George Mallory, an English mountaineer, achieved success by writing his name in the sands of time by participating in the first three Mount Everest expeditions in the early 1920’s. Although his attempt to reach the top of the mountain eventually cost him his life, he is still considered a hero in Britain and around the world.
In the course of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, George and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, disappeared. George’s fate was unknown for 75 years until his body was finally found on May 1, 1999 by an expedition looking for the remains of the climbers.
George Mallory Biography
Born in Mobberley, Cheshire as George HerbertLeigh Mallory about 18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924, the mountaineer is the son of the clergyman Herbert Leigh Mallory and Annie Beridge, daughter of a clergyman. He has three siblings – two sisters and a younger brother named Trafford Leigh-Mallory. He grew up with his siblings in a ten-room house on Hobcroft Lane in Mobberley.
In 1896 George Mallory transferred from a prep school in West Kirby to a boarding school in Eastbourne known as Glengorse. At thirteen he was awarded a mathematics scholarship which gave him the opportunity to study at Winchester College. During his final year of college at the school, he was introduced to rock climbing and mountaineering by a master, RLG Irving, who normally employed a handful of climbers a year.
After graduating from Winchester, George continued his education at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he studied history. There he met the six men who would eventually become members of the Bloomsbury group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, all of whom were English.
The couple were blessed with three children – two daughters, Frances Clare (September 19, 1915 – 2001) and Beridge “Berry” Ruth (September 16, 1917 – 1953) and a son, John (born August 21, 1920).
George Mallory was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery in December 1915 and in 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant. He fought in the Battle of the Somme (the battle of World War I) and served in France. After the war he continued teaching at Charterhouse and resigned in 1921 to take part in the first Mount Everest expedition.
Between expeditions, still needing to make ends meet to earn a living, the climber began writing and teaching with little success. He later accepted a teaching post at the University of Cambridge’s Extramural Studies Department in 1923, but took temporary leave the following year to take part in that year’s Everest attempt.
Facts you need to know
1. Mount Everest wasn’t the only mountain he climbed
Before the Mount Everest expedition of 1924, George, either individually or in a group, was involved in climbing other mountains including Mont Vélan in the Alps (1910), Mont Blanc (1911), Pillar Rock in the English Lake District (1913 ) and the first British reconnaissance expedition of 1921.
2. Did Mallory and his partner make it to the top of Mount Everest?
When he joined Everest in 1924, led by General Geoffrey Bruce in 1922, he was 37 and believed it would be his last chance to scale the mountain, considering his age. Touring the United States prior to the expedition’s launch, he stated that the team would successfully make it to the summit. The question of whether he and his partner reached the top of Mount Everest is still a matter of debate and investigation.
That’s because Mallory and his partner AndrewIrvine didn’t make it back from the trip alive. It has been suggested that they had died either late in the evening of June 8, 1924 or on June 9, 1924, as they were both last seen by Noel Odell, a member of the expedition moving behind the duo.
3. A memorial service was held in his honor
Following news of their disappearance, George Mallory and Irvine were widely mourned and hailed as national heroes in Britain. On October 17, 1924, a memorial service was organized at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, attended by a large number of family members, friends and notable figures such as King George V and some members of the royal family.
4. How his body was identified
Several expeditions have been undertaken to find Mallory’s partner’s body and, if possible, to determine if he made it to the summit. Finally, in 1999, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found a frozen corpse at 8,157 m (29,500 ft) on the north face of the mountain. Although it was initially believed to be Irvine’s body as it is below where his ax was found, a name tag on the body’s clothing indicated it to be “G. Leigh Mallory”.
As a result of freezing conditions in the area, the body was very well preserved, and a brass altimeter, a lamb’s foot pocket knife with a stag handle and leather case, snow goggles, and other personal belongings were recovered from the clothing pockets.