Belgrave Ninnis collection

The collection comprises of material relating to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (leader Douglas Mawson) and correspondence by Ninnis to H E Meade

Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was born in 1887 in London, son of Dr Belgrave Ninnis who served as surgeon on the British Arctic Expedition, 1875-1876 (leader George Strong Nares). In 1908, he was commissioned in the Royal Fusiliers, advancing to lieutenant in 1912. He joined the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (leader Douglas Mawson) and was in charge of the Greenland dogs at the Adelie Land base. He died on 14 December 1912 when he fell into a crevasse on a sledge journey across King George V Land accompanied by Mawson and Xavier Mertz.

The collection is split into two sub-fonds comprising of expedition material and correspondence respectively

By appointment.

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The term holograph is used when the item is wholly in the handwriting of the author. The term autograph is used when the author has signed the item.

Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to SPRI Library Antarctic Biographies Card Index and British polar exploration and research a historical and medallic record with biographies 1818-1999 by Lieutenant Colonel Neville W Poulsom and Rear Admiral John A L Myres, Savannah Publications London (2000) SPRI Library Shelf 737.2 and This everlasting silence. The love letters of Paquita Delprat and Douglas Mawson 1911-1914, edited by Nancy Robinson Flannery, Melbourne University Press Melbourne (2000) SPRI Library Shelf 92[Mawson] and Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events by Robert Keith Headland (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN 0521309034

Clive Holland Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Garland Publishing New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.

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