Francis Graham Balcombe (8 March 1907 – 19 March 2000) was a pioneer of cave diving in the United Kingdom and a founder of the

Cave Diving Group The Cave Diving Group (CDG) is a United Kingdom-based diver training organisation specialising in cave diving. The CDG was founded in 1946 by Graham Balcombe, making it the world's oldest continuing diving club. Graham Balcombe and Jack She ...

together with

Jack Sheppard Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...

Life and career

Balcombe began rock climbing in the English Lake District in the 1920s as a Boy Scout. Balcombe continued his love affair with the Lakeland crags during an early posting to Reading, Berkshire, by joining a mountaineering group which later became the Tricouni Club. Balcombe was one of the most technically gifted rock climbers of the early 1930s, pioneering three Lakes climbing routes (Buttonhook HVS, Engineers Slabs, VS and Central Buttress Direct Finish HVS) that were technically far ahead of their time during a two-week period in 1934. In 1936 Balcombe lead a party of German climbers on a visit to the Lake district in what was to be his last significant contribution to the activity. Balcombe worked for the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

as a telecommunications engineer where he met Jack Sheppard. The pair became rock climbing partners and while based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

became interested in the

caves A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

of the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

, particularly

Swildon's Hole Swildon's Hole is an extensive cave in Priddy, Somerset. At in length, it is the longest cave on the Mendip Hills. It has been found to be connected to Priddy Green Sink and forms part of the Priddy Caves Site of Special Scientific Interest ( ...

which they believed connected to the

Cheddar Caves Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 yea ...

. At the time, the limit of exploration was a flooded underwater passage or "syphon" (sump). Various attempts were made pass this obstacle, at first using explosives and then by diving. Initial attempts were unsuccessful and Balcombe's attentions moved to

Wookey Hole Wookey Hole is a village in Somerset, England. It is the location of the Wookey Hole show caves. Location Wookey Hole is located in the civil parish of St Cuthbert Out, in Mendip District. It is one mile north-west of the city of Wells, and l ...

where

standard diving dress Standard diving dress, also known as hard-hat or copper hat equipment, deep sea diving suit or heavy gear, is a type of diving suit that was formerly used for all relatively deep underwater work that required more than breath-hold duration, which ...

was used to explore upstream from the limit of the Show Cave at Chamber 3 as far as the Seventh Chamber. During the Second World War, Balcombe was stationed in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

, North Yorkshire, where he continued to develop his diving equipment, which was put to use at local sites such as

Alum Pot Alum Pot is a pothole with a large open shaft at a surface elevation of on the eastern flanks of Simon Fell, North Yorkshire, England. It connects with nearby Long Churn Cave and Diccan Pot. The pot is accessed via a 1-km private track on p ...

Keld Head Keld may refer to: * Keld, Cumbria, England *Keld, North Yorkshire, England *Variation of Kjell (name), a Danish given name * KELD (AM), a radio station (1400 AM) licensed to El Dorado, Arkansas, United States * KELD-FM KELD-FM (106.5 MHz) is ...

and Goyden Pot. After the war Balcombe co-founded the Cave Diving Group in 1946. He ran operations from his base in London and remained involved in cave diving up to his retirement from the activity in 1957. During his later life, Balcombe was made Honorary President of the Cave Diving Group, a role which he shared with Sheppard. His memoirs were published posthumously in 2007.

References

External links

An online interview with Graham Balcombe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balcombe, Graham 1907 births 2000 deaths British cavers Cave diving explorers English underwater divers Place of death missing

Life and career

See also

References

External links