Lionel Greenstreet collection

The collection comprises of material created during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party], 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton) and correspondence by Greenstreet.

Lionel Greenstreet was born in 1890 in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Sunningdale and the training ship Worcester, from which he passed out in 1904. He served in several sailing ships, gaining a Master's certificate in 1911. He joined the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party], 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton), as first officer in Endurance After the ship was crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, the crew lived for six months on drifting ice until this broke up north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula. Proceeding in three open boats, the party of twenty-eight men reached Elephant Island on 15 April 1916. Greenstreet and his companions were rescued from the island on 30 August 1916.

On his return from the expedition, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and saw active service for the rest of the First World War. After the war, he worked for the shipping company, Furniss Withy & Co. During the Second World War, he served in rescue tugs in the Atlantic and North Sea, and became an adviser in Henry Kaiser's wartime American shipyards. He was demobilised as a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve, returning to his post with the shipping company. He retired to Devon and died in 1979.

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

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Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN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 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 Visit and learn

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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