Editing Ernest Shackleton (section)

=== Public hero ===
[[File:Ernest Shackleton Vanity Fair 1909-10-06.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Caricature of Shackleton in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 6 October 1909, captioned "The South Pole"|alt=See caption]]
On Shackleton's return home, public honours were quickly forthcoming. He was received by [[King Edward VII]] on 10&nbsp;July 1909, and raised to a [[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]].{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=263}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28271|page=5461|date=16 July 1909}}</ref> He received a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] in the King's Birthday Honours list in November, becoming ''Sir Ernest Shackleton''.{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=272}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28321|page=9763|date=24 December 1909}}</ref> The [[Royal Geographical Society|RGS]] awarded him a gold medal; a proposal to present him with a smaller medal than that earlier awarded to Captain Scott was not acted on.{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=251}} Each member of the ''Nimrod'' Expedition shore party received a silver [[Polar Medal]] on 23&nbsp;November, Shackleton himself receiving a [[medal clasp|clasp]] to attach to his earlier medal.{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=272}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28311|page=8665|date=23 November 1909}}</ref> He was also appointed a Younger Brother of [[Trinity House]], a significant honour for British mariners.{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|p=263}}

Besides the official honours bestowed on Shackleton, his Antarctic feats were greeted in Britain with great enthusiasm. Proposing a toast to Shackleton at a lunch given in his honour by the Royal Societies Club, [[Lord Halsbury]], a former [[Lord Chancellor]], said: "When one remembers what he had gone through, one does not believe in the supposed degeneration of the British race. One does not believe that we have lost all sense of admiration for courage [and] endurance".{{sfn|Huntford|1985|pp=298–299}} The heroism was also claimed by Ireland: the Dublin ''[[Evening Telegraph (Dublin)|Evening Telegraph]]'s'' headline read "South Pole Almost Reached by an Irishman",{{sfn|Huntford|1985|pp=298–299}} while the ''Dublin Express'' spoke of the "qualities which were his heritage as an Irishman".{{sfn|Huntford|1985|pp=298–299}}

Shackleton's fellow polar explorers expressed their admiration; [[Roald Amundsen]] wrote, in a letter to RGS Secretary [[John Scott Keltie]], that "the English nation has by this deed of Shackleton's won a victory [...] which never can be surpassed."{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|pp=242–243}} [[Fridtjof Nansen]] sent an effusive private letter to Shackleton's wife, praising the "unique expedition, which has been such a complete success in every respect."{{sfn|Fisher|Fisher|1957|pp=242–243}} The reality was that the expedition had left Shackleton deeply in debt, unable to meet the financial guarantees he had given to backers.{{sfn|Huntford|1985|p=314–315}} Despite his efforts, it required government action, in the form of a grant of £20,000 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|20000|1910}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} to clear the most pressing obligations, and it is likely that many of his debts were written off.{{sfn|Huntford|1985|p=314–315}}