Shackleton v Scott

[Steve Grindlay]

Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton is perhaps the best known person to have come from Sydenham. An <interesting article> has just appeared on the BBC website comparing him ("a heroic man manager for the modern age") with Robert Falcon Scott (a "poignant and glorious" failure).

Readers are invited to vote for their hero. To help people decide there is an article on Shackleton (written, I believe, by Admin) <here>.

[user100]

Now Steve you know very well he did not 'come from Sydenham' but rather that he 'moved to Sydenham' having come from Co Kildare, Ireland.

Otherwise we should describe Rolf Harris as the well known painter and performer from Sydenham

Or am I being a bit TOO pedantic?

[Steve Grindlay]

Now Steve you know very well he did not 'come from Sydenham' ... Or am I being a bit TOO pedantic?

Perhaps you are, although equally perhaps I should have been more careful.

His father, Dr Henry Shackleton, left Ireland in 1884, when Ernest was 10. He settled in Sydenham where, according to his biographer, Ernest "grew and flourished". Ernest was educated at Fir Lodge in Kirkdale and Dulwich College and his family continued living in Sydenham until the outbreak of WW2. Aberdeen House would have been Ernest's home (apart from when he was at sea) until his marriage in 1904. And we have his blue plaque. So, perhaps I should have said that "his formative years were spent in Sydenham"; nowhere else has such a claim.

[user100]

On that basis I think we can claim him

Thanks for the interesting details in your response Steve, I really enjoy reading your posts and other articles about Sydenham history, as I am sure do many others.

And now, back to pedants corner for me