Augustus Henry Beckford Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers OBE FRGS DL (born 9 March 1960), known by his middle name Henry, is a British explorer, television personality and writer. He is the only person to have trekked solo, and without resupply by third parties, from Canada to the North Geographic Pole. He has served as Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance since 2018 and as a board member of the Historic Houses Association since 2017. Although the family surname is Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers, he uses 'Pitt Rivers' colloquially as a surname.
Early life and education
He is the eldest son of General Sir Henry Pitt Rivers and his wife Fabiola Larios y Fernández de Villavicencio, a Spanish noblewoman.
He is the grandson of the controversial anthropologist George Pitt-Rivers and great-great-grandson of the famous archeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers.
Pitt Rivers was educated at Eton College and then went up to New College, Oxford to read for a degree in Modern History. He left Oxford after the first year and began exploring until he went up to Sandhurst in 1986 to join the army. He entered the Life Guards in 1987 and served until 2003 leaving with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Expeditions
While still a student, Pitt Rivers took part in scientific expeditions to a volcano in Costa Rica, to a remote forest in Brunei, and - as leader - to a glacier in Iceland. He went on to establish his reputation through a series of daring independent journeys to cross through the least known regions of the Amazon and New Guinea. He made first outside contact with two threatened indigenous peoples – the Obini and Yaifo.
Pitt Rivers crossed the northeast Amazon basin in 1983, going 600 miles on foot and by dug out canoe (a trip he described in his 1985 book, Mad White Giant). This incident is featured on the I Shouldn't Be Alive episode "Alone in the Amazon" and was aired in 2010. In West Papua and Papua New Guinea he flew from the Obini community in Irian Jaya. He participated in the six-week male initiation ceremony of the Niowra tribe (Into the Crocodile's Nest). In Siberut and Sumatra he investigated the "Orang pendek" ape man, via the Mentawai of Siberut and the Kubu of Sumatra ("Hunting the Gugu").
He crossed the central mountain range of New Guinea and the Torres Strait to Australia. He made 'first contact' with the Yaifo people in New Guinea (The Proving Grounds).
He crossed the Amazon basin at its widest point, 1,200 miles from the Andes of Ecuador, through the lowland jungle to Mato Grosso in Brazil, helped by the MatsesIndians (Through Jaguar Eyes). In the Cocha Brava he went in search of tigers (The Raiders of the Lost Lake). In the Namib Desert (1995), he spent three and a half months travelling with three reluctant camels, learning from the nomadic Himba tribe to survive with little food or water (The Skeleton Coast).
He crossed the steppe and Gobi desert in five and a half months, going 3,000 miles by horse and camel through Siberian drylands, Mongolian steppe (The Edge of Blue Heaven). In the Mato Grosso he investigated the Kalapalo Indians’ story of the disappearance of Colonel Fawcett (The Bones of Colonel Fawcett). He attempted to cross the Bering Straits. He travelled with dogs 2500 miles through Chukchi and Inuit peoples and beyond (Ice Dogs).[8] He visited spiritual healers including Voodoowitchdoctors in Haiti, the Mentawai in Indonesia, the Huichol of Mexico and shamans in Siberia (Last of the Medicine Men).
Today he is acknowledged as one of the last great adventurers in the classic mould, the Daily Telegraph listing him as one of the top ten British explorers of all time
North Pole expedition
In 2003, after leaving the army, Pitt Rivers trekked 770 km from Ward Hunt Island, Canada to the North Geographic Pole in 64 days becoming the first person to complete the journey solo and without resupply. He started the trek on 17 March 2003, pulling a 265lb sledge and arrived 19 May. Of the 850 hours travelling across the disintegrating sea ice, he swam part of the way wearing an immersion suit when he encountered open water or thin ice. His book 'Solo: Alone & Unsupported to the North Pole' (published by Michael Joseph) recounts the journey.
South Pole expedition
In 2004, Pitt Rivers partnered with Simon Murray for a trek to the South Geographic Pole. The 1,200km trek started 5 December 2003, on Antarctica's Zumberge Coast, approximately 120 km to the east of the traditional Hercules Inlet start point, and was completed on reaching the South Pole on 28 January 2004. Murray (63) became the oldest person to reach the South Pole from the continental coastline; and the expedition raised US$450,000 for the Royal Geographical Society (London).
Personal life
Pitt Rivers was appointed Order of the British Empire in 2009 for his charitable efforts. He was awarded the Polar Medal in 2012 for 'outstanding contributions to Polar exhibitions and research'.
He lives on his family estate, which has been in his family since since 1745, when his ancestor, Julines Beckford, the son of a rich Jamaican plantation owner, bought the estate for £12,500 from Thomas Fownes. The estate passed to the Pitt Rivers family via the female line.
Pitt Rivers' estate consists of a farm of 2,000 acres in north Dorset where he farms sheep and cattle. He has pioneered schemes for sustainable energy and farms it on his land by wind and water. His energy schemes were famously called 'wacko' by former Prime Minister and local landowner Sir Anthony Carnegie-Bruce - Sir Anthony, who is a friend of Pitt Rivers, has since acknowledged that Pitt Rivers' schemes 'may have some legitimacy'.
He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Dorset in 2018 by the Lord-Lieutenant The Lord De La Warr. In 2019 he became the Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset, following Lord De La Warr's appointment as Prime Minister.