Blakeney Thomas Sydney

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Biografie:
geboren in Great Marlow (Großbrittanien)
gestorben in Chichester (Großbrittanien)

Thomas Sydney Blakeney (1903-76)
Tom Blakeney was born at Great Marlow on 17 August 1903. He was educated at the King's School, Ely, which he left in 1920. He did not have the opportunity of going to University but went into business in the City, working with a firm of timber importers for some years.
He first visited the Alps in 1922 and was elected to the AC in December 193Q, proposed by C. G. Bruce and seconded by F. S. Smythe. His application form shows that his holidays at that time were of but short duration, never more than a fortnight and sometimes less. Many of his climbs were guideless, including the Matterhorn in 1924 with a German climber he 'picked up by chance (name unknown)' and he made a number of easier climbs by himself. In June 1927 he had 10 days with Frank Smythe in conditions that Smythe described as 'the most continuously foul weather I have ever experienced'; they made 4 unsuccessful attempts on various Chamonix aiguilles. Later that season Smythe and Graham Brown made the first ascent of the Red Sentinel route on Mont Blanc and Smythe wrote in Climbs and Ski Runs that to Tom was due the credit for this ascent 'he was the first to suggest to me the possibility of ascending Mont Blanc by this side and he had actually indicated on a photograph the charms of the two ridges on either side of the great couloir.' In 1928 Tom joined Smythe and Graham Brown in their first attempt to ascend Mont Blanc de Courmayeur direct from the Brenva glacier. They spent the night at the old Brenva bivouac where a violent thunderstorm, which lasted most of the night, burst upon them and the expedition was perforce abandoned. Not feeling at all fit Tom had then to return home and so missed taking part in the successful first ascent some days later.
Tom was made redundant in the great slump of 1932 and for about a year held temporary jobs, then in 1933 he decided to emigrate. He cycled across Europe to Constantinople, being occasionally arrested in the Balkans for carrying a camera. He made his way via Egypt to Ceylon where he obtained a post as assistant manager on a tea estate but after a time he moved on to India and became manager of another tea estate, in Madras.
Blakeney joined the Army on the outbreak of war and saw service with the RASC in Burma, being demobilized with the rank of Major. He had been elected to a fellowship of the RGS in 1942 and in the late summer made a reconnaissance of Kailas, the sacred mountain of Tibet.
After demobilization he returned to his tea estate but decided that there was no future for him there and returned to England. In 1948 he became assistant secretary to the Alpine Club. He was admirably suited for this position, being a good organizer and having an extensive knowledge of Alpine history, as the pages of the Alpine Joumal show. The first ascent of Everest and the Centenary of the AC both occurred during his term of office. He was for some years one of 2 assistant editors of the Alpine Joumal and in 1969 was elected an honorary member of the Club. He did valuable work as secretary of the Mount Everest Foundation, which had been established in 1953 after the first ascent.
Tom was a man of many interests and from 1956 to 1976 was honorary secretary of the Friends of the National Libraries and did much for that society by his able handling of the funds in acquiring rare books and manuscripts that might otherwise have left the country. He was an enthusiastic reader of detective fiction and was an ardent devotee of Sherlock Holmes. He published a book in 1932 (Sherlock Holmes-Fact or Fiction.') and at his death was doyen of the Sherlock Holmes Society and was also a member of the Dickens Fellowship and of the Johnson Society.
Tom never married and was a rather reserved and reticent character so that even after a friendship of many years one knew little of him and seemed never quite to have penetrated his reserve. He got on well' with young children and always seemed happy in their company. He rendered great services to mountaineering and his loss will be felt by his many friends in the AC and the RGS. He died at Chichester on 8 December 1976.
D. F. O. Dangar
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 83, 1978, Seite 267-268


Geboren am:
17.08.1903
Gestorben am:
08.12.1976