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John Lachlan Cope (né John Cope; 31 March 1893 – 27 December 1947) was an Antarctic explorer, who was Biologist and later Surgeon on the Ross Sea party as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–1917, and later leader of the British Expedition to Graham Land, 1920-1922.

Early Life
Born in Hammersmith, London in 1893 to parents Marie Louise Cope (née Bogue) and William Thomas Cope. He was educated at Tonbridge public school from 1906–1911. He then went on to study natural science and medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge before giving up his studies to join the the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition as the biologist of the Ross Sea party.

Ross Sea party, 1914-1917
Cope ended his studies early in order to take part in Ernest Henry Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, joining as part of the Ross Sea Party tasked with lay a series of supply depots across the Great Ice Barrier from the Ross Sea to the Beardmore Glacier to meet the Endurance Party intending to sledge across Antarctica from the Weddell Sea. Fast ice prevented the Ross Sea party's ship, SY Aurora, from reaching Cape Royds, so the expedition landed at Cape Evans where, in May 1915, the ship was driven from her moorings by a blizzard, making return impossible. With minimal supplies, Cope and nine companions wintered at Cape Evans and laid depots southwards across the Ross Ice Shelf as far as Mount Hope. The seven survivors of the shore party were eventually rescued on 10 January 1917.

Returning to Britain, Cope was awarded the Polar Medal along with many others on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, an honour later awarded to his grandson Dr Thomas Anthony Lachlan-Cope in 2006. He then served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the First World War.

Original Plans
The John Lachlan Cope expedition to Graham Land was originally conceived as a large expedition involving fifty people, with some of its many objectives being the circumnavigation of Antarctica (with the ship Terra Nova used in Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition), the first flight over the South Pole, and the continuation of Otto Nordenskjöld's exploration along the western shore of the Weddell Sea.

Reduced Expedition
However, the expedition did not receive the required £100,000 funding and thus the objectives had to be drastically reduced. The expedition consisted of four men: the leader John Lachlan Cope, the Second-in-command George Hubert Wilkins, Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe, and Maxime Charles Lester.

Later Life
Cope returned to Britain, and had four children with his with his wife Lady Edith Norah Florence Cope (née Robinson), daughter of the 2nd Baron Rosmead, who he married in 1917.

He resumed his medical studies and qualified as a doctor in 1933, and became a General Practitioner in London and Birmingham. After the death of his wife in September 1947 he married Lucy Ellen Cope (née Cozens), before dying later that year.