Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO, OBE (February 15, 1874 to January 5, 1922) was an Anglo-Irish explorer, knighted for the achievements of the ‘British Antarctic Expedition’ (1907–09) under his command, but now chiefly remembered for his Antarctic expedition of 1914 to 1916 in the ship ‘Endurance’.

In 1921, Shackleton set out on another Antarctic expedition. Its purpose was to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent by sea, but it was derailed when Shackleton died of a heart attack on board his ship, the ‘Quest’, while anchored off South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on January 5, 1922.

His body was being returned to England when his widow requested that the burial take place on Grytviken, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands instead. Shackleton was buried there on March 5, 1922.