Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

Sir Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton in 1917
Born	(1874-02-15)15 February 1874 Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, United Kingdom
Died	5 January 1922(1922-01-05) (aged 47) South Georgia, Falkland Islands Dependencies
Occupation	Merchant Navy officer and Antarctic explorer
Spouse(s)	Emily Dorman
Children	Raymond, Cecily, and Edward
Parent(s)	Henrietta Gavan Henry Shackleton
Awards	Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Antwerp (1909) Vega Medal (1910) Boston Medal, with bar (1910)

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS (/ˈʃækəltən/; 15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Kilkea, Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, Shackleton and his Anglo-Irish family moved to Sydenham in suburban south London when he was ten. His first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition 1901–1904, from which he was sent home early on health grounds, after he and his companions Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S.

During the second expedition 1907–1909 he and three companions established a new record Farthest South latitude at 88°S, only 97 geographical miles (112 statute miles, 180 km) from the South Pole, the largest advance to the pole in exploration history. Also, members of his team climbed Mount Erebus, the most active Antarctic volcano. For these achievements, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.