Henry Worsley (explorer)

Henry Worsley
Worsley in July 2010
Born	Alastair Edward Henry Worsley (1960-10-04)4 October 1960 London, England, United Kingdom
Died	24 January 2016(2016-01-24) (aged 55) Punta Arenas, Chile
Cause of death	Multiple organ failure
Military career
Nickname(s)	"Curly Wurly"[1]
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1980–2015
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Service number	509600
Commands held	2nd Royal Green Jackets
Relations	General Sir Richard Worsley (father) Caroline, Lady Worsley (stepmother) A. E. Worsley (great uncle) C. E. A. Worsley (great uncle)

Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Edward Henry Worsley^[2] MBE (4 October 1960 – 24 January 2016) was a British explorer and British Army officer. He was part of the successful 2009 expedition that retraced Ernest Shackleton's footsteps in the Antarctic.

He died in 2016 while attempting to complete the first solo and unaided crossing of the Antarctic.

Early life and education

Henry Worsley was born on 4 October 1960 at the Garrett Anderson Maternity Home, 40 Belsize Grove, London, England.^[3][4] He was the only son of General Sir Richard Worsley GCB OBE (1923–2013) and his first wife, Sarah Anne "Sally", eldest daughter of Brigadier J. A. H. Mitchell, of the British Embassy, Paris.^[5][6] It has been stated, without clear evidence, that he was distantly related to Frank Worsley, the captain of explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance.^[7] From childhood had a strong interest in the Antarctic explorers of the early twentieth century.^[8]

Worsley was educated at Selwyn House, an independent prep school, and at Stowe School, then an all-boys independent senior school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. A keen sportsman, he captained the school cricket team while at Stowe. He did not attend university, and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after completing school to train as an army officer.^[1]

Military career

Worsley was a soldier in the British Army for 36 years. He served with the Royal Green Jackets and later The Rifles.^[8] In 1988, he passed the Special Air Service (SAS) selection course and served in 22 SAS Regiment.^[1] He was Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Green Jackets from 2000 to 2002,^[1][6] and commanded the 2001 British military operation in Afghanistan, known as "Operation Veritas".^[9] He also served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo.^[8] His final tour before retirement was as a Special Operations Officer based in the The Pentagon, liaising on behalf of the British Army with United States special operations forces.^[1]

On 12 April 1980, Worsley was commissioned in the Royal Green Jackets, British Army, as a second lieutenant.^[10] He was promoted to lieutenant on 12 April 1982,^[11] to captain on 12 October 1986,^[12] to major on 30 September 1992 (having attended Staff College),^[13] and to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2000.^[14] He retired from the army on 4 October 2015.^[8][15]

On 12 October 1993, Worsley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "in recognition of distinguished service in Northern Ireland".^[16] On 19 April 2002, he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the former Yugoslavia during the period 1st April 2001 to 30th September 2001".^[17]

Antarctic expeditions

In 2008, he led an expedition to pioneer a route through the Transantarctic Mountains, reaching a point 157 kilometres (98 mi) from the South Pole. The expedition commemorated the centenary of Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition. He returned to the Antrctic in 2011, leading a team of six in retracing Roald Amundsen's successful 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) journey in 1912 to the South Pole, marking its centenary. In completing the route, he became the first person to have successfully undertaken all three of the routes taken by Shackleton, Amundsen, and Robert Falcon Scott.^[8]

Final expedition

Henry Worsley's intention was to follow in the spirit of his hero, Shackleton, and before starting the trip raised over £100,000 for the Endeavour Fund, set up to assist injured servicemen and women.^[18] The patron of the expedition was Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.^[19] In contrast to the 1997 solo crossing by Børge Ousland, Worsley travelled without a kite to help pull his 150 kilogram sledge.^[8][20]

Worsley arrived at his starting point, Berkner Island, on 13 November 2015^[21] with the aim of completing his journey in 80 days.^[20] He covered 913 miles (1,469 km) in 69 days, and had only 30 miles (48 km) to go. However, he had to spend days 70 and 71 in his tent suffering from exhaustion and severe dehydration.^[22] Eventually he radioed for help and was airlifted to Punta Arenas, Chile. He was diagnosed with bacterial peritonitis. On 24 January 2016, he died of organ failure following surgery at the Clinica Magallanes in Punta Arenas.^[8][22] He was 55 years old.^[22]

Family

Worsley lived in Fulham, London. On 20 February 1993, he married Joanna, the daughter of Andrew Stainton, at St. Mary's Church, Chilham, Canterbury, Kent.^[23] Together, they had two children; a son, Max, and daughter, Alicia.^[1][22]

Reception

Tina Jackson, meeting Worsley and other members of the 2009 expedition that went to the Antarctic "In Shackleton's Footsteps", notes in The Guardian that Worsley called the task of forming the team "gene-pool selection", the other members also being descendants of members of the earlier expedition.^[24]

Works

• Worsley, Henry (2011). In Shackleton's footsteps: a return to the heart of the Antarctic. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1905264933. 

References

External links

• Official expedition site
• Henry Worsley at the Internet Movie Database