Famous Explorers from England
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Major Harold William "Bill" Tilman, CBE, DSO, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 ā 1977) was an English mountaineer and explorer, renowned for his Himalayan climbs and sailing voyages.- Age: Dec. at 78 (1898-1977)
- Birthplace: Wallasey, United Kingdom
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- Henry Hudson (c. 1565 ā 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.In 1607 and 1608, Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a rumored Northeast Passage to Cathay (China) via a route above the Arctic Circle. In 1609 he landed in North America and explored the region around the modern New York metropolitan area, looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. He sailed up the Hudson River, which was later named after him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region. Hudson discovered the Hudson Strait and the immense Hudson Bay on his final expedition, while still searching for the Northwest Passage. In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay, Hudson wanted to press on to the west, but most of his crew mutinied. The mutineers cast Hudson, his son, and seven others adrift; the Hudsons and their companions were never seen again. Besides being the namesake of numerous geographical features, Hudson is also the namesake of the Hudson's Bay Company that explored and traded in the vast Hudson Bay watershed in the following centuries.
- Birthplace: England
- Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts MVO MBE MC (1916ā1997) was one of the greatest Himalayan mountaineer-explorers of the twentieth century; a highly decorated British Army officer who achieved his greatest renown as "the father of trekking" in Nepal. His exploratory activities are comparable to those of Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman. Born in Gujarat, India on 21st September 1916 to Henry and Helen Roberts, Roberts spent his early life in India, where his father was a headmaster. After attending King's School, Canterbury and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned onto the Unattached List for the Indian Army in August 1936 as a 19-year-old subaltern to satisfy his ardent craving for mountaineering. After a probationary year attached to the 1st Battalion, the East Yorkshire Regiment in India, he was posted to the 1st battalion, 1st (King George V's Own) Gurkha Rifles in November 1937.His first major expedition was the J. Waller-led attempt in 1938 on Masherbrum, 7890 metres, in the Karakorams: the weather was bad, the attempt was unsuccessful and J.B. Harrison and R.A. Hodgkin got severely frostbitten. Roberts himself suffered at high altitude and suffered mild frostbite.He tried to join the post-monsoon 1939 Everest expedition led by Bill Tilman, but the attempt was called off. That year, he recorded the first of his many first ascents, that of Guan Nelda, 6303 metres (now called Chau Chau Kang Nilda) in the Spiti Himalaya. The ascent was remarkable for something which became a Roberts hallmark: he climbed without any other "sahib" for company, accompanied only by his Gurkhas. In this he was the true successor of the legendary Dr. A. M. Kellas who had climbed in the same fashion in Sikkim before 1914. He was selected for the abortive 1940 Everest expedition. The second major first ascent by Roberts was the 1941 climb of the 6431 metres/21,100 peak locally called Dharmsura in the Tos Glacier of Kullu Himalaya. He named it White Sail.
- Age: Dec. at 80 (1916-1997)
- Birthplace: England
John Bicknell Auden
John Bicknell Auden (14 December 1903 ā 21 January 1991) was an English geologist and explorer, older brother of the poet W. H. Auden, who worked for many years in India with the Geological Survey of India and later with the Food and Agriculture Organization. He studied the Himalayan strata, particularly the Krol Belt where he recognized rocks from the Peninsula thrusting north into the Himalayas. He also studied groundwater and was involved in studying the geology of many dam sites in India. Auden's Col is named after him.- Age: Dec. at 87 (1903-1991)
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John Smith (baptized. 6 January 1580 ā 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America in the early 17th century. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony between September 1608 and August 1609, and he led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund BĆ”thory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend MĆ³zes SzĆ©kely. Jamestown was established in 1607, and Smith trained the first settlers to farm and work, thus saving the colony from early devastation. He publicly stated, "He that will not work, shall not eat", alluding to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Harsh weather, lack of food and water, the surrounding swampy wilderness, and Indian attacks almost destroyed the colony. With Smith's leadership, however, Jamestown survived and eventually flourished. Smith was forced to return to England after being injured by an accidental explosion of gunpowder in a canoe. Smith's books and maps were important in encouraging and supporting English colonization of the New World. He named the region of New England and noted: "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land.ā¦ If he have nothing but his hands, he mayā¦ by industries quickly grow rich." Smith died in London in 1631.- Birthplace: Willoughby, United Kingdom
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Sir Martin Frobisher (; c. 1535 ā 22 November 1594) was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada, before entering Frobisher Bay and landing on present-day Baffin Island. On his second voyage, Frobisher found what he thought was gold ore and carried 200 tons of it home on three ships, where initial assaying determined it to be worth a profit of Ā£5.2 per ton. Encouraged, Frobisher returned to Canada with an even larger fleet and dug several mines around Frobisher Bay. He carried 1,350 tons of the ore back to England, where, after years of smelting, it was realised that the ore was comparatively worthless iron pyrite. As an English privateer, he plundered riches from French ships. He was later knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.- Birthplace: Altofts, United Kingdom
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Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 ā 29 March 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery expedition of 1901ā1904 and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910ā1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82Ā°S and discovered the Antarctic Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after Amundsen's South Pole expedition. A planned meeting with supporting dog teams from the base camp failed, despite Scott's written instructions, and at a distance of 150 miles (240 km) from their base camp and 12 miles (19 km) from the next depot, Scott and his companions died. When Scott and his party's bodies were discovered, they had in their possession the first Antarctic fossils ever discovered. The fossils were determined to be from the Glossopteris tree and proved that Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents.Before his appointment to lead the Discovery expedition, Scott had followed the career of a naval officer in the Royal Navy. In 1899, he had a chance encounter with Sir Clements Markham, the president of the Royal Geographical Society, and thus learned of a planned Antarctic expedition, which he soon volunteered to lead. Having taken this step, his name became inseparably associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed during the final 12 years of his life. Following the news of his death, Scott became a celebrated hero, a status reflected by memorials erected across the UK. However, in the last decades of the 20th century, questions were raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have regarded Scott more positively after assessing the temperature drop below ā40 Ā°C (ā40 Ā°F) in March 1912, and after re-discovering Scott's written orders of October 1911, in which he had instructed the dog teams to meet and assist him on the return trip.- Age: Dec. at 43 (1868-1912)
- Birthplace: Plymouth, United Kingdom
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- William Parker Snow (1817ā1895) was a minor Arctic explorer, writer and mariner.
- Age: Dec. at 77 (1817-1895)
- Birthplace: Poole, United Kingdom