This week’s Bygone features an advert from the Country Hall, (later named The Palace Theatre), which once stood on the corner of Endless Street and Chipper Lane.

The advert shows the appearance of Sir Ernest Shackleton on October 11, 1910 where Sir Ernest gave a lecture entitled “Nearest the South Pole”. The Salisbury Journal reported that as he stepped onto the stage, a crowded house applauded him for a long time and that he looked none the worst for weeks of life at a temperature of 40 degrees below zero.

On this tour of lectures, large proportions of the audience were made up of school children and Salisbury was no exception with various local educational establishments represented.

Salisbury MP Mr Locker - Lampson who presided announced that the audience was assembled to meet: “One of the remarkable men of our time. In a century when the spirit of adventure seems to be a thing of the past, Sir Ernest Shackleton has fired the imagination of the civilised world, and he and his gallant comrades have acted as an unconscious inspiration to many a man to do a deed of dogged heroism for its own sake, and its own sake alone. They have made the world bigger than they found it, they have made science richer than they found it, and they have made the list of the world’s hero’s longer than they found it.”

The famous explorer then delivered his lecture on the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909 where he had gained the high distinction of reaching a point farthest south, less than 100 miles from the South Pole, thereby beating all previous polar records. Shackleton won the hearts and admiration of his audience, as he left the stage the hall rang with cheers.

No doubt the event was long remembered by those school children who were privileged to hear it.

 

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