Bagshawe was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, on 18 April 1901, and attended Rugby School before reading geology at Cambridge University.
[1] In 1920, Bagshawe left his studies to take up an opportunity to join the British Graham Land Expedition to Antarctica, to continue mapping the western coastline of the Weddell Sea.
However, Bagshawe and the other expedition member, Maxime Charles Lester, wanted to continue their work and – against the advice of the Norwegian whalers they had sailed with - the two men remained, when Cope and Wilkins left.
They managed to continue their work, carrying out observations of weather conditions, tidal measurements and studies of penguins, before being picked up by a Norwegian whaling ship in January 1922.
[1] During the Second World War Bagshawe served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and in Combined Operations.