Ernest Shackleton - Crew of the Nimrod
British Antarctic Expedition 1907- 1909

Shackleton, Ernest  (33) - expedition leader

Third lieutenant in charge of holds, stores, provisions and deep sea water analysis Discovery expedition 1901-04
expedition leader Endurance 1914-17
expedition leader Quest 1920-21

Following his participation on Scott's Discovery expedition including an attempt on the South Pole. Shackleton gained funding and planned his own expedition including an another attempt on the South Pole where he led a party of four who climbed the Beardmore Glacier to be the first ever on the Polar Plateau, they achieved a furthest south on the 9th of January 1909 of 97 miles (156 km) from the pole. Shackleton became a giant of Antarctic exploration and organized a further two expeditions after Nimrod.

Born 15th Feb 1874, Kilkea, Ireland - died 5th Jan 1922, South Georgia

Single. Born in 1880 at Rippinggale Lincolnshire. First went to sea in the merchant service in 1893 serving three years as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, before joining the expedition in 1907. Appointed second in command in February 1908. He was one of the party of four who climbed the Beardmore Glacier to be the first ever on the Polar Plateau, they achieved a furthest south on the 9th of January 1909 of 97 miles (156 km) from the pole.

Born 6th March 1880, Lincolnshire - died 30th April 1962

Armytage, Bertram (38)

Born in 1869 in Australia, educated at Melbourne Grammar School and Jesus College Cambridge. After a military career which involved several years in the Victorian Militia, Carabiniers, 6th Division Guards and active service in South Africa, he joined the expedition in Australia.

Married at the time of the expedition.

He killed himself in Australia shortly after the expedition:

Born 1869, Lara, Australia - died 12th March, Melbourne, Australia 1910

Brocklehurst, Sir Philip Lee (20) - assistant geologist

Single. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall Cambridge. Held a commission at the time of the expedition in the Derbyshire Yeomanry, represented Cambridge University in light weight boxing competitions in 1905 and 1906.

Born 7th March 1887 at Swythamley park, Staffordshire - died 28th Jan 1975

David, Tannat William Edgeworth (50) - Director of scientific staff, geologist

David was Professor of Geology at Sydney University. He was educated at New College Oxford, afterwards studying geology at the Royal College of Science. He went to Australia to take up a post as Geological Surveyor to the government of New South Wales, a position he had held for eighteen years before joining the expedition.
Married at the time of the expedition.

Born 28th March 1858, St. Fagans Wales - died 28th Aug 1934

Day, Bernard (23) - electrician / motor mechanic

motor engineer Terra Nova 1910 - 13

Educated at Wellingborough Grammar School. Day was involved in engineering from 1903, he left the employ of the New Arrol Johnston Motor-Car Company to join the expedition. The Nimrod expedition was the first to ever take a motor car to Antarctica, a 4 cylinder, 15 horsepower air cooled car came from the Arrol-Johnston company after the intervention of William Beardmore a major sponsor of the expedition (and Shackleton's employer before it started) he had recently taken over to save them from bankruptcy.

Born 18th Aug 1884, Wymondham, Leicestershire - died 1934

Joyce, Ernest (32) - general storeman, dogs, sledges, zoological collections

petty officer, 1st class, R.N. Discovery expedition 1901-04
member of Shackleton's Ross Sea party on the Aurora 1914-17

Single. Educated at the Greenwich Royal Hospital School from where he entered the Navy in 1891 and rose to the position of Petty Officer 1st class. He had served in South Africa with the Naval Brigade from where he joined Scott's Discovery expedition in 1901 from Cape Town. He left the Navy in December 1905 to rejoin again in August 1906 before leaving again by purchase order to join the Nimrod expedition in May 1907.

Born 1875, Bognor, Sussex - died 2nd May 1940

Mackay, Dr. Alistair Forbes (29) - assistant surgeon

Single. Son of Colonel A. Forbes Mackay of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders.  Educated in Edinburgh and then proceeded to Dundee for zoological work under Professors Geddes and D'Arcy Thompson. Served as a trooper in South Africa, then with Baden Powell's police before returning to pass final examinations in medicine to return to the front again as a civil surgeon. He entered the Royal Navy as a surgeon, retiring four years later and then joined the expedition.

He died in 1914 on an ill fated Arctic expedition when along with 3 others he attempted to reach land after their ship sank and became lost, their bodies were found some years later.

Born 22nd Feb 1878, Carskey, Argyllshire - died Feb 1914

Marshall, Dr. Eric Stewart (28) - surgeon, cartographer

Single. Educated at Monckton Combe School and Emmanuel College Cambridge. Represented his college in rowing and football. Originally studied for the church, but subsequently entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1899 qualifying as a surgeon in 1906. He was one of the party of four who climbed the Beardmore Glacier to be the first ever on the Polar Plateau, they achieved a furthest south on the 9th of January 1909 of 97 miles (156 km) from the pole.

Born 29th May 1879, Hampstead - died 26th Feb 1963

Marston, George Edward  (25) - artist

artist Endurance 1914-17

Single. "Putty" Marston. Educated as an artist mainly at the Regent Street Polytechnic, a qualified art teacher.

Born 19th March 1882, Southsea - died 22nd Nov 1940

Mawson, Douglas  (27) - physicist

expedition leader Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-13

Single. Educated in Australia and working as a lecturer in mineralogy and petrology at Adelaide University and honorary curator of the South Australian Museum at the time of the expedition. Joined the Nimrod in Australia. Following Nimrod, he was invited by Scott on his prestigious Terra Nova expedition of 1910-1913 but turned it down to lead his own Australian expedition instead.

Born 5th May 1882 on a farm at Shipley, Yorkshire, England in 1882, his mother was originally from the Isle of Man - died 14th Oct 1958

Murray, James (42) - biologist

Spent his early working years in various branches of art, interested in natural history, especially botany. In 1901 he turned his interest to microscopic zoology and was appointed in 1902 by Sir John Murray to work on Scottish lake Survey a job he was still engaged in at the point of joining the expedition as a biologist.
Married in 1892.

Born 21st July 1865, Glasgow - died Feb 1914

Priestley, Raymond E.  (21) - geologist

geologist Terra Nova 1910-13

Educated at Tewkesbury School and then Bristol University College, he passed the intermediate exam in science in 1906 and was taking the advanced level when appointed geologist to the expedition in 1907. He later joined Scott on the Terra Nova expedition and had a very active and adventurous time despite not being part of the South Pole party. After the expedition, he co-founded the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge with fellow Terra Nova expedition member Frank Debenham.

Born 20th July 1886, Tewkesbury - died 24th June 1974

Roberts, William C. (35) - cook

Married at the time of the expedition.

Born 1872 in London.

Wild, Frank (34) - in charge of provisions

Seaman Discovery 1901-04
Sledge-master Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-13
Second in command Endurance 1914-17
Second in command Quest- Ernest Shackleton 1921 - 1922

Wild was a direct descendent of Captain Cook through his mother, one uncle had been three times on expeditions to the Arctic. He entered the merchant navy in 1889 and joined the Royal Navy in 1900. He had received a polar medal and clasp for his work on the Discovery expedition to Antarctica under Scott and the Royal Geographical Society's silver medal. At Sheerness Gunnery School when the Admiralty consented to his appointment to the Nimrod expedition. He was a member of 5 Antarctic expeditions and served under Scott and Shackleton both of whom he outlived.

Born 10th April 1873, Skelton, Yorkshire - died 20th Aug 1939

Cheetham, Alfred - third officer and boatswain

Morning - relief ship for the Discovery 1902
Boatswain, R.N.R. Terra Nova 1910 - 13
Third officer  Endurance 1914-17 - 47 at the start of the expedition

A popular and cheerful member of crews on which he served, Frank Worsley (captain of the Endurance) called him "a pirate to his fingertips".

Born 1867, Liverpool, died while serving as second Officer on the S.S. Prunelle  on Thursday 22nd August 1918, at the age of 51, his ship was torpedoed in the North Sea by a German U-Boat . Alf went down with the ship.

Davis,
John K. - first officer

Master of the S.Y. Aurora & Second in Command Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-13

Born 1884, Kew

Dunlop, Henry J. L. (31) - chief engineer

Born on 15th October 1876 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The third child of eight. His Father was Chief Cashier of Harland & Wolff, shipbuilders of Belfast.

Appointed Chief Engineer of the Nimrod in 1907 aged thirty one. I gathered from my Mother that Shackleton was a friend and Henry lent him a sum of money which was never repaid. I have a copy of a letter to Henry on this matter. On arrival at Cape Royds, Henry supervised the laying of the hut's foundations and also helped to build it.

Henry sailed back to New Zealand on board Nimrod then a year later returned to Antarctica to collect the shore party.

Three years after he returned from the Expedition he was made General Manager of the African Oil & Cake Mills Company in Liverpool. In 1914 he married Ethel Jane Ward (maybe we're related?) and in 1918 my Mother Patricia was born. Henry died aged fifty four on 5th March 1931 when my Mother was only thirteen. Sadly I never knew him.

Shackleton paid him the compliment of naming an island in McMurdo Sound after him. It is a mile long and situated just off the Wilson Piedmont Glacier. Cape Dunlop takes its name from Dunlop Island.

Information courtesy of Jayne Cant - Henry Dunlop's granddaughter.

Born 1878, Warthill, Yorkshire

Born 14th April 1874, Newtown, Wales

Born 1883, Yorkshire

Mackintosh, Aeneas Lionel Acton (26) - second officer

Single. Born in Tirhoot, Bengal, India in 1881 and educated at the Bedford Modern School in England. He went to sea in 1894 in the merchant navy joining the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1899. He was lent from this company to the Nimrod expedition in 1907 and received a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve in July 1908.

He lost an eye in an accident while unloading ship in 1908 and had to return to New Zealand though rejoined the expedition again in 1909.

Born 1st July 1879, Tirhut, India - died 8th May 1916, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Michell, Dr. William Arthur Rupert - surgeon

Born 1882 in Perth, Ontario, Canada

Born 1881, Liverpool

Born 1885, London

Ansell, William Drummond - second steward

Born 14th Nov 1886, Wimbledon - died 30th June 1947, Nelson, New Zealand

Berry, Victor  - AB

"My family legend has it that my great uncle Victor Berry sailed on the Nimrod with Shackleton... searching through family photos, I came across a photo of two sailors. Under a magnifier, much to my surprise I read the name 'Nimrod' on their hats. This seems to confirm the family legend and they could well be standing on the Nimrod."

Harold Bull, Victor Berry, Sidney Riches and Walter Spice enlisted on the Nimrod along with while all four of them were engaged in Royal Naval Reserve training aboard HMS President in London.

Born 1883, London

Born 1872, Hull

Born 1866, Christchurch, NZ

Alfred Bull joined the Nimrod in Lyttleton in 1908 and sailed to Antarctica once, his diary of this voyage from leaving Lyttleton, N.Z. on December 1, 1908 to its return on March 25 is available here

Born 1887, London

"
Bull, Harold, Bowyer - AB

Harold Bull joined the Nimrod in London in 1907 and sailed to Antarctica twice. He enlisted along with Victor Berry, Sidney Riches and Walter Spice while all four of them were engaged in Royal Naval Reserve training aboard HMS President in London.

Born 1884, Adelaide, Australia

Born 1886, Philadelphia, PA, USA

"

Born 1883, Australia

Born 1871, Hull - died 24th Dec 1952, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Born 1882, Kinsale, Cork, Ireland

Born 1874, Hull

Born 1878, Jersey

Born 1875, Armagh, Ireland

Born 1883, Glasgow - died Lambton, Newcastle, Australia 1968

Born 1878, Dumbarton

Born 1867, Victoria, Australia

Born 1880, Lyttleton, NZ

Born 1869, London

Born 1870, Dundee

Born 1876, Fifeshire

Nodder, Richard Henry  - AB

Born January 1877, at Wellington Cottage, Torpoint Cornwall - Able Seaman, sailed from Lyttleton NZ to Antarctica and back December 1908 - March 1909 and then from Lyttleton to Sydney and then London 1909.

Born 1885, Lyttleton, NZ

Born 1885, Kent

Harold Bull, Victor Berry, Sidney Riches and Walter Spice enlisted on the Nimrod along with while all four of them were engaged in Royal Naval Reserve training aboard HMS President in London.

Born 1880, London

Born 1885, Govan, Glasgow

Born 1883, Wellington, NZ

Born 1875, Hull

Spice, Walter - AB

Born in St Leonards, Hastings, Sussex, UK, in 1864. In 1879 it appears that 15 year old Walter and his older brother Alfred were caught committing larceny and shop breaking and sentenced to a month in prison followed by 2 years on a reformatory ship - possibly 'TS Cornwall'. Perhaps it's not surprising that he went to sea. The 1891 census shows him listed as a boarder in Bootle, Lancs. His occupation is recorded as Seaman.

Harold Bull, Victor Berry, Sidney Riches and Walter Spice enlisted on the Nimrod along with while all four of them were engaged in Royal Naval Reserve training aboard HMS President in London.

Born 1881, Lyttleton NZ

Williams, William Frederick - AB

William Frederick Williams was born in Tasmania in 1886. He joined Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition, signing on in the name of W. Williams, and served as an AB (Able Seaman) on the Stearn Yacht Nimrod on her second voyage south (1908-09). On return to Tasmania he tried his hand at a variety of jobs before settling in the Lakes district of Tasmania as the manager of guest houses catering for trout fishermen in the 1920s. He retired to Lorne, Victoria, and died in Melbourne in 1964 aged 77.

More here - Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, Volume 143(2), 2009