Leonard Hussey

{{Short description|British explorer (1891–1964)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{For|the twentieth century Marxist who wrote under this name|Brian Pearce}} {{Infobox person | name = Leonard Hussey [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] | image = Leonard Hussey.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1891|05|06|df=yes}} | birth_name = Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey | birth_place = [[Leytonstone]], [[London]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|1964|2|25|1891|05|06|df=yes}} | death_place = [[King's College Hospital]], London, England | education = [[University of London]] | occupation = [[Explorer]], [[meteorologist]], [[Physician|doctor]] | spouse = Grace Muriel Hellstrom | module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}} |branch= {{army|United Kingdom}} {{air force|United Kingdom}} |service_years= 1912-1919 1940-1954 |rank= [[File:UK-Air-OF3.svg|45px]] [[Squadron leader]] |unit= |commands= |battles=[[First World War]] [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Russian Civil War]] [[Second World War]] |awards=Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) [[Mentioned in Despatches|MID]] (2) |relations= }} }} '''Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (6 May 1891 – 25 February 1964) was an English [[meteorologist]], [[archaeologist]], [[explorer]], [[medical doctor]] and member of [[Ernest Shackleton]]'s [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition|Imperial Trans-Antarctic]] and [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]]s. During the latter, he was with Shackleton at his death, and transported the body part-way back to England.

Hussey was also a member of the [[British armed forces|armed forces]] during [[World War I]], serving in [[France]] and with Shackleton in [[Russia]]. After returning to private practice, Hussey rejoined the war effort in 1940 and became a decorated medical officer with the [[Royal Air Force]] during the [[Second World War]]. Returning once again to civilian practice in 1946, he was a member of the [[Royal College of Physicians]], a lecturer, [[author]], and [[The Scout Association|Boy Scouts]] leader prior to retirement. Many of the items he collected during his career were donated to a number of museums.

==Early life==

Hussey was born to James Hussey and Eliza Hussey ([[née]] Aitken) in Norman House, Norman Road in Leytonestone, in London. His father was a machine operator in the stationery printing industry .<ref name="cool" /> By 1900, the family resided at 342 Kingsland Road in Leytonestone. Leonard Hussey had eight siblings in total;<ref name="cool">{{cite web|url=http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/biography/hussey_leonard.htm|time = (1891–1964) – Biographical notes|publisher=Cool Antarctica|accessdate=7 April 2009|year = 1891|title = Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey (1891-1964) - Biographical notes}}</ref> three brothers, James, William and Percy and five sisters, Maude, Beatrice, May, Blanche and Daisy.<ref name="endbio">{{cite web|url=http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/TopicalFactfiles/EnduranceObituaries/LeonardHussey/tabid/124/Default.aspx |title=Leonard Duncan Albert hussey – Biography |publisher=Endurance Project |accessdate=15 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205083605/http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/TopicalFactfiles/EnduranceObituaries/LeonardHussey/tabid/124/Default.aspx |archivedate=5 February 2008 }}</ref>

Hussey attended [[Strand School]] and Hackney P.T. Centre.<ref name="obit">{{cite web|url=http://www.enduranceobituaries.co.uk/hussey.htm|title=The Endurance Obituaries – Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey|author=J. F. Mann|accessdate=20 July 2011|archive-date=20 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320101433/http://www.enduranceobituaries.co.uk/hussey.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 6 October 1909, Hussey entered the [[University of London]], taking as course in [[psychology]] and gaining a [[Bachelor of Science]] second class at [[King's College London]], as well as degrees in meteorology and [[anthropology]].<ref name="cool" /><ref name="obit" />

==Career==

===Sudan and Shackleton=== [[File:South - the story of Shackleton's last expedition, 1914-1917 - The Leader (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|"He called for me, looked me up and down, walked up and down when he was talking to me, didn't seem to take any notice. Finally he said, 'Yes, I like you, I'll take you.' He told me afterwards he took me because he thought I looked funny!" – Hussey on his acceptance by Shackleton (pictured) for his Antarctic expedition.<ref name="obit"/>]]

From 1913, Hussey had undertaken employment as an anthropologist and [[archaeologist]] at a dig in [[Jebel Moya]],<ref name="h402">Huntford, p. 402.</ref> [[Sudan]] as part of [[Henry Wellcome]]'s Expedition.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackletonexped/1914/t_hussey.html|title=Leonard Hussey – Meteorologist|publisher=PBS|accessdate=7 April 2009}}</ref> Alongside [[O. G. S. Crawford]], Hussey worked on a monthly pay of £8.<ref name="obit" /> While in the Sudan, he read in a month-old newspaper about Shackleton's intention to embark on an Antarctic Expedition, and 'The idea gripped me'. He wrote to Shackleton expressing his interest in joining the project.<ref name="obit" /> Shackleton replied telling Hussey to call on him when he returned to London. 'My luck in this respect was later explained to me by Shackleton, who said he was greatly amused to find amongst nearly five thousand applications to join the expedition, one that came from the heart of Africa.'<ref name="Hussey">{{cite book|last=Hussey|first=Dr L. D. A. |title=South with Shackleton|publisher=Sampson Low|location=London|year=1949}}</ref> Shackleton agreed to select him for the expedition, later telling him that he did so because he "looked funny".<ref name="obit"/><ref name="Hussey"/>

===Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–17=== {{main|Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}} [[File:Hussey-left,-james-right.jpg|thumb|right| Reginald James, sitting on the left, working during the expedition. He is examining a [[Dimes anemometer|Dines anemometer]] while Leonard Hussey works on the right.<ref name="cool"/>]] Hussey joined the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917's Weddell Sea party as a meteorologist,<ref name="s136">Stonehouse, p. 136.</ref><ref name="Hussey"/> keeping a leather-bound diary of the entire expedition.<ref name="endbio"/> He was a popular member of the group due to his humour and perpetual playing of his five-string [[banjo]],<ref>Kimmel, p. 33.</ref><ref name=banjo>{{cite web|url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/6273.html|work=[[Royal Museums Greenwich]]|title=Banjo belonging to Dr Leonard Hussey|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> in company with Dr. [[James McIlroy (surgeon)|James McIlroy]]'s imitations of the [[trombone]] and [[bagpipe]]s.<ref name="endbio"/> [[Frank Worsley]] stated "Hussey was a brilliant wit, and his keen repartee was one of the few joys left to us. Often we would combine to provoke him just for the pleasure of hearing his clever retorts and invariably he would emerge the victor, no matter how many of us tried to best him."<ref>Perkins, Holtman, Kessler and McCarthy, p. 119.</ref> On 22 June 1915, Hussey and the crew staged a four-hour "smoking concert" and costume party, during which Hussey dressed as a black [[minstrel]].<ref name="cornwall">{{cite web|url=http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=Collections&type=&id=191&choiceid=90|title=Leonard Hussey's banjo|publisher=National Maritime Museum Cornwall|accessdate=15 April 2009|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716223118/http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=Collections&type=&id=191&choiceid=90|url-status=dead}}</ref> Roland Huntford recorded in ''Shackleton'' of Hussey's tendency to be "determinedly cheery to the point of egregiousness".<ref name="h402"/>

The instrument, weighing twelve pounds, was rescued from the wreck of the ''[[Endurance (1912 ship)|Endurance]]'' as "vital mental medicine" by Shackleton, who made an exception of his instructions that each person could take only 2 pounds in weight of personal belongings, so that it could be saved.<ref name="Hussey"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/blog/leonard-hussey-s-banjo-brain-food|work=Oceanwide Expositions|title=Leonard Hussey's Banjo: brain food|first=Dale|last=Jacobsen|access-date=14 May 2021}}</ref> On 24 April 1916, while Shackleton took five other men from camp on South Georgia on the ''James Caird'' to find help, Hussey was one of the 22 men left behind on [[Elephant Island]] to await rescue, and continued to use his banjo to improve morale.<ref name="cornbanjo">{{cite web|url=http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=News_Centre&pagefrom=News_Archive&sort=&select=&newsid=67&newstyle=print|title=90th anniversary of Shackleton's rescue bid celebrated with installation of famous banjo|publisher=National Maritime Museum Cornwall|accessdate=15 April 2009|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716223205/http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?page=News_Centre&pagefrom=News_Archive&sort=&select=&newsid=67&newstyle=print|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===World War I=== Hussey initially joined the London University contingent of the [[Officers' Training Corps]], and was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in the cadets on 13 November 1912.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28662|page=8288|date=12 November 1912}}</ref> Hussey progressed to the full armed forces in the later years of the First World War,<ref name="s136"/> and was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in the [[Royal Garrison Artillery]] on 19 January 1917,<ref name="endbio"/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29908|supp=y|page=733|date=16 January 1917}}</ref> serving in France, as well as operating with Shackleton on operations at [[Murmansk]] in northern Russia as part of the [[Polar Bear Expedition]].<ref name="endbio"/><ref name= Huntford661>Huntford, p. 661.</ref> He was promoted to temporary lieutenant on 19 July 1918,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30851|supp=y|page=9678|date=16 August 1918}}</ref> and to the temporary rank of captain on 8 October.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30956|supp=y|page=12222|date=15 October 1918}}</ref> Hussey was demobilised on 14 May 1919, retaining the rank of captain.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32266|supp=y|page=2371|date=22 March 1921}}</ref>

===Shackleton–Rowett Antarctic Expedition 1921–22=== {{main|Shackleton–Rowett Expedition}} {{Quote box | quote = The vagaries of the climate quite bewilder Hussey. For just when he thinks it is going to do one thing the precise opposite happens.<ref name="pbs"/> | source = [[Thomas Orde-Lees]] on Hussey in the Antarctic | width = 35% | align = right }} Following the end of World War I, Hussey qualified in medicine and returned to Shackleton for his expedition to Antarctica aboard the ''[[Quest (ship)|Quest]]'' in 1921–22.<ref name="s136"/><ref name="Hussey"/>

Hussey was asked by [[Frank Wild]], following Shackleton's death in harbour in [[South Georgia Island|South Georgia]], to escort the body to England while Wild himself assumed command of the ''Quest''. Hussey arrived in [[South America]] and [[Submarine telecommunications cable|cabled]] England with news of the explorer's passing. Shackleton's widow responded that the explorer should be buried at [[Grytviken]] in [[South Georgia Island|South Georgia]], and Hussey carried out these instructions.<ref>Johnson, p. 102.</ref><ref name="Hussey"/>

===Medical career in London===

Following his return to England, Hussey practised medicine in London until 1940.<ref name="s136"/> He had become a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, while residing at 328 Clapham Road, in London.<ref name="endbio"/>

===World War II=== Hussey joined the RAF as a medical officer during the Second World War, with the rank of [[flight lieutenant]] and the serial number 87314.<ref name="s136"/><ref name="gaz1">{{London Gazette|issue=34996|supp=y|page=6642|date=19 November 1940}}</ref> He served in [[Iceland]] as First Senior Medical Officer in the temporary rank of [[squadron leader]], to which he was promoted on 1 July 1943 and then at [[RAF Benson]] in Oxfordshire.<ref name="endbio"/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36092|supp=y|page=3211|date=13 July 1943}}</ref> He was [[Mentioned in Despatches]] on two occasions in 1945, on 1 January and 14 May.<ref name="obit"/> Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 New Year Honours,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37407|supp=y|page=38|date=28 December 1945}}</ref> Hussey retained his links to the RAF for a time after the end of the war, serving in the [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]] as a squadron leader, until his retirement on 10 February 1954.<ref>Ingersoll, p. 22.</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40226|supp=y|page=4018|date=6 July 1954}}</ref>

===Later career=== Following the end of the war, Hussey resumed his medical practice,<ref name="s136"/> operating as a GP in [[Hertfordshire]] up until 1957.<ref name="endbio"/> He was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[1946 New Year Honours]] for his war service,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37407|page=38|date=28 December 1945}}</ref> and in 1949 he served on the SS ''Clan Macauley'' as a ship's surgeon, sailing from England to [[South Africa]] and [[Australia]]. Hussey was involved in the re-formation of the London Banjo Club and served for several years as president despite often being abroad for his work as ship's surgeon. He also published his account of the Trans-Antarctic expedition entitled ''South with Endurance''.<ref name="obit"/> By 1957, having retired from his practice, Hussey became President of the Antarctic Club.<ref name="endbio"/> A Shackleton-Hussey trophy was created and awarded by Hussey to several scout movements from the 1960s, including the Chorleywood Scout pack, of which Hussey was at one time the President of as part of his growing involvement in the [[scout movement]] following his retirement.<ref name="obit"/>

===Death=== In 1960, Hussey retired to [[Ferring]], and was forced to curtail his lecturing career due to poor health. His notes and lantern slides were donated to Ralph Gullett, a local scout leader and friend, who took over his lecturing. His banjo, which he took along with him on expeditions and later had on display at his practice,<ref name="endbio"/> was signed by all the members of ''Endurance'',<ref name=banjo/> and donated to the [[National Maritime Museum]] and was valued in 2004 at over [[£]]150,000.<ref name="obit"/> Hussey died in London in 1964 at the age of 72,<ref>Whitehead, p. 545.</ref> and was survived by his wife, who died in 1980. The couple had no children,<ref name="obit"/> and his estate was passed to his housekeeper, Margaret Mock, until her own death in 1999.<ref name="endbio"/>

==Published works and decorations== Hussey published a number of works throughout his life, including editing the records of both of Shackleton's expeditions,<ref name="cool"/> and a number of articles in partnership with other expedition members.<ref name="endbio"/>

* ''South with Shackleton'' – Hussey's account, published in 1949, of the 1914–1916 expedition.<ref name="Hussey"/><ref name="endbio"/> * ''Scurvy in Polar Regions'' – in ''[[The Lancet]]''

He was also the recipient of a number of decorations for his work in both world wars and as a member of Shackleton's expeditions.

* A Military OBE * [[British War Medal]] * [[Mercantile Marine War Medal]] * [[Victory Medal (United Kingdom)|Victory Medal]] * [[Defence Medal (United Kingdom)|Defence Medal]] * [[War Medal 1939–1945]] with [[Mentioned in Despatches|Oak leaves]] for Mention in Despatches, 1 January and 14 May 1945.<ref name="endbio"/> * Silver [[Polar Medal]] with the Antarctic 1914–16 bar.<ref name="obit"/>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * {{cite book|last=Hussey|first=Dr L. D. A. |title=South with Shackleton|publisher=Sampson Low|location=London|year=1949}} * {{cite book|last=Huntford|first=Roland|title=Shackleton|isbn=978-0-689-11429-8|year= 1986|publisher=Atheneum |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/shackleton00hunt}} * {{cite book|last=Ingersoll|first=Ernest|title=Explorers Journal|publisher=Explorers Club|year=1943}} * {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Rebecca L.|title=Ernest Shackleton: Gripped by the Antarctic|isbn=978-0-87614-920-1|year=2003|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books }} * {{cite book|last=Lansing|first=Alfred|title=Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|location=London|year=2001|isbn=978-0-297-82919-5}} * {{cite book|last=McKernan|first=Victoria|title=Shackleton's Stowaway|publisher=Laurel Leaf|location=London|year=2001|isbn=978-0-440-41984-6}} * {{cite book|last=Perkins|first=Dennies|author2=Margaret Holtman |author3=Paul R. Kessler |author4=Catherine McCarthy |title=Leading at the edge|url=https://archive.org/details/leadingatedgelea00denn|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=AMACOM |isbn=978-0-8144-0543-7}} * {{cite book|last=Stonehouse|first=Bernard|authorlink=Bernard Stonehouse|title=Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans|isbn=978-0-471-98665-2|date=2002-08-16|publisher=Wiley }} * {{cite book|title=South with Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1914–17|editor=Tamiko, Rex|publisher=BCL Press|location=New York|year=2001|isbn=978-0747557197}} * {{cite book|last=Whitehead|first=Edgar|title=East Africa and Rhodesia|publisher=University of Michigan|location=Michigan|year=1964|chapter=Chapter II – Sudan}} * {{cite book|last=Worsley|first=Frank A. |title=Shcakleton's Boat Journey|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=London|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7126-6574-2}}

==Further reading== * [[Frank Worsley|Worsley, Frank A.]]: ''Shackleton's Boat Journey'' W.W. Norton & Company, London 1998 {{ISBN|0-7126-6574-9}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Leonard Hussey}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090106011709/http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/factfiles/obit13.asp Leonard Duncan Albert Hussey – Obituary] from HMS Endurance Tracking Project. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080205083605/http://www.visitandlearn.co.uk/TopicalFactfiles/EnduranceObituaries/LeonardHussey/tabid/124/Default.aspx Leonard Duncan Albert hussey – Biography] from HMS Endurance Tracking Project. * [http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/biography/hussey_leonard.htm Leonard Hussey – Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705181531/http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/biography/hussey_leonard.htm |date=5 July 2008 }} from Cool Antarctica

{{Use British English|date=July 2016}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hussey, Leonard}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1964 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century English explorers]] [[Category:English meteorologists]] [[Category:English anthropologists]] [[Category:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Alumni of King's College London]] [[Category:Personnel of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] [[Category:British explorers of Antarctica]] [[Category:Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration]] [[Category:People from Leytonstone]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Royal Air Force Medical Service officers]] [[Category:British Army personnel of the Russian Civil War]] [[Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Waltham Forest]]