Background
Debenham was born on December 26, 1883, in Bowral, Australia, the younger twin and third child of Review John Willmott Debenham and Edith Cleveland.
87-129 Pennant Hills Rd, North Parramatta NSW 2151, Australia
Debenham’s early education was at a private school run by his father, Reverend J. W. Debenham, vicar of Bowral. He attended the King’s School, Parramatta, New South Wales.
Camperdown NSW 2006, Australia
Debenham graduated in arts from the University of Sydney in 1904. After being a schoolteacher for three years, he returned to the university and graduated Bachelor of Science in geology in 1910.
(When Frank Debenham returned from the Antarctic in 1913 h...)
When Frank Debenham returned from the Antarctic in 1913 he resolved not to publish any reminiscences, but at the urging of many friends he published, in 1952, IN THE ANTARCTIC which deals chiefly with the lighter side of the three years he spent in the Antarctice. Written in his retirement, these delightful tales were Debenham's way of remembering some of the people - explorers, staff, research students - who passed through his tenure as Director of the Scott Polar Institute. The stories are a mixture of fact and fantasy, some are poignant, some are amusing, but all are delightful.
https://www.amazon.com/Antarctic-Stories-Scotts-Last-Expedition/dp/1852970553/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Frank+Debenham&qid=1579945371&sr=8-2
explorer geographer professor scientist
Debenham was born on December 26, 1883, in Bowral, Australia, the younger twin and third child of Review John Willmott Debenham and Edith Cleveland.
Debenham’s early education was at a private school run by his father, Reverend J. W. Debenham, vicar of Bowral. He attended the King’s School, Parramatta, New South Wales, and graduated in arts from the University of Sydney in 1904. After being a schoolteacher for three years, he returned to the university and graduated Bachelor of Science in geology in 1910.
Debenham’s research career began soon afterward, when R. F. Scott, while passing through Sydney, selected him as an additional member of the second Scott Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1913. In the Antarctic, Debenham carried out geological surveys and brought to bear the cartographic skills for which he later became famous. After the return of the expedition Debenham worked in Cambridge for the rest of his life, apart from the interruption caused by World War I, during which he was a lieutenant with the 7th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Serving in France and Salonika, Debenham was severely wounded in August 1916.
In 1919 he was appointed lecturer in surveying and cartography at the University of Cambridge. His early years in this post were devoted mainly to writing up his polar work, including entire responsibility for the account of the survey work of the expedition. At the same time he steadily developed his skills as a cartographer, and his polar writings were followed by several books concerned largely with the surveying and mapping of landforms.
In 1925 Debenham became the first director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge and was a central figure in inspiring the surge of British polar exploration that occurred between 1925 and World War II. In 1931 he became the first professor of geography at Cambridge, holding this post until his retirement in 1949.
(When Frank Debenham returned from the Antarctic in 1913 h...)
An approachable man with a gift for kindly humor, Debenham was greatly loved by his colleagues and students, and was an outstanding inspirer and gentle leader of men.
Debenham married Dorothy Lucy Lempriere in January 1917. He was survived by his wife, a son and four daughters.