Dr Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey

Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey was born ca. 1893 in London. He was educated at London University and accompanied a scientific expedition to the Sudan before joining the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition [Weddell Sea Party], 1914-1916 (leader Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton), as meteorologist.

After Endurance was crushed in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea, the crew lived for six months on drifting ice until this broke up northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Proceeding in three open boats, the party of twenty-eight men reached Elephant Island on 15 April 1916. Hussey and his companions were eventually rescued from Elephant Island on 30 August 1916. Hussey's banjo-playing and jovial character proved crucial in helping to maintain the morale of his fellow crewmen during the expedition.

On his return to Britain, Hussey was commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery, serving in France and with Shackleton in North Russia during the First World War. He qualified in medicine in time to join the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition, 1921-1922. On Shackleton's death in January 1922 in South Georgia, Hussey volunteered to accompany the body back to England, but at Montevideo, he received a message from Emily Shackleton requesting her husband's burial in South Georgia.

Hussey practised in London until 1940 when he became a Royal Air Force medical officer, receiving an OBE (Military) in 1946. After the war, he took up medical practice in Hertfordshire and also, for a period, served as ship's surgeon. His book South with Shackleton was published in 1949. He died on 26 February 1965.

Published work, South with Shackleton by Leonard D.A. Hussey, Sampson Low, London (1949) SPRI Library Shelf (7)91(08)[1914-1916 Shackleton]

From the guide to the Dr Leonard Hussey collection, 1914-1950, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)