Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton was born on 15 July 1911 in London, the son of Ernest and Emily Shackleton. While an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford, he joined the Oxford University Expedition to Sarawak as surveyor in 1932, making the first ascent of Mount Mulu. After graduating, he organized the Oxford University Expedition to Ellesmere Island, 1934-1935 (leader Noel Humphreys), conducting surveys and geological work in the Bache Peninsula area with his colleague Robert Bentham. After the expedition, Shackleton wrote Arctic Journeys, published in 1937, dealing with Canadian Arctic exploration between the wars. On the outbreak of the Second World War, he worked as Ministry of Information talks producer for the BBC, leaving in 1940 to join the RAF as an anti-U-boat planner and intelligence officer, where he rose to the rank of wing commander. He was awarded the OBE in 1945.

In 1946, he was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Preston, a position he held until 1955. In 1958, he was created Life Peer of Burley under the Life Peerages Act of 1958. He served as Minister of Defence for the RAF from 1964 to 1967, returning to the Arctic during an official visit to Canada in 1965. In 1967, he was appointed deputy leader of the House of Lords serving until 1968, when he became leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal, holding both posts until 1970. From 1971 to 1974, he served as president of the Royal Geographical Society and in 1990, was awarded its Special Gold Medal.

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