Thomas Orde-Lees

{{Short description|British explorer and military officer (1877–1958)}} {{more citations needed|date=July 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox person |honorific_prefix= [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] |name= Thomas Orde-Lees |honorific_suffix= [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|AFC]] |other_names= Colonel, Old Lady, Belly Burglar, Man of Action<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage]]|edition=2nd|author=Alfred Lansing|isbn=9780753809877|date=1 May 2000|publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers|page=76}}</ref> |image= Orde-lees.jpg |image_size=200px |birth_date= {{birth date|1877|5|23|df=y}} |birth_place= [[Aachen]], [[Rhine Province]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]] |death_date= {{death date and age|1958|12|1|1877|5|23|df=y}} |death_place=[[Wellington]], New Zealand |occupation= [[Exploration|Explorer]] |spouse= {{plainlist| * Rene * Hisako Hoya }} |module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}} |branch={{navy|United Kingdom}} {{army|United Kingdom}} |service_years=1895–1919 |rank= [[File:World_War_I_British_Army_major's_rank_insignia_(sleeve,_general_pattern).png|45px]] [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] |unit= |commands= |battles=[[Boxer Rebellion]] [[First World War]] |awards=[[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|AFC]] |relations= }} }}

[[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] '''Thomas Hans Orde-Lees''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|AFC]] (23 May 1877 – 1 December 1958) was a member of Sir [[Ernest Shackleton]]'s [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] of 1914–1917, a pioneer in the field of [[parachuting]], and was one of the first non-Japanese-born men known to have climbed [[Mount Fuji]] during the winter.

==Early life==

Thomas Hans Orde-Lees was born on 23 May 1877, officially during his parents' holiday in [[Aachen]] in what was then [[Prussia]]. In fact he was the illegitimate child of Thomas Orde Hastings Lees, a former [[barrister]] and the [[Chief constable]] of [[Northampton]], and Ada Mary Pattenden (1852–1932), a daughter of the Reverend Canon George Edwin Pattenden, headmaster of [[Boston Grammar School]]. Ada was sent off to Thomas' brother's house in Aachen for the birth.

The Lees family was well off; they lived in the Northampton Chief Constable's house with a number of servants. Thomas the Elder's wife, Grace Lees (née Bateman), agreed to bring up young Thomas as her own. She was made godmother of Ada's nephew Frederick Geoffrey Lees Johnson (1880–1951), an arrangement that provided cover for Grace, Ada and Thomas the Elder to meet up regularly. Ada married Arthur John Coleridge Mackarness, a solicitor, (son of [[John Mackarness|John Fielder Mackarness]], [[Bishop of Oxford]]) in 1890. Following the death of Thomas the Elder in 1924, Grace took up residence with Arthur and Ada Mackarness at Petersfield. Thomas the Younger kept up with his biological mother until her death in 1932.

Orde-Lees was educated at [[Marlborough College]], the [[Burney's Academy|Royal Naval Academy]] at [[Gosport]] (whose headmaster was Ada's brother-in-law, Frederick George Johnson) and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]. He joined the [[Royal Marines]], also serving among British paratroopers on the western front, and was commissioned a [[second lieutenant]] in 1895, with promotion to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 1 July 1896,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26769|page=4694|date=18 August 1896}}</ref> and to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 16 April 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27444 |date=20 June 1902|page=4050}}</ref> In 1900 he was posted to [[China]] and saw action during the [[Boxer Rebellion]].

==Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition== In 1910 Orde-Lees applied for a place on [[Robert Falcon Scott|Scott]]'s [[Terra Nova Expedition]], but was turned down. When [[Ernest Shackleton]] was organizing the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition he decided that he needed a representative from the [[Royal Navy]] in order to get political and military support for the expedition. Orde-Lees as a skier and motor expert fitted the bill, and after Shackleton applied to Churchill for permission, Orde-Lees was released from his military duties and allowed to join the expedition as storekeeper.

On board ship he proved unpopular with the rest of the crew – he had a surly, condescending manner and was undisguisedly lazy. Having been labeled as somewhat of a bully amongst the crew, Shackleton referred to him privately as the "Old Lady" during the expedition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wheeler |first1=Sara |title=Terra Incognita |date=1996 |publisher=Random House Inc. |isbn=0-375-75338-9 |page=86}}</ref> Nevertheless, he proved to be an efficient storekeeper. He had a keen interest in physical fitness and took his bicycle on the expedition; after the ship became trapped in the ice he frequently took cycling trips on the ice. On one occasion, he spent over two hours on his bike outside the ship, and Shackleton was sufficiently worried to send a search party to look for him.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage]]|edition=2nd|author=Alfred Lansing|isbn=9780753809877|date=1 May 2000|publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers|page=77}}</ref> Shackleton ordered him not to leave the ship unaccompanied after he became lost while searching for food, and encountered a fierce [[leopard seal]]. His cries brought second in-command [[Frank Wild]] out of his tent, who shot the leopard seal at a distance of 10 m (30 ft) from Orde-Lees.<ref name=Lansing>{{cite book|title=[[Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage]]|edition=2nd|author=Alfred Lansing|isbn=9780753809877|date=1 May 2000|publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers}}</ref>

When the ''[[Endurance (1912 ship)|Endurance]]'' was crushed by pack ice, Shackleton took the three lifeboats and led the men over the ice to open water where they used the boats to travel to [[Elephant Island]]. Orde-Lees was assigned to the ''Dudley Docker'' under the command of [[Frank Worsley]] but failed to pitch in with the other men when a gale threatened to sink the small craft. Despite orders from Worsley, he climbed into his sleeping bag rather than helping with the rowing, although he immediately undertook strenuous and prolonged bailing duty when it looked as if the boat was going to sink.<ref name=Lansing/>

Once the boats had arrived at Elephant Island, Shackleton and five men set out for [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands#South Georgia group|South Georgia]] in the ''[[Voyage of the James Caird|James Caird]]'' to fetch help. The remaining men, including Orde-Lees, were to spend months living in the remaining two boats, overturned and reinforced with stones and lit by blubber lamps. They were finally rescued on 30 August 1916. For his part in the expedition Orde-Lees received the Silver [[Polar Medal]].

==After the expedition==

===Parachutist=== On Orde-Lees' return to England, World War I was raging. By now an honorary major, Orde-Lees returned to active service with the Royal Marines on 12 November 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29835|page=11409|date=24 November 1916}}</ref><ref>{{Lives of WWI | id= 6904570 | name= Thomas Orde Hans Lees }}</ref> After serving on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in the [[No. 1 Squadron RAF|Balloon Corps]], Orde-Lees, with the assistance of Shackleton, secured a place in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] on 1 August 1917 where he became an enthusiastic advocate for the use of [[parachute]]s.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30216|page=7915|date=3 August 1917}}</ref> He jumped from [[Tower Bridge]] into the [[River Thames]] to prove their effectiveness<ref name=ant2005>[http://www.antarctic.org.nz/pdf/Antarctic/Antarctic.V23.4.2005.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121220349/http://antarctic.org.nz/pdf/Antarctic/Antarctic.V23.4.2005.pdf |date=21 January 2016 }}, page 68, "The Journal of the [[New Zealand Antarctic Society]]" Vol 23, No. 4, 2005</ref> and a Parachute Committee was formed with Orde-Lees as secretary to investigate the use of parachutes for pilots.<ref name=ant2005/><ref>[http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-37-Seminar-Flight%20Safety.pdf "ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL, #37"], 2006, Page 28</ref> He was awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]] in the [[1919 New Year Honours]] list,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31098|supp=y|page=97|date=31 December 1918}}</ref> and was appointed an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) on 10 October.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31592|supp=y|page=12526|date=7 October 1919}}</ref> After the war, however, Orde-Lees resigned his commission on 25 April 1919<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31327|page=5652|date=6 May 1919}}</ref> (reportedly rather than facing a [[Court-martial|Court Martial]] after his involvement with a parachuting course for women sponsored by the ''[[Daily Mail]]'') and moved to Japan where he taught parachuting techniques to the [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force|Japanese Air Force]].

===Japan: Mount Fuji=== In Japan, Orde-Lees is best known for his winter climbs on Mount Fuji. After an unsuccessful attempt in January 1922, Orde-Lees and a climbing companion, H.S. Crisp, successfully summited the iconic [[stratovolcano]] on 12 February 1922.<ref name="Mountains">{{cite web |url=http://onehundredmountains.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html |title=One Hundred Mountains: On and Around Fukada Kyūya's Nihon Hyakumeizan |work=One Hundred Mountains |date=6 November 2009 |access-date=3 October 2010 }}</ref> After his parachute-training duties ceased, Orde-Lees continued to live in [[Tokyo]]. He worked for a time as a correspondent for ''[[The Times]]'', which led to an appointment at the British Embassy. His first wife having died, he remarried to a local Japanese woman, Hisako Hoya. He spent almost 20 years teaching English and reading the English news on Japanese Radio.

===New Zealand=== When Japan entered [[World War II]] in 1941, Orde-Lees, as a resident alien and citizen of a hostile power, was allowed to leave with his family; they moved to [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]]. There he took a menial job at the New Zealand Correspondence School, although there were rumours that he was working as a [[Espionage|spy]] for the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British Government]]. After the war he wrote a regular children's travel column in the [[Southern Cross Newspaper]] and helped organise the [[Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition]].

He died on 1 December 1958 after being confined to a mental hospital due to his [[dementia]]. He is buried in [[Karori Cemetery]], Wellington, close to fellow ''Endurance'' crew member, [[Harry McNish]].

==Legacy== In the 2002 television film, ''[[Shackleton (2002 TV series)|Shackleton]]'', Orde-Lees is portrayed by actor [[Nicholas Rowe (actor)|Nicholas Rowe]].

Orde-Lees is part of a series of stamps that were issued by the [[British Antarctic Territory]] and the government of the South Georgia & The South Sandwich Islands. The set of stamps commemorate the centenary of the end of [[World War I]], as well as the role of Shackleton's men played in contributing to the war effort.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Stamp Release 'Centenary of the End of World War I – Shackleton's Men |url=http://www.gov.gs/new-stamp-release-centenary-of-the-end-of-world-war-i-shackletons-men/ |website=Government of South Georgia & The South Sandwich Islands |access-date=2 May 2020 |date=11 April 2018}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/2266 The Diary of Thomas Orde-Lees from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–1917)] at Dartmouth College Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orde-Lees, Thomas}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1958 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century British explorers]] [[Category:British military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion]] [[Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War I]] [[Category:British skydivers]] [[Category:Burials at Karori Cemetery]] [[Category:British explorers of Antarctica]] [[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]] [[Category:Personnel of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]] [[Category:Royal Marines officers]] [[Category:People educated at Marlborough College]]