Michael Barne collection

The collection comprises of journals, reports and diaries written during the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott). There are also loose sketches taken from the diaries and correspondence with other members of the expedition. The second part of the collection comprises of correspondence regarding future proposed polar expeditions.

Michael Barne was born in England in 1877. He was brought up at Sotterley Park in Suffolk and entered the Navy in 1893. He qualified as a Royal Navy officer in 1898 and joined the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (leader Robert Falcon Scott) as second lieutenant on board the expedition ship Discovery. During the expedition he took responsibility for magnetometry and soundings, and was involved in several sledge journeys.

After returning to the Navy he had hopes of forming an Antarctic expedition of his own and was involved in experiments with motor sledges, but these came to nothing. He served in the Royal Navy in the First World War and was awarded the DSO retiring from the Navy with the rank of captain in 1919. During the Second World War, he re-joined the Navy to command an anti-submarine patrol ship. He died on 31 May 1961.

The collection is split into two sub-fonds consisting 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 signs the item.

Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Encyclopaedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans ed. Bernard Stonehouse, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (2002) ISBN 0471986658 SPRI Library (7) and Journal of Polar Studies (1985) volume 2 part 1 p357-359 SPRI Library Periodical and Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN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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