Philip Brocklehurst

Philip Brocklehurst as a member of the Nimrod Expedition

Sir Philip Lee Brocklehurst, 2nd Baronet (born March 7, 1887 in Swythamley Park, Staffordshire , England , † January 28, 1975 , ibid) was a British polar explorer who participated in the Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) under the direction of Ernest Shackleton attended.

Life

Origin and family

The Brocklehurst family, whose ancestry can be traced back to the mid-16th century, belonged to the English gentry . Brocklehurst's grandfather, John Brocklehurst (1788-1870), was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1868 . On August 27, 1903, his father, Philip Lancaster Brocklehurst (1827-1904), the hereditary title of Baronet , of Swythamley Park in the County of Stafford and of Stanhope Terrace in the Parish of Hyde Park in the County of London, bestowed. When his father died in 1904, Brocklehurst inherited the title. His younger brother, Henry Courtney Brocklehurst (1888–1942), died while serving in the war in Burma . On July 9, 1913, Brocklehurst married Gwladys Murray (* 1891), with whom he had two daughters Anne Nina (* 1915) and Pamela Margaret (* 1917). The marriage ended in divorce in 1947. After Brocklehurst's death, the baronet title went to his nephew, John Ogilvy Brocklehurst (1926-1981), on whose death the male line of the family died out.

Nimrod expedition

Brocklehurst met Ernest Shackleton in 1906 while still a student at Trinity Hall , Cambridge . He secured his participation in the Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) through his friendship with Shackleton and a financial contribution of £ 2000 (today: £ 212,000). This made Brocklehurst the first paying participant in an Antarctic expedition . As the youngest member of the expedition, his job was to assist the geologist Raymond Priestley . Brocklehurst was part of the six-man team who made the first ascent of Mount Erebus on Ross Island in March 1908 . In contrast to his five companions, however, he himself did not reach the main summit due to frostbite on his feet. After returning to base camp at Cape Royds , one of his big toes had to be amputated because of gangrene . As a result, contrary to what was planned, he was not allowed to take part in Shackleton's march towards the South Pole . Despite the injury, he took part with Priestley and Bertram Armytage on exploratory marches to the Ferrar Glacier and the Taylor Valley . Brocklehurst was honored with the silver polar medal for his services during the Nimrod expedition. In addition, Mount Brocklehurst is named after him, a mountain in West Antarctic Victoria Land .

Time after the Nimrod expedition

The friendship with Ernest Shackleton continued even after the research trip was over. In 1913 that best man was at Brocklehurst's wedding. However, unlike Shackleton, Brocklehurst never returned to Antarctica.

At the beginning of the First World War he belonged to the Derbyshire Imperial Yeomanry and was called up to the Life Guards . From 1918 to 1920 he served in the Egyptian Army . In 1924 he was raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel . During World War II he was in command of the 2nd regiment of the Arab Legion's trade brigade and served under John Bagot Glubb in Palestine and Transjordan .

After the end of the war, Brocklehurst retired to his estate in Staffordshire, where he died in 1975 at the age of 87 as the last survivor of the Nimrod expedition.

Bizarre

• His toe, which was amputated during the Nimrod expedition and preserved in alcohol, was initially used as a display object in a London hospital until Brocklehurst finally took it to Swythamley Park and gave it a place of honor on a mantelpiece. Rumor has it that after Brocklehurst's funeral, the toe was swallowed at the funeral feast by a guest believing it was a cocktail snack.
• In 2000, a biscuit from Brocklehurst's estate and bitten by him , which was part of the provisions on the Nimrod expedition, was auctioned for £ 4935 (around £ 8,000 today; £ 1 = € 1.12).

literature

• TW Edgeworth David, Ernest H. Shackleton: 21 miles from the South Pole . The History of the British South Pole Expedition 1907/09. With a description of the journey to the magnetic south pole. 2 volumes. Translated and edited by Frederick Becker. Süsserott, Berlin 1909.
• Beau Riffenburgh: Nimrod. Ernest Shackleton and the Extraordinary Story of the 1907–1909 South Pole Expedition (Original title: Nimrod: Ernest Shackleton and the Extraordinary Story of the 1907–09 British Antarctic Expedition , translated by Sebastian Vogel). Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-8270-0530-4 .
• Ernest Shackleton: In the sixth continent (original title: Heart of the Antarctic ), In: Travel and Adventure Volume 13, FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1922.
  alternatively: Shackleton, Ernest: The Heart of the Antarctic . William Heinemann, London 1910 (in English, accessed May 25, 2010).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Riffenburgh, Nimrod , pp. 406-407.
2. ^ Macclesfield Express, May 15, 2002 (with photo of Brocklehurst shortly before his death).

predecessor	title	successor
Philip Brocklehurst	Baronet, of Swythamley Park and Stanhope Terrace 1904-1975	John Brocklehurst