Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was born in Ireland in 1874 and raised mostly in London. He led three expeditions to the Antarctic. He died of a heart attack in 1922 while setting out on his fourth expedition.

Frank Hurley (1885-1962) was a native Australian who served as a photographer on several Antarctic expeditions with Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. He also worked as a war photographer with the Australian military forces during both World Wars. He was the official photographer on Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and was known for his pioneering use of the early Paget color photography process.