Sir Raymond Edward Priestley

Epithet: Vice-Chancellor Birmingham University

Raymond Edward Priestley was born in 1886. He was educated at Tewkesbury Grammar School and read botany and geology at Bristol University College. He joined the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton) as a geologist. He took part in the sledging programme, working under Professor Edgeworth David of Sydney University, and then continued his studies at Cambridge and Sydney universities.

In 1910, he joined the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913 (leader Robert Falcon Scott), as geologist to the Northern Party. This group left Cape Evans on 5 January 1911 to carry out the exploration of the coast west and south of Cape Adare. The party was to have been brought back by ship to the main base before the winter of 1912 set in, but gales and ice prevented the ship from reaching them. Priestley and five companions wintered in a snow cave on Inexpressible Island on very few rations. On 30 September 1912 they set out on the 200-mile sledge journey to Cape Evans, arriving there on 7 November. Priestley described his experiences on that journey in Antarctic Adventure .

He served with distinction as a signals officer in the Second World War, then returned to Cambridge as Fellow of Clare College to write a history of the Signal Service and complete his Antarctic reports. From Cambridge, he was appointed vice-chancellor of Melbourne University (1935-1938), and vice-chancellor of Birmingham University (1938-1952). Knighted in 1949, he became acting-director of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey from 1955 to 1959, and president of the Royal Geographical Society from 1961 to 1968. He died on 24 June 1972.

Published work, Antarctic adventure, Scott's northern party, with a new foreword by Sir Vivian Fuchs, by Sir Raymond Edward Priestley, C. Hurst & Co. London (1974) SPRI Library Shelf (7) 91(08)[1910-1913 Scott]

Sir Raymond Edward Priestley, 1886-1974; Geologist, Antarctic explorer, university teacher and administrator. After an academic and administrative career at Cambridge University (interrupted between 1907 and 1913 by Antarctic expeditions with Shackleton and Scott, and then by war service), Sir Raymond Priestley became the first salaried Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University. His main concern there was to re-establish adequate funding and community support for the university. Frustrated in his attempts, he accepted the Vice-Chancellorship of University of Birmingham, 1938-1953.

Reference: Deposit information.

For further reading about the University of Birmingham see: Eric Ives, Diane Drummond, Leonard Schwarz The First Civic University: Birmingham 1880-1980 An Introductory History (The University of University of Birmingham Press. 2000).