OUR PATRONS

Robin Back (Chairman, The Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute)

Robin Back is the eldest grandson of Professor Frank Debenham, OBE, geologist on Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910-13 and founder of the Scott Polar Research Institute. After studying economics at Geneva University, Robin spent 20 years overseas with Standard Chartered Bank before leaving in 1988 to establish his own software development company in Norfolk. Polar affairs have come to feature largely in Robin's life through the family connection, culminating in a hugely enjoyable visit to Antarctica in 2000.

Gordon Bain (Tasmania)

Gordon Bain worked in the Australian Antarctic Division from1983 to 2001. He undertook many trips to Antarctica mainly in a logistics support capacity up to and including the position of Voyage Leader. He has made 12 sea borne voyages visiting all four current Australian stations (Macquarie Island, Casey, Davis, Mawson), plus a number of field stations; he has also visited Heard Island supporting Australian projects running there, plus short courtesy visits to the French at Dumont D'Urville, the Chinese at Zhong Shan, the Russians at Progress IV and a visit to the Bunger Hills area near the Shackleton Ice Shelf and including the abandoned Russian/Polish station Oasis/Arctowski.

Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE FRGS (President, Scientific Exploration Society)

John Blashford-Snell is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He served for 37 years in the Army. He has organised and led over 100 expeditions including well-known ones along the Blue Nile and down the Congo River.
The Scientific Exploration Society, of which John is President, is a UK-based charity founded in 1969. As a non-profit making organisation it initiates a worldwide programme of scientific expeditions focusing on scientific, conservation, education and community aid projects.

Antony Bowring (Secretary, Transglobe Expedition Trust)

Antony Bowring—whose family was the one-time owner of Scott's Terra Nova—was a member of the Transglobe Expedition led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Antony's wife, Jill, was also a member of the expedition.
He is Secretary of the Transglobe Expedition Trust, a charity which was established in 1993 to perpetuate the memory of the Transglobe Expedition by supporting humanitarian, scientific or educational projects which follow in the expedition's tradition of adventure and perseverance. This tradition was described by its patron HRH the Prince of Wales as "mad but marvellous."

Mary Royds Cleveland (Isles of Scilly)

Mary Royds Cleveland is a descendant of Lt. Charles Royds on Robert Scott's Discovery expedition 1901-04. She has an active interest in Antarctic matters and has travelled there.

Professor Julian Dowdeswell (Director, Scott Polar Reseach Institute, and Professor of Physical Geography, University of Cambridge.)

Julian Dowdeswell is a glaciologist, working on the form and flow of glaciers and ice caps and their response to climate change, and the links between former ice sheets and the marine geological record, using a variety of satellite, airborne and shipborne geophysical tools.
The Scott Polar Research Institute is among the the world's leading centres for research into both polar regions. It contains the finest collection anywhere of books, manuscripts and artifacts associated with polar exploration. It is part of the University of Cambridge and is a sub-department of the Department of Geography.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt. OBE (Somerset)

Ran Fiennes is well known around the world for his many adventures and expeditions. As leader of the Transglobe Expedition (1979-82) he became the first person to reach both the north and south poles by surface means. He is the author of numerous books and in 2003 his biography of Captain Scott was widely praised.

Philippa Foster Back OBE (Chairman, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust)

Philippa Foster Back is the Director of the Institute of Business Ehtics in London. The IBE's charge is "to advance public education in business ethics and related subjects with particular reference to the study and application of ethical standards in the management and conduct of industry and business generally in the United Kingdom and elsewhere." A graduate in Geography at University College London, she has over 25 years of business experience.
She is the granddaughter of Professor Frank Debenham, OBE, geologist on Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910-13 and founder of the Scott Polar Research Institute.
She has been an active supporter of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and now serves as its chairman.

Peter Fuchs (Trustee, The Fuchs Foundation)

Peter Fuchs is Trustee of the Fuchs Foundation whose mission is "to create science and geography teachers as leaders in education through carrying out science projects in the harshest of conditions in the Polar Regions. This inspires their own teaching, that of their colleagues, and encourages their students to study science and geography; leading to the publication of teaching resources available free to all." It is named for Peter's father, Sir Vivian Fuchs, leader of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1956-58 and the first director of the British Antarctic Survey.

Dr Rita Gardner CBE (Director and Secretary, Royal Geographical Society with IBG)

Rita Gardner leads the Society which Sir Clements Markham was so closely associated with over so many years. She was appointed Director in 1996. Prior to joining the Society, she had an academic career as a geomorphologist in London University, first as Lecturer in Geography at King's College (1979-1994) and then as Reader and Head of the Environmental Science Unit at Queen Mary & Westfield College (1994-1996). Her field research centred on understanding natural and human-induced environmental changes in the late Quaternary and present day, largely in South Asia and the Middle East. From 1990 to 1998 she was Director of two major field research programmes in the Middle Hills of Nepal. She has written and edited four books and over 50 academic papers. She was educated at University College London (BSc) and the University of Oxford (D Phil), and is the holder of the Busk Medal for her work in geomorphology.

Dr J.S. Toby Garfit (Vice-President, Magdalen College, University of Oxford)

Toby Garfitt is a Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College where he also serves as Vice President as well as Chairman of Magdalen College Trust. His field is French language and literature. He is a distant relation of Sir Clements Markham.

Robert K. Headland (Institute Associate, Scott Polar Reseach Institute)

Bob Headland is well known in the polar community, both north and south. Arguably the world's most knowledgeable polar authority, he was for many years the Archivist and the museum curator at Scott Polar Research Insitute. He is the author of numerous papers and several books including his monumental A Chronology of Antarctic Exploration. He lectures freqently including on tourist ships in both the Arctic and Antarctic. He has served on the Council of the Hakluyt Society.

Dr John Hemming CMG (Former Director and Secretary, Royal Geographical Society)

John Hemming was Director and Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society for 21 years from 1975 to 1996 and previously on its Council. He is one of the world's experts on Brazilian Indians, the Amazon environment, the Incas, Peruvian archaeology, The Royal Geographical Society, and the history of exploration generally. He is also Joint Chairman of Hemming Group Ltd., a company that publishes trade magazines and organises trade exhibitions and conferences.

Meredith Hooper (UK Trustee, International Polar Foundation)

Meredith Hooper is a science writer and author of non-fiction books specialising in Antarctic science, natural history and exploration history. She has been a visiting scholar at the Scott Polar Research Institute, and has travelled three times to the Antarctic with the US and Australian Antarctic Artists and Writers programs. She has been a juror for the BAS Artists and Writers program, and was awarded the Antarctic Service Medal by the US Congress.
The International Polar Foundation, of which Meredith is a Trustee, communicates and educates on polar science and polar research as a way to understand key environmental and climate mechanisms.

Charles H. Lagerbom (President, The Antarctican Society)

Charles Lagerbom spent two field seasons in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica in the early 1990s as part of a Quaternary Institute glacial geology team from the University of Maine. A high school history teacher, he is an an avid collector of polar books. In addition to being the President of The Antarctican Society, he is Membership Chair of the American Polar Society. He is the author of The Fifth Man a biography of H.R. 'Birdie' Bowers, who died with Scott.

Freddy Markham FRGS (Cumbria)

Freddy Markham is a descendant of Sir Clements Markham and has a keen interest in polar exploration.

Dr James J. McCarthy (Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University)

James J. McCarthy is Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvawrd University and from 1982 until 2002 was also the Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He holds faculty appointments in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and he is the Head Tutor for degrees in Environmental Science and Public Policy. His research interests relate to the regulation of plankton productivity in the sea, and in recent years have focused on regions that are strongly affected by seasonal and inter-annual variation in climate. He was involved in two of the recent international assessments on climate impacts, and served as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group II, which had responsibilities for assessing impacts of and vulnerabilities to global climate change for the Third IPCC Assessment (2001) and which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He is Past President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
He is also an ardent collector of polar books and a frequent travellers to both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Michael Palin CBE (President, Royal Geographical Society with IBG)

Michael Palin currently serves as President of the Royal Geographical Society, a post his predecessor—Sir Clements Markham—held for twelve years. He is best known for his many travel documentaries (Around the World in 80 Days; Pole to Pole; Full Circle,? etc.) and, of course, as a member of Monty Python.

Professor Will Ryan (President, The Hakluyt Society)

Will Ryan serves as President of the Hakluyt Society, a post his predecessor—Sir Clements Markham—held for twenty years.
Founded in 1846, the Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material. Sir Clements edited or translated 25 Society titles.

Lt Cmdr Julian Salisbury (Chairman, Captain Scott Society)

Julian Salisbury is a retired Royal Navy officer and serves as Chairman of the Society which was established in Cardiff to commemorate the association of the City with Scott's Last Expedition and to encourage the Spirit of Adventure that he inspired. Its Presidents have included Sir Vivian Fuchs, Sir Peter Scott and, today, Professor Robert Swan OBE.

Dafila Scott (Cambridgeshire)

Dafila Scott initially trained and worked as a zoologist, but then turned to art and now works as a painter. She is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists. Her work features animals, figures and landscape encountered on travels and in the fenland near Cambridge, where she lives. She is especially interested in the conservation of biodiversity.

Falcon Scott (Argyll)

Falcon Scott is the son of Sir Peter Scott and the grandson of Robert Falcon Scott. He and his wife, Jane, and family run a holiday lodge on the Island of Buidhe in Argyll, Scotland. He maintains a longtime interest in the Antarctic and his grandfather's expeditions.

The Earl of Selborne KBE FRS (Past President, Royal Geographical Society)

Lord Selborne served as President of the Royal Geographical Society and as such is a successor to Sir Clements Markham who held that position for twelve years. He is presently an Honorary Vice President of the Society. He is also chancellor of Southampton University, chair of the board of trustees for the Royal Botanic Gardens, director of Blackmoor Estate Ltd, and a former member of the House of Lords science and technology committee. He is also a Trustee of Gilbert White's House and the Oates Museum in Selborne, the latter focusing on L.E.G. Oates who died on the return from the Pole with Scott.

Dr Ann Savours Shirley (Kent)

Ann Savours Shirley has had a long and distinguised career as a polar historian during which she has been associated with the National Maritime Museum and Scott Polar Research Institute. She is a member of Council of the Hakluyt Society. She is likely the most knowledgeable person on the life and accomplishments of Sir Clements Markham and has written and frequently spoken about him. She is the author of many articles and books including Voyages of the Discovery, Scott's Last Voyage, The Search for the Northwest Passage, and most recently was a co-author/editor of Four Travel Journals: The Americas, Antarctica and Africa, 1775-1874, published by the Hakluyt Society.

Jonathan Shackleton FRGS (Co. Cavan)

Jonathan Shackleton is a cousin of the explorer and is the historian of the Irish branch of the family. He has lectured widely on his ancestor and the Antarctic, often on tourist voyages to the Peninsula and the Weddell and Ross Seas. He is author of Shackleton: An Irishman in Antarctica and The Shackletons of Ballitore (1580-1987). He and his wife, Daphne, manage their organic farm in Mullagh.

Judy Skelton (London)

Judy Skelton is the granddaughter of Sir Reginald Skelton who served with Captain Scott on the Discovery expedition. She has a keen interest in Antarctic matters and authored (along with David Wilson) Discovery Illustrated; Pictures from Captain Scott's First Antarctic Expedition, which appeared in 2001, and The Antarctic Journals of Reginald Skelton, "Another Little Job for the Tinker", 2004.

Nicola Starks (Gloucestershire)

Nicola Starks is the daughter of Sir Peter Scott and the granddaughter of Robert Falcon Scott.

Will Steger (President and Founder, Will Steger Foundation)

Will Steger is an authority on the Polar Regions, including their environmental issues, and is an eyewitness to the effects of global warming. He has spent more than 45 years traveling through the Arctic regions, advocating for the Earth's preservation and advising about permanent solutions to our climate crisis. He established the Will Steger Foundation to promote change through education and advocacy, and to foster international leadership and cooperation through environmental education and policy.
Among his most significant expeditions: First dogsled journey to the North Pole without re-supply (1986); First International Trans-Antarctica dogsled expedition (1989-90); First dogsled traverse to Arctic Ocean in one season from Russia to Canada via North Pole (1995).

Dr Charles Swithinbank FRGS (Emeritus Associate, Scott Polar Resarch Institute)

Charles Swithinbank is a glaciologist with a long and distinguished career with, in particular, the University of Michigan, Scott Polar Research Institute and the British Antarctic Survey. He was a member of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1949-55) and is the recipient of many honours and awards.
His memoirs have appeared in recent years in four separately published volumes: An Alien in Antarctica (1997); Forty Years on Ice (1998); Foothold on Antarctica (1999) and Vodka on Ice; A Year with the Russians in Antarctica (2002).

Frank Taaffe & Seamus Taaffe (Organizers, annual Shackleton Autumn School, Athy Co. Kildare)

Father and son solicitors, Frank and Seamus Taaffe, live and work in Athy not far from where Sir Ernest Shackleton was born. They organize, for the Bank Holiday weekend in October, the Shackleton Autumn School which brings enthusiasts to Athy from around Ireland, the UK, the US and Europe to perhaps the most enjoyable polar gathering of all. They are now in the process of planning for the 10th Autumn School. Both are keen book collectors with Seamus specializing in the poalr regions.

Nigel Watson (Executive Director, NZ Antarctic Heritage Trust)

Nigel Watson has been the Executive Director of the NZ Antarctic Heritage Trust since 2000. The Trust cares for the expedition bases left by Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Carsten Borchgrevink in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica. Nigel has a background in mountaineering and skiing. He has spent the last decade leading or participating annually in expeditions to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica primarily to work or promote the work at the historic sites. He has a passion for the history of Antarctica and its conservation. A frequent guest lecturer in Antarctic history, he has contributed to books, articles and state of environmental reports on Antarctica.

Dr Edward L. Widmer (Director and Librarian, The John Carter Brown Library; President, American Friends of The Hakluyt Society)

Edward Widmer has been Director and Librarian of the prestigious John Carter Brown Library since 2006. It holds one of the worlds leading collections of books, maps, and manuscripts relating to the colonial period of the Americas, North and South, from 1492 to ca. 1825. It also offers fellowships, sponsors lectures and conferences, regularly mounts exhibitions for the public, and publishes catalogues, bibliographies, facsimiles, and other works that interpret the library's holdings.
He is also leads the American Friends of The Hakluyt Society which exists as a non-profit corporation to promote and to help provide financial support from the United States for the publication of scholarly editions of records of voyages, travels and other geographical material of the past, and to cooperate with other organizations having similar objectives, in particular, the Hakluyt Society in London.

Dr David M. Wilson (Folkestone)

David Wilson is the grandnephew of Dr Edward A. Wilson of the Discovery and Terra Nova expedtions. He speaks frequently on Antarctic matters, is the past Chairman of The Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute and is presently very involved in events associated with the centenary of Captain Scott's Last Expedition. He is the author of numerous publications including (with D.B. Elder) Cheltenham in Antarctica; The life of Edward Wilson (2000); (with Judy Skelton) Discovery Illustrated; Pictures from Captain Scott's First Antarctic Expedition (2001); (with C.J. Wilson) Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks (2004); and Nimrod Illustrated; Pictures from Lieutenant Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition (2009).