Baron Desborough of Taplow collection

The collection comprises of correspondence by Lord Desborough to the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton.

William Henry Grenfell was born on 30 October 1855 in London. He was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford, where he excelled at sports. In 1880, he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Salisbury, and again in 1885, losing his seat the following year after a general election. In 1892, he won the seat for Hereford City but resigned in the same year in protest against William Gladstone's second Home Rule bill. Grenfell did not stand again until he won the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire as a Conservative in 1900, a seat he held until 1905. He sat on numerous committees, including the London Chamber of Commerce, and served as president of the Olympic Games held in London in 1908. In 1905, he was created first Baron Desborough of Taplow and was knighted in 1908. From 1924 to 1929, he was captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. He died on 9 January 1945 at Panshanger, Hertford.

The correspondence is arranged chronologically.

By appointment.

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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Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN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 Dictionary of National Biography, 1941-1950, Oxford University Press, London (1967) and Who was who, 1941-1950, Adam & Charles Black, London (1952)

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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