Researching William Slingsby

Slingsby is perhaps most famous for being the first on "Storen", or Store Skagastølstind ( in 1876, the third highest mountain in Norway. It was considered impossible to climb then, but Slingsby defied popular notion and climbed the mountain, for the last part alone. Slingsby also attempted to climb the 1392metres tall and highly steep Stetind in Narvik, but his attempt ended up as a failure, as he never made it to the peak of the mountain. Slingsby would later describe this mountain as the ugliest one he had ever seen. His crossing of the Keiser Pass, Norway, on skis in 1880 also helped inspire the sport of ski mountaineering.

He also spoke and wrote strongly about several other mountains for example Slogen. His classic book on climbing in Norway, Norway: the Northern Playground, was first published in 1904 and republished in 1941. A new edition was released in 2003. The latest edition was published in March 2014.

Slingsby was an honorary member of Norsk Tindeklub and of the Norwegian Trekking Association. He had five children; the youngest, Eleanor Winthrop Young, was herself a climber and a co-founder of the Pinnacle Club, a women's climbing association.

Cecil died on 23 August 1929 in a nursing home at Hurstpierpoint, in East Sussex. He is buried in the churchyard at Carleton-in-Craven.

He was the seventh, but third surviving son of Sir Francis Slingsby and Mary de Percy, daughter of Sir Thomas Percy, executed for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and sister of Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, and Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland. The Percies were descendants of Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester. He was born in Scriven, Knaresborough, West Riding. After marrying Elizabeth Broard, daughter of Sir Stephen Broad of Broadshill, Sussex in 1582, the couple took a Grand Tour of Europe, returning in 1594. In 1596, Slingsby discovered that water from the Tewit Well mineral spring at Harrogate, possessed similar properties to that from Spa, Belgium.

In 1596 Slingsby served as a soldier on the Cadiz expedition, and again in 1597 against Spain.

He purchased the estate of Kippax, West Yorkshire from Francis Bailden. In 1601 he was made the junior Member of Parliament for Knaresborough alongside his brother Sir Henry Slingsby, serving until 1611. He was knighted in 1603. After retiring from soldiering, he was made Deputy Lieutenant for Middlesex in 1617. He was elected MP for Appleby in 1626.

He died in 1634, leaving a son, Henry, who became Master of the Mint, and a daughter, and was buried in Knaresborough church. He had several distinguished nephews, including Sir Henry Slingsby, 1st Baronet, Guildford Slingsby, and Sir Robert Slingsby, 1st Baronet.

His portrait by Moses Griffith hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.