Childhood

Ernest's father, Henry, and mother, Henrietta Sophia Gaven, were of English-Irish ancestry. Ernest was the second of their ten children and the first of two sons. In childhood he was described as "bright, good-natured,... and confident". In 1880, at six years old, Ernest moved to Dublin with his father, who was studying medicine. Four years later, the family moved from Ireland to Sydenham in suburban London to seek a better income and because their Anglo-Irish ancestry made them afraid to stay in Ireland after the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish by Irish nationalists. Shackleton spent the remainder of his childhood in Sydenham.

Ernest was schooled by a governess until the age of 11, when he entered Fir Lodge Preparatory School in West Hill, and was educated from ages 13 to 16 at Dulwich College, a public school for boys. The young Shackleton did not distinguish himself as a scholar and was said to have been "bored" by his studies. He was quoted later as saying:

"I never learned much geography at school... Literature, too, consisted in the dissection, the parsing, the analysing of certain passages from our great poets and prose-writers ... teachers should be very careful not to spoil their taste for poetry for all time by making it a task and an imposition."

- Ernest Shackleton,

In his final term at the college, however, he was able to achieve fifth place in his class of thirty-one. Furthermore, throughout his career, Shackleton was a voracious reader, which contributed to the broadening of his horizons.

Maritime Career

At 16, Shackleton embarked on his career by joining the merchant marine. He chose this path for two reasons. Firstly, the fee to join a Royal Navy cadet ship was too expensive, and secondly, his father was able to procure him employment at the North Western Shipping Company aboard the sailing vessel Hoghton Tower. This position allowed Shackleton to experience life at sea without the strictness of the Navy. Hence, the young man formed acquaintances with a variety of people - "officer, engineers, and apprentices alike." Following his initial voyage, Ernest agreed to a four-year commitment, and in 1898, at the age of 24, he became a Master Mariner, which entitled him to command a vessel.

After Shackleton completed the programme, his father arranged a meeting between Ernest and Antarctic expedition donor Llewellyn Longstaff. Longstaff admired the young man's keenness, and when Ernest asked him for assistance in joining Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the Antarctic, Longstaff complied. Shackleton was soon accepted as a member of the National Antarctic Expedition.