Reginald Skelton collection

The collection comprises of material relating to the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott) including the building of the expedition ship Discovery, Skelton's work on motor sledges for use in polar regions and correspondence including letters regarding the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (leader Robert Falcon Scott).

Reginald William Skelton was born in Lincolnshire in 1872. He was a senior engineer in the Royal Navy, serving on board HMS Majestic with Robert Falcon Scott, when he joined the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (led by Scott), as the ship's chief engineer. He supervised the fitting-out of the expedition ship Discovery and took part in several sledge journeys during the expedition, discovering the first known breeding place of emperor penguins while sledging to Cape Crozier. He also became an accomplished photographer.

In the First World War, Skelton was in charge of dockyard facilities and installations at Archangel, Russia. He took part in the Battle of Jutland, for which he won the DSO. In 1928, he was appointed Engineer Vice-Admiral and Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet. He was created KCB in 1931 and retired from the Navy in 1932, becoming a director of John I. Thornycroft and Co., shipbuilders and engineers. He died at Adlingbourne on 5 September 1956.

The collection is split into three sub-fonds comprising of expedition material for the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, Skelton's work on motor sledges and correspondence respectively.

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Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to The Polar Record, (January 1957) volume 8 number 55 p378-379 and Encyclopaedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans ed. Bernard Stonehouse, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (2002), ISBN 0471986658 SPRI Library (7) and Scott of the Antarctic by Elspeth Huxley, Weidenfield and Nicholson, London (1977) SPEI Library Shelf 92[Scott] and Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN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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