Lieutenant-Colonel Llewellyn Wood Longstaff (23 December 1841 – 20 November 1918) was an English industrialist and fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. He is best known for being the chief private-sector patron and financial angel of the

Discovery Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–184 ...

to the Antarctic.

Antarctic patron

Llewellyn Longstaff was born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, on 23 December 1841. In 1873, he married Marie Lydia Sawyer, with whom he had 10 children, including mountaineer

Tom George Longstaff Tom George Longstaff (15 January 1875 – 27 June 1964) was an English doctor, explorer and mountaineer, most famous for being the first person to climb a summit of over 7,000 metres in elevation, Trisul, in the India/Pakistan Himalayas in 1907. ...

. He owned a significant equity share in Blundell Spence & Co., a £400,000 firm based in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

that crushed

linseed oil Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...

to manufacture

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varn ...

. He was also a member of several nongovernmental organizations, including the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, the Hull Chamber of Commerce and Shipping, and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Longstaff's Society membership coincided with the presidency of longtime RGS leader Sir

Clements Markham Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for ...

, whose dream was to organize a British expedition to the then-unknown

Antarctic continent Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. Markham's initial efforts to lobby for funds were met with indifference in

; but Longstaff's friendship with Markham made it possible for the impecunious expedition plans to move forward, as the industrialist pledged in 1899 to donate £25,000 sterling. The British government then promised to appropriate £40,000 as

matching funds Matching funds are funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources. Matching fund payments usually arise in situations of charity or public good. The terms cost sharing, in-kind, and matching can be used interc ...

, thus creating a budget to support the construction in 1900-1901 of a ship for the expedition, RRS ''Discovery''. The ship, partly paid for by Longstaff, would be commanded by Markham's protégé

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

. The paint manufacturer's donation gave him the standing to recommend potential expedition members to Markham. After Sir Llewellen's son Cedric befriended a junior Union Castle merchant navy officer while their ship was heading for South Africa, young Cedric recommended his friend to Longstaff's attention. Longstaff got the sea officer,

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

, a crucial interview with Markham that led to his selection for the expedition. The ''Discovery Expedition'' sailed south, with Scott as commander and Shackleton as a key officer, in August 1901. The expedition members treated Longstaff ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

'' as their principal patron, and in December 1902 Scott and Shackleton, in a probe southward over the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

, discovered and named the

Longstaff Peaks The Longstaff Peaks () are a series of high peaks standing just west of Davidson Glacier in the north-central part of the Holland Range in Antarctica. They were discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04), and named ''Mount L ...

, a mountain system in the

Holland Range The Holland Range () is a rugged coastal mountain range in Antarctica, about long, lying just west of the Ross Ice Shelf and extending from Robb Glacier to Lennox-King Glacier. It was named by the Ross Sea Committee for Sir Sidney Holland, who as ...

. Longstaff died on 20 November 1918 in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, London. He was posthumously appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

. The ''Discovery'', built with his donation, was preserved as a historic landmark. As of 2022 it is permanently moored in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longstaff, Llewellyn W. 1841 births 1918 deaths Businesspeople from Kingston upon Hull Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society 19th-century English businesspeople