Antarctic activities is a typescript discussing the potential of the aeroplane in the Antarctic - its advantages in negotiating pack ice, and the difficulties and dangers of attempting a flight to the Pole ('To attempt a flight to the Pole without a line of depôts to fall back on ... would be, in my opinion, impracticable and suicidal') - the letters may relate to discussions between Shackleton and Tryggve Gran (of the Terra Nova expedition) in 1913 on the possibility of incorporating air travel into the Endurance expedition; letters from the pioneer aviator Claude Grahame-White are further evidence of Shackleton's interest in the potential of air travel. A more humorous light is cast on Antarctic matters by an unattributed 'Ode to the Shackleton Boot', evidently written in Russia ('I am the guy I'm the giddy galoot/Who tried to chase in the Shackleton boot'), referring to the design for a polar boot adopted on the Endurance expedition (in reality based upon a design by Roald Amundsen). A letter of July 1921 indicates the complications of relationships within the Shackleton family, and of the explorer's financial affairs: from a lawyer acting for the second of his sisters, Amy, it makes a series of allegations concerning the irregularity of Shackleton's allowance to his family and oustanding debts left by his father. The letter has a series of outraged marginal comments in Shackleton's autograph - 'this is not correct .. I paid them off ... I paid more than £500 for his debts etc'.
(31)
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