Altruistic World Online Library

Brigadier Sir Edward Oliver Wheeler MC
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/2/20

The founding members [of the Himalayan Club] were:[2]

• Major Edward Oliver Wheeler of the Survey of India

-- The Himalayan Club, by Wikipedia

Edward Oliver Wheeler
Born: April 18, 1890, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Died: March 19, 1962 (aged 71), Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
Allegiance: Canada
Service/branch: Corps of the Royal Engineers
Rank: Brigadier
Awards: He was Knighted in 1943, Military Cross, Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur
Relations: Arthur Oliver Wheeler, father,
John Oliver Wheeler, son
Other work: mountain climber, surveyor

Brigadier Sir Edward Oliver Wheeler MC (April 18, 1890 – March 19, 1962) was a Canadian surveyor, mountain climber and soldier. Wheeler participated in the first topographical survey of Mount Everest in 1921.[1] As a Brigadier in the British Army he was appointed Surveyor General of India in 1941. He was knighted for the work he did surveying India. He was an accomplished mountain climber and on the 1921 expedition was one of the team to reach the 7000-metre North Col.

Early life

Edward Oliver Wheeler was the son of a surveyor and renowned alpinist, Arthur Oliver Wheeler a Dominion Land Surveyor, who co-founded the Alpine Club of Canada and mapped British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains and the British Columbia-Alberta border.[2] His mother was Clara (née Macoun), daughter of Canadian botanist John Macoun. While still a teenager, he accompanied his father to the Selkirk Mountains and learned both how to climb and the Canadian method of photo-topography developed by Dr. Edouard Deville[3]. As a founding member of the Alpine Club of Canada, he guided new members on the initial climbs in the Rockies[4].

Education

He attended Trinity College School where he was chosen Head Boy. Having finished first on the admission exams to the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, he attended that university for three years from 1907-1910[5]. He finished first of his class in all three years at RMC[6][7][8]. In his graduating year he was the Battalion Sergeant Major, the highest rank attainable by a Gentleman Cadet. He was given a choice of commissions in the British Army. He became a Royal Engineer and attended the School of Military Engineering in Chatham, UK[9]. Upon this graduation he was posted to the 1st King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners.

Career

During the First World War he served with 1st King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners as part of the Indian Expedition Forces in 1914 and with the same forces in Mesopotamia campaign 1916-19. He was Mentioned in Despatches 7 times for actions both in France and Mesopotamia[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. He was awarded the Military Cross[17] and a Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur[18].

In 1919, he was seconded to the Survey of India. During this time he was a member of the 1921 Everest reconnaissance expedition, using photographic surveying techniques.[19] His exploration of the East Rongbuk glacier led him on 3 August 1921 to realise that this provided the key to a viable route to the summit of Everest. He was one of the climbing team to reach the North Col.[20]

He married Dorothea Sophia Danielson in 1921. His son John Oliver Wheeler (1925–2015) was an award-winning Canadian geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada.

Edward came to Canada on sick leave in 1922 but returned to India in 1923. During this stay he toured Canada discussing his adventure on Everest including an Address to the Empire Club of Canada[21]. In 1925 further convalescing in Canada was necessary after another operation in London. He then returned to India. He rose through the positions of Superintendent (1927), Director (1939) and finally to Surveyor-General of India (1941–1947). He was knighted in 1943[22].

Personal life

Upon his retirement, he returned to Canada with his wife, and lived in Lavington, near Vernon. He was active with the Alpine Club of Canada. From 1950 to 1954, Wheeler served as President of the Alpine Club of Canada. He was a life membership of the Alpine Club (UK) and a member of the American Alpine Club.

Brigadier Sir Edward Oliver Wheeler died following a stroke.

Mountain Ascents of Note

Ascent / Year / Significance

Mount Hector and Observation Peak in Alberta, Canada / 1903 / --

Hungabee Mountain on the Alberta, British Columbia border, Canada / 1909 / with Val Fynn

Mount Babel in Alberta, Canada / 1910 / the first ascent

Mount Tupper and Mount Sir Donald in Glacier National Park in Canadian Rockies / 1910 / guideless climbs

Pyrenees Mountains and Lakes District in southwest Europe / 1911 / with his father, Arthur Oliver Wheeler

Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada / 1912 / led the Expedition, first ascent of Elkhorn Mountain

Mount Assiniboine on the Alberta, British Columbia border/ 1920 / planned, erected, and directed base camp

Mount Everest, on the Nepal, Tibet border / 1921 / mapped possible mountain climbing routes (e.g. northern, eastern and western sides, Tibetan Plateau and East Rongbuk Glacier) under Colonel Charles Howard-Bury

Publications

• Wheeler, E.O. "Mt. Babel and Chimney Peak." The Canadian Alpine Journal, vol. 3, The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1911. p. 73-79.
• Wheeler, E.O. "Mount Elkhorn, Strathcona Park." The Canadian Alpine Journal, vol. 5, The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1913. p. 44-48.
• Wheeler, E.O. "Traverse of Terrapin and West Ridge of Magog." The Canadian Alpine Journal, vol. 12, The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1921-22. p. 53-55.
• Wheeler, E. O. "The Photographic Survey", Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, Edward Arnold, London, 1922. p. 329-337.
• Wheeler, E. O. "The "Canadian" Photo-topographical Method of Survey", The Royal Engineers Journal, vol. 35, The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, UK , March 1922. p. 177-185.
• Wheeler, E.O. "Mt. Everest Expedition/1921." The Canadian Alpine Journal, vol. 13. The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1923. p. 1-25.
• Wheeler, E.O. "ACC Golden Jubilee." The Canadian Alpine Journal, vol. 39, The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1956. p. 3-24.
• Wheeler, E. O. The Survey of India during War and Early Reconstruction 1939-1946, The Surveyor General of India, Dehra Dun, India, 1955.

References

1. Canadian geographer conquered Mount Everest in ‘epic quest’ National Post (Canada) 13 Nov. 2011
2. Arthur Oliver Wheeler http://www.pc.gc.ca/docs/v-g/pm-mp/lhn- ... eler_e.asp
3. Wheeler, A. O. The Selkirk Range, Department of the Interior, Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa 1905,
4. Report of Chief Mountaineer, Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 1 No 2, pp 329-334
5. No. 758 Brigadier Sir Edward Oliver Wheeler, Kt MC, "Royal Military College of Canada Review, Log of the Stone Frigate", Kingston, Ontario,1963
6. Report of the Militia Council for the Dominion of Canada for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31 1908, Printed by Order of Parliament, Ottawa 1909
7. Report of the Militia Council for the Dominion of Canada for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31 1909, Printed by Order of Parliament, Ottawa 1909
8. Report of the Militia Council for the Dominion of Canada for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31 1910, Printed by Order of Parliament, Ottawa 1910
9. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 28409, 23 August 1910
10. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29072, 16 February 1915
11. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29200, 18 June 1915
12. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29422, 31 December 1915
13. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29789, 17 October 1916
14. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 30867, 23 August 1918
15. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 31195, 18 February 1919
16. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 31386, 3 June 1919
17. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29438, 11 January 1916
18. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 29486, 24 February 1916
19. McMillan, Margaret, "Risk Taking", Massey Lecture Series, Victoria, British Columbia. broadcast on Ideas, August 15 3016,9:00 p.m. EST. CBC Radio
20. Wade Davis - Into the silence, Vintage Books, London, 2012.
21. http://speeches.empireclub.org/62546/data?n=1
22. Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 35841, 1 January 1943

Further reading

• In Memoriam. The Canadian Alpine Journal. Vol. 45. The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1962. p. 160-163.
• Wheeler, A.O. "The Alpine Club of Canada in Strathcona Park." The Canadian Alpine Journal. Vol. 5. The Alpine Club of Canada. Banff, Alberta. 1913. p. 82-95.

**********************************************************

Sir Edward O. Wheeler
by Historic Camera
Accessed: 2/2/20



Edward Oliver Wheeler was born to Arthur and Clara Macoun Wheeler on April 18, 1890 in Ottawa, Canada. His grandfather, John Macoun, was a respected botanist and his father was a surveyor and mountain-climbing enthusiast who founded the Alpine Club of Canada. His own passion for the mountains began when he accompanied his father to survey the Selkirk Range, and would spend subsequent school holidays as his father's assistant. He received his education in Ottawa's public school system, and attended Ontario's Trinity College. After graduating from Kingston's Royal Military Academy, Cadet Wheeler garnered the highest grades ever received by an officer in training, was awarded the Governor General's medal and the Sword of Honor. At the age of 20, he received a commission to the Royal Canadian Engineers, and was deployed to India in 1913. The young officer saw considerable action during World War I, serving with King George V's Bengal Sappers and Miners in 1915, and fought in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) from 1916-1918. For his efforts, he was awarded the Military Cross, and became a member of the French Legion of Honor.

After the war, he returned to India, working as a surveyor, and in 1921, married Dorothea Danielson. Their son John later became a celebrated geologist. Captain Wheeler's mountain-climbing prowess and skills as a map maker led to an invitation to join the first British Expedition to Mount Everest. Under the leadership of Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, Captain Wheeler, along with other experienced climbers like George Leigh Mallory (who would die tragically in 1924 on another Everest Expedition), investigated various routes to determine the most expedient approach, which Captain Wheeler's group determined to be the East Rongbuk Glacier that led to the North Col. He constructed the first map of Mount Everest and surrounding area, and also created a photographic record of the expedition. His daily travel kit included a cumbersome knapsack, which consisted of a camera, 11 glass plates, notebooks and pencils, weighing about 30 pounds; a tripod; disassembled theodolite telescope housed in a wooden box; along with spare plate holders, extra glass negatives, tape measures, and stone-filled bags to steady the tripod, tipped the scales at 100 pounds. Over the next five months, Captain Wheeler would capture and develop 240 images of the majestic Everest.



Captain Wheeler made a triumphant returned to India, but was considerably weakened by illness, resulting from the high altitudes and drinking contaminated water. After regaining his health, he was named Deputy Superintendent of the Survey of India, promoted to Major, and eventually achieved the rank of Brigadier General. He was knighted in 1943, and though he was eligible for retirement two years' later, he stayed with the Survey of India, before finally retiring and returning to Canada in 1947. He and his wife settled in Lavington, British Columbia, where he resumed his mountain climbing activities, and served as President of the Alpine Club of Canada from 1950 until 1954. On March 18, 1962, 71-year-old Sir Edward Oliver Wheeler suffered a massive stroke, and died the next day. He is fondly remembered for his military service, as a mountain climber and surveyor, and for his landmark expedition photographs. Exhibiting a gift for understatement, Sir Wheeler once observed, "I was in this camp for five days; most of them spent huddled under rocks waiting for the clouds to lift. I had one beautiful day… and got some very nice photographs of Mount Everest and its West ridge." Those "very nice photographs" remain some of the most impressive and breathtaking panoramic views of Mount Everest well into the twenty-first century.

_______________

References

2006 Among the Great Hills: Three Generations of Wheelers by R.W. Sandford (Alberta, Canada: The Alpine Club of Canada), pp. 4, 20-21.

2004 Canada’s Everest? Rethinking the First Ascent of Mount Logan and the Politics of Nationhood, 1925 by Zac Robinson and PearlAnn Reichwein Sport History Review, Vol. XXXV, pp. 95-121.

2007 The Canadian Rockies: Pioneers, Legends and True Tales by Roger W. Patillo (Aldergrove, British Columbia: Amberlea Press), p. 285.

2001 Edward Oliver Wheeler (URL: http://www.beyondnootka.com/biographies/e_wheeler.html).

2009 West Rongbuk (URL: http://more.glacierworks.org/glacier/we ... uk-glacier).

2010 Yale University: Environment 360 (URL:
http://e360.yale.edu/content/images/071 ... -team.html).

Charles Granville Bruce
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/2/20

The founding members [of the Himalayan Club] were:[2]

• Captain Charles Granville Bruce, 6th Gurkhas

-- The Himalayan Club, by Wikipedia

Charles Granville Bruce
Bruce as leader of the 1922 Everest expedition
Born: 7 April 1866, London, England
Died: 12 July 1939 (aged 73), London, England
Allegiance: United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch: British Indian Army
Rank: Brigadier-General
Commands held 1st Bn the 6th Gurkha Rifles
Battles/wars: World War I
Awards: Companion of the Order of the Bath
Member of the Royal Victorian Order

Brigadier-General The Honourable Charles Granville Bruce, CB, MVO (7 April 1866 – 12 July 1939) was a Himalayan veteran and leader of the second and third British expeditions to Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924. He was given a special prize at the end of the first ever Winter Olympics in France for mountaineering as the leader of the British expedition that tried to climb Mount Everest in 1922.

Background and early life

Charles Granville Bruce was the youngest of the fourteen children of Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare (1815–1895) and Norah Napier (1827–1897). His father was born at Duffryn, Aberdare, attended Swansea Grammar School, and trained as a barrister. In the 1830s, coal was discovered beneath the family's land, and with the development of the industry they became rich. Henry Bruce was stipendiary magistrate for Merthyr Tydfil, 1847 to 1854, Liberal member of parliament for Merthyr Tydfil, 1852 to 1869, and Home Secretary in Gladstone's government, 1868 to 1873. He was created first Baron Aberdare, of Duffryn, in 1873. His mother was youngest daughter of General Sir William Francis Patrick Napier.

Bruce was educated at Harrow and Repton. His early life alternated between the 'pompous formality' of Queen's Gate, London, the family home in Aberdare, and a Scottish estate.

In Wales, his mentor was a local farmer and inn-keeper, who in his youth had worked as a hunter in California and British Columbia. He taught the young Bruce how to hunt, find his way around the local hills, and drink. One of Bruce’s most notable achievements was running down a “rough crew” of local poachers. Half a century later he was proud to list their names in his memoirs; "Bill the Butcher, Shoni Kick-O-Top, Billie Blaen Llechau, Dick Shon Edwards & Dai Brass-Knocker". Bruce and the local game-keepers chased one poacher to the narrow alleyways and courts of Georgetown. The poacher was only caught when a furious husband found him snoring in his wife’s bed and threw him out on the street. The gang were duly punished, but gained revenge by returning to Bruce’s house and stealing all the weapons from his father’s gun-room.

After leaving school, Bruce entered military college. He had huge physical strength, was an enthusiastic boxer and 300 yard runner, and in the 1880s represented England against France in an international running meeting.

In 1894 he married Finetta Madelina Julia Campbell, daughter of Sir Edward Campbell, 2nd Baronet.

Career

In 1888, Bruce joined the Indian Army and became a career soldier serving with the 5th Gurkha Rifles from 1889 to 1920, rising to the rank of Brigadier-General. As a young lieutenant he was posted to Abbotabad, a British hill station in the Panjab, where he developed a passion for the locality, wrestling and climbing. Bruce had an akhara (wrestling pit) dug near his residence, where he practised on most days. Both the British and the Rajahs wagered thousands of rupees on professional wrestling matches and took pride in having the strongest sides. In the 1910s, Bruce was patron of the wrestler Rahim Sulaniwala, who went on to become a renowned champion (Summers 2000).

Bruce took a special interest in his Gurkha soldiers and became fluent in Nepali. He introduced hill racing to his Gurkha regiment and in 1891 took his champion runner Pabir Thapa to Zermatt, in Switzerland, to learn ice-climbing. On the way there, the two stayed at Aberdare, where Thapa enjoyed “running down” poachers. Despite his poor English, he was very popular with the locals. He disappeared for the last three days of his visit and was found living it up with some coal miners in Tonypandy. Bruce went on to train the Gurkhas in mountain-warfare. In 1897 he equipped his troops on the Northern Frontier with shorts, and is widely credited with their introduction to the British Army.

Bruce’s climbing experience was impressive. He spent ten climbing seasons in the European Alps and took part in three of the earliest climbing expeditions to the Himalaya. In 1892, with a troop of Gurkha soldiers he accompanied Conway in his exploration of the Baltoro region of the Karakorum, visiting Muztagh Tower, Broad Peak and K2. In 1893 he was with Francis Younghusband on a mission to the Hindu Kush to bestow recognition on Nizam-uk-Mulk as Mehtar. He and Younghusband were probably the first to discuss mounting an expedition to climb Everest. In Himalayan Wanderer, Bruce says that it was Younghusband's idea. Younghusband says that it was Bruce's.[1] In 1895, Bruce joined Albert F. Mummery and Collie in their attempt on Nanga Parbat, but he had to leave early because his army leave was up. In 1906–1907, he and Longstaff took another troop of Gurkhas to the Nanda Devi group, visiting Dunagiri and Kanchenjunga, and climbing Trisul.

It is impossible to enumerate all the peaks seen, but when I state that in a country no greater than Carmarthenshire and Glamorgan, there are some 80 peaks all in the neighbourhood of 20,000 ft… it will give an idea… of that mighty range.

In 1915, Bruce went to Gallipoli, in command of the 1st Battalion the 6th Gurkha Rifles. After two months in the front line he was severely wounded and was transferred back to India.

He had perpetual good humour, enthusiasm, and love of alcohol, coupled with competence and shrewdness. He was a superb raconteur, and a fount of bawdy stories. Younghusband described him as "an extraordinary mixture of man and boy..... you never know which of them you are talking to".

Between 1923 and 1925 Bruce was president of the Alpine Club. Because of his experience in the Himalaya he was appointed leader of the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition, the first attempt to summit Everest. He was skilful in bridging the cultural divide between Sahib and Sherpa, and had long advocated training Indians in mountain techniques, with a view to forming a body of porters and guides like those in the European Alps. He called his men porters rather than coolies. He was particularly liked by the local peoples, and for the 1922 expedition collected a cohort of local men, and enthused them with an esprit de corps. He later christened an elite group of high altitude porters the "Tigers". He was universally admired by the expedition team; George Mallory in particular, liked and trusted him. Bruce was wary of oxygen apparatus, nevertheless, George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce (Charles’s nephew) used oxygen to set a new altitude record of 27,300 feet on Everest, via the North Col.

Bruce was appointed leader of the next effort to summit Everest, the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. Several stories of him survive the trip. On the trek to Tibet, two of his muleteers got drunk and bit a local Tibetan woman. As punishment he fined them, and made them carry the 36-kilogram (80 lb) "treasury" (double the normal load carried) on a three-day march. Arthur Hinks, the rather mean-spirited secretary of the expedition committee seated in London, was exasperated by the official correspondence reaching London from the Himalayas.

Captain Noel will be arriving in Darjeeling with a box forty foot long and I am currently scouring the country for an adequate mule.

Please note that I am doing my best for this expedition. I have interviewed the Viceroy, I have preached to Boy Scouts, and I have emptied the poes in a Dak Bungalow. This is the meaning of the term General. They are cheap at home, they are more expensive out here. Hurry up with that thousand [pounds] please.

Bruce contracted malaria while tiger shooting in India before the expedition, and had to be stretchered out of Tibet. Edward Felix Norton took on leadership, and would set a new height record of 8,570 m (28,120 ft) on the mountain, less than 280 m (920 ft) below the summit. Two days later Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared on their summit attempt, and it is still argued that they may have succeeded in completing Bruce's goal of having an expedition member reach the summit.

Bruce did not return to Everest. Between 1931 and 1936 he was Honorary Colonel of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army. He died of a stroke in 1939.

Expeditions


Charles Granville Bruce in 1910

• 1892: Karakoram, with William Martin Conway
• 1895: Nanga Parbat, with Albert F. Mummery
• 1907: Trisul, with Tom George Longstaff
• 1922: 1922 British Mount Everest expedition, with Edward Lisle Strutt
• 1924: 1924 British Mount Everest expedition

Works by Bruce

• Twenty Years in the Himalaya. London: Edward Arnold, 1910
• Kulu and Lahoul. An account of my latest climbing journeys in the Himalaya. London: Edward Arnold, 1914
• The Assault on Mount Everest 1922. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1922
• Himalayan Wanderer. London: Alexander Maclehose & Co, 1934
• Bruce, C.G. (16 October 1922). "Darjeeling to the Rongbuk Glacier Base Camp" . The Geographical Journal. 60 (6): 385–394. doi:10.2307/1781075. JSTOR 1781075.

See also

• Timeline of climbing Mount Everest

References

1. Younghusband, Epic of Mount Everest, 1926
• Summers, J., Fearless on Everest (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000)
• Younghusband, F., The Epic of Mount Everest (London: Arnold, 1926)

External links

• Works by Charles Granville Bruce at Project Gutenberg
• Kenneth Mason, ‘Bruce, Charles Granville (1866–1939)’, rev. Peter H. Hansen, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
• The Peerage of Britain: Charles Granville Bruce
• Rees, Ioan Bowen. "Bruce, Charles Granville". Welsh Biography Online. The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. Retrieved 11 July 2014.

Edward Aldborough Tandy (1871-1950)
Surveyor General of India, 1924-28

The founding members [of the Himalayan Club] were:[2]

• Brigadier Edward Aldborough Tandy, Surveyor General of India

-- The Himalayan Club, by Wikipedia

T. E. T. Upton
Solicitor to the Government of India

The founding members [of the Himalayan Club] were:[2]

• Mr. T. E. T. Upton, Solicitor to the Government of India

-- The Himalayan Club, by Wikipedia

Minutes of the Ordinary Monthly meeting of the Council of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India held on the 27th June, 1913 at the Society's Gardens at 7:30 a.m.

Present:

Geo. Girard, Esq., I.S.O., F.R.H.S., in the Chair.

F.G. Clarke, Esq.
G.S.E. Colville, Esq.
F. Carter, Esq.
G.L. Sidey, Esq.
T.E.T. Upton, Esq.
E.A. Watson, Esq.

F.H. Abbott, Esq., Secretary
S. Percy-Lancaster, Esq., F.R.H.S., Asst. Secretary

-- Proceedings and Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India for January-June, 1980. Founded 1820. Calcutta: Published by the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, 17 Alipur Road, Alipur.

The first ordinary general meeting of Thornycroft (India) Limited was held at Calcutta on Friday, the 27th August, Mr. S. Bergersen presiding. The Directors report and the audited accounts were passed unanimously. Mr. T.E.T. Upton was unanimously re-elected a director of the company, and Messrs. Pent and Co. auditors.

-- Pioneer Mail and Indian Weekly News, Volume 47, September 3, 1920

THORNYCROFT

The Thornycroft was the first successful commercial motor vehicle in 1896, and still leads on the merit of its 25 years' reputation. None other offers such an assurance of lasting and efficient service.

100 new vehicles for immediate delivery from stock in India. These vehicles are built to conform with Indian Government Subsidy requirements.

Thornycroft (India), Ltd.
7, Old Court House Street, Calcutta.

THORNYCROFT

-- Indian Motor News, November, 1920, Indian Industries and Power, Volume 18

Thornycroft
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20


Thornycroft
Preserved 1934 Thornycroft Handy dropside lorry
Former type
Manufacturing
Industry Road vehicles
Fate Taken over
Successor Scammell
Founded 1896; 124 years ago in Chiswick, England
Founder John Isaac Thornycroft
Defunct 1977

Thornycroft was a United Kingdom-based vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.

History


Thornycroft Steam Wagon of 1897 with tipper body to act as a dust-cart


Thornycroft steam wagon of 1905

John Isaac Thornycroft, the naval engineer, also formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its first steam van in 1896. This was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Show, and could carry a load of 1 ton. It was fitted with a Thornycroft marine launch-type boiler (Thornycroft announced a new boiler designed for their steam carriages in October 1897[1]). The engine was a twin-cylinder compound engine arranged so that high-pressure steam could be admitted to the low-pressure cylinder to give extra power for hill-climbing.[2] A modified version of the steam wagon with a 6-cubic-yard tipper body was developed for Chiswick council in 1896 and went into service as a very early self-propelled dust-cart. While the original 1896 wagon had front-wheel drive with rear-wheel steering, the tipper dust-cart had rear-wheel drive and front-wheel steering. The Thornycroft tipper was built by the Bristol Wagon and Carriage Company, though engined by Thornycroft.[3]

Thornycroft's first petrol vehicle was built in 1902,[4] and the company completed the move into internal combustion engine power in 1907.

First World War

Thornycroft's Basingstoke factory supplied nearly 5,000 motor vehicles for war purposes. They also provided "quite a large number of engines of various powers" to the Admiralty, the War Office and to other Government Departments at the beginning of the war and for the next two years. Thereafter they manufactured marine motors for the coastal motor-boats built at the Woolston, Southampton works. They also made the Thornycroft depth-charge thrower for anti-submarine warfare.[5]

From 1931, Thornycroft used names for their vehicle range – descriptive and colourful ones. During World War II the company designed the Terrapin[6] and other war-related vehicles.

In 1948, the company name was changed to Transport Equipment (Thornycroft) Ltd to prevent confusion with the shipbuilding Thornycroft company. The company was well known for providing fire-engine chassis, with multi-axle drive for uses such as airports. A limited number of 4x4 chassis were also provided to Worcester-based fire engine manufacturer, Carmichael for sale to civilian brigades in the 1950s.

They were taken over in 1961 by AEC parent Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd,[7][8] and production was limited to Nubians, Big Bens and Antars, although the Thornycroft-designed six-speed constant mesh gearbox was used in AEC and later medium weight Leyland and Albion trucks. ACV was then taken over by Leyland in 1962. They already had a specialist vehicle unit in Scammell, another manufacturer of large haulage vehicles. Thornycroft's Basingstoke factory was closed in 1969[9] and specialist vehicles transferred to Scammell at Watford.

Models

Bus and coach


Thornycroft Type J bus

• "Type J"
• Beautyride
• Boudicea
• Cygnet (Single Deck)
• Daring (Double Deck)
• Lightning
• Nippy
• Patrician

Lorry


Thornycroft Nubian


Thornycroft Big Ben


Thornycroft Antar


Thornycroft Swift


Thornycroft Trident

• "Type J" 40 hp, 1913
• "Type K" 30 hp, 1913
• Hathi, 1924
four-wheel drive artillery tractor for the army
• A1 RSW / A3 RSW, an off-road capable rigid six-wheeler to an army specification, 1926[10]
• QC / Dreadnought, 1930
12 ton rigid six-wheel chassis.[11]
• Hardy
• Dandy
• Sturdy - 5/6 tonner
• Trusty - 8 ton forward control 4 wheeler
• Bullfinch
• Strenuous
• Mastiff
• Tartar 3-ton 6x4, both civilian & military versions and production (3,000 - 4,000) between 1938 and 1945.
(see Thornycroft Bison for an unusual variant)
• Taurus
• Iron Duke
• Amazon
• Stag
• Bulldog
• Jupiter - 6.5 ton
• Nubian
o 3-ton vehicle
o Available as 4 x 4, 6 x 4, 6 x 6
• Big Ben
• Antar
o 85-ton
o 6 x 4 pipeline and tank transporter
• Swift
• Trident

See also

• Terrapin - design only, built by Morris Commercial
• Nubian airport crash tender
• Thornycroft military vehicles
• Thornycroft Athletic F.C.

References

1. "Messrs Thornycroft's new Automotor boiler", The Automotor and Horseless Carriage Journal, October 1897, pp2-4
2. "Recent Developments in Mechanical Road Carriages", The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal, Dec 1896, pp89-91
3. "An automobile dust-cart", The Automotor and Horseless Carriage Journal, Oct 1897, p24
4. Richard Twelvetrees (1946). Thornycroft Road Transport Golden Jubilee: 50 Years of Commercial and Military Vehicle Development by Private Enterprise. J.I. Thornycroft.
5. Chairman's report (John E Thornycroft) to Annual General Meeting of John I. Thornycroft & Co. (Limited). The Times, Saturday, Jun 14, 1919; pg. 20; Issue 42126
6. Chris Bishop (2002). The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 66–. ISBN 978-1-58663-762-0.
7. Commercial Motor Archives http://archive.commercialmotor.com/arti ... or-present
8. Passenger Transport. Ian Allan, Modern Transport Publishing Company. 1961.
9. John Carroll; Peter James Davies (2007). Complete Book Tractors and Trucks. Hermes House. ISBN 978-1-84309-689-4.
10. "Type A1 RSW". Hants gov, Thornycroft. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008.
11. "Type QC lorry". Hants gov, Thornycroft. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012.

External links

• 'Thornycroft of Basingstoke' - (Hampshire Cultural Trust) - extensive coverage of history and vehicles
• Thornycroft vehicle preservation group
• Thorneycroft Classic Motor History
• Youtube video of an existing Thorneycroft rifle in the Royal Armories in Leeds, England

Sir Denys Bray
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20



Sir Denys de Saumarez Bray, KCSI, KCIE, CBE (29 November 1875 – 19 November 1951) was an etymologist and British colonial civil servant in the Empire of India, who served as Secretary of the Foreign Department of the Government of India.

Bray's publications evidence his deep understanding of the Brahui language, and his later work on Shakespeare re-arranged the much disputed argument on the basis of the discovery of a hitherto unexpected rhyme-link or word-link, joining sonnet to sonnet to form an orderly and smoothly flowing whole.

Early life

Bray was born in Aberdeen when his father, the Rev. Thomas William Bray, a Church of England cleric, was serving a cure in the Scottish Episcopal Church. He grew up there and in England and Germany, and was educated at a Realgymnasium in Stuttgart, Blundell's School in Tiverton, and at Balliol College, Oxford (where he was Taylorian Scholar).

Diplomatic career

Bray passed the Indian Civil Service examination of 1898, and served in the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan.

After serving as Deputy Secretary of the Foreign Department at New Delhi for four years, Bray was appointed Secretary in 1920, and filled the position with distinction for nearly a decade. He had a large share in shaping the treaty with Afghanistan negotiated at Kabul by Sir Henry Dobbs in 1921 (which amended the Treaty of Rawalpindi, agreed originally in August 1919, and reaffirmed Britain's recognition of Afghanistan's complete independence, and restored to the Afghans the privilege of importing munitions through India).

King Amanullah’s impatient forcing of Western ways on his people after visiting Europe in 1928 led to a revolt, and grave danger to the inmates of the British Legation at Kabul. Early in 1929, Bray was responsible for the plans for the evacuation by air (a novel method at that time) of the women and children, and then of the Minister, Sir Francis Humphreys, and his staff as part of the Kabul Airlift.

On leaving India in 1930, Bray was appointed a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for the India Office, which was transformed before the completion of his seven years into a body of advisers. Throughout the time, he was on the Indian delegation to the annual Assembly of the League of Nations. Bray also represented India at the international broadcasting conference in 1936, at the diplomatic conference on terrorism in 1937, and in the mission to Spain on refugee relief in 1938.

Etymological research and publications

Bray’s publications included:

• 1909: The Brahui Language, Part I. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing (Reprinted 1977–78, Quetta: Brahui Academy, Bib ID 1174990).
• 1913: Life History of a Brahui. London: Royal Asiatic Society (Reprinted 1977, Karachi: Royal Book Co., Bib ID 2902021).
• 1925: The Original Order of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. London: Methuen, Bib ID 2535453.
• 1934: The Brāhūī Language. Part II. The Brāhūī problem. Part III. Etymological vocabulary. Delhi: Manager of Publications.

Sources

• Obituary of Sir Denys Bray, The Times, Wednesday, Nov 21, 1951 (pg. 8; Issue 52164; col E).
• The India list and India Office list, 1905

Sir Joseph William Bhore
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20

Education Secretary Mr. J. W. Bhore, who included in his Department the Survey of India.

-- The Founding of the Himalayan Club, by G.L. Corbett

Sir Joseph William Bhore KCSI KCIE CBE (1878 – 15 August 1960) was an Indian civil servant and diwan of the Cochin State. He is best remembered for his chairmanship of the Health Survey and Development Committee that charted a course for public health investments and infrastructure in India.[1][2]

Early life and education

J. W. Bhore was born in Nasik in 1878 as the son of Rao Saheb R. G. Bhore and was educated at Bishop’s High School and Deccan College in Pune and University College, London.[3]

ICS Officer

Bhore joined the Indian Civil Service in 1902[4] and was assigned the Madras ICS cadre[5] and held a number of senior government offices in Madras and Cochin. Bhore worked variously in the Departments of Agriculture and Lands (1924–28), Industries and Labour (1930–32) and Commerce and Railways (1932–35) during his career as a civil servant.[6] He was the Acting High Commissioner for India in the UK during 1922–1923[7] and a Member of the Governor General’s Executive Council during 1926–1927 and 1930–1932. He represented India at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations in London in 1935. He was also Secretary to the Indian Statutory Commission – better known as the Simon Commission - established in 1928 to report on the working of representative institutions in British India and the Government of India Act of 1919.[8]

Bhore was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1920 New Year Honours,[9] and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1923 King's Birthday Honours.[10] He was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1930 King's Birthday Honours,[11] and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in the 1933 New Year Honours.[12]

Diwan of Cochin

J. W. Bhore had been Under Secretary, Government of Madras when he was appointed by the Raja of Cochin as Dewan in 1914, succeeding A. R. Banerji.[13][14] During his five years in Cochin from 1914 to 1919, Bhore paid attention to agrarian reforms in the state. The Tenancy Regulation of 1914 and the establishment of panchayats and co-operative societies in Cochin were among his major achievements.[15]

Bhore Committee

Main article: Bhore Committee

Bhore is perhaps best remembered for his chairmanship of the Health Survey and Development Committee which was established in 1943 by the British colonial government. The committee was tasked with undertaking ‘a broad survey of the present position in regard to health conditions and health organisation in British India’ and with making ‘recommendations for future developments’ in this regard.[1] In its final report in 1946, the Committee noted thus: "If it were possible to evaluate the loss, which this country annually suffers through the avoidable waste of valuable human material and the lowering of human efficiency through malnutrition and preventable morbidity, we feel that the result would be so startling that the whole country would be aroused and would not rest until a radical change had been brought about".[16] Two particular recommendations of the committee dealt with the establishment of Primary Health Centres and the creation of a major central institute for postgraduate medical education and research. In pursuit of these recommendations, the Government of India established the first Primary Health Centres in 1952 and in 1956, it set up the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The decision to abolish the Licentiate in Medical Practice (LMP) and to replace it with single medical qualification of an MBBS degree as the requirement to become a doctor was also taken up in 1952 on the basis of the committee’s recommendation.[17]

The Bhore Committee provided the outline for setting up an organised public health system in India and it was deeply inspired by the welfare state movement in the U.K. and socialist developments in the USSR. The Committee however has been criticised for overlooking the role of indigenous practitioners of medicine in the health system leading to a large number of private practitioners, who formed the mainstay of health care in rural areas and small towns, being ignored by the new system.[18]

Death

Bhore married Margaret Bhore MBE (née Stott) in 1911. She died in Bhopal in May 1945. Bhore died in Guernsey, Channel Islands on 15 August 1960.[19]

References

1. Wujastyk, Dagmar (2008). Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms. Albany: SUNY Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780791478165.
2. http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/searc ... Lady-Bhore
3. Wujastyk, Dagmar (2008). Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms. Albany: SUNY Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780791478165.
4. The India List and India Office List for 1905. London: Great Britain. India Office. 1905. p. 78.
5. "Elusive administrative reforms". The Hindu Businessline. 14 October 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
6. Streat, E. Raymond (1987). The Diary of Sir Raymond Streat. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 264. ISBN 9780719023903.
7. "Chapter XV- The High Commissioner for India" (PDF). Retrieved 4 March 2013.
8. "List of commissions and officials 1920-1929". Retrieved 4 March 2013.
9. London Gazette, 30 December 1919
10. London Gazette, 2 June 1923
11. London Gazette, 3 June 1930
12. "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 2 JANUARY, 1933" (PDF). Retrieved 4 March 2013.
13. "State of Cochin (Madras Presidency)". Retrieved 4 March 2013.
14. Playne, Somerset (1914). Southern India: Its History, People, Commerce, and Industrial Resources. Asian Educational Services. p. 372. ISBN 9788120613447.
15. Menon, A Sreedhara (2007). A Survey Of Kerala History. Kottayam: DC Books. p. 277. ISBN 9788126415786.
16. "FACULTY OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE". Tirunelveli Medical College. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
17. "Awaiting the new foot soldiers of community health care". The Hindu. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
18. "Merit versus social responsibility". The Hindu. 23 July 2006. Retrieved 4 March2013.
19. "Joseph William Bhore". Retrieved 4 March 2013.

External links

• Portrait of Sir Joseph William Bhore
• REPORT OF THE HEALTH SURVEY AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE SURVEY (Bhore Committee) - VOL 1

Sir George Cunningham (civil servant)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20

Private Secretary to the Viceroy, Mr George Cunningham.

-- The Founding of the Himalayan Club, by G.L. Corbett

Sir George Cunningham
GCIE KCSI OBE
1st Governor of North-West Frontier Province
In office
14 August 1947 – 8 April 1948
Monarch George VI
Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Preceded by None (office created)
Succeeded by Sir Ambrose Flux Dundas
George Cunningham
Birth: 23 March 1888, Broughty Ferry, Scotland
Death: 8 December 1963 (aged 75), West Byfleet, England
School: Fettes College
University Oxford University

Sir George Cunningham GCIE KCSI OBE (23 March 1888 – 8 December 1963)[1] was an administrator in British India who in his early years was a notable sportsperson, representing and later captaining the Scottish national team at rugby union.

Rugby career

Cunningham came to note as a rugby player when he played for Oxford University RFC while a student. He was selected for the 1907 Varsity Match against Cambridge, winning the first of three sporting caps. Cunningham played at half-back, partnering Rupert Williamson, and the agility and quick thinking of both players allowed the good scrummaging play by Oxford to release the backs. Oxford won, scoring five tries to nil.[2] The next year Cunningham was selected for the Scottish national team, and played in the 1908 Home Nations Championship whilst still a student at Oxford. His first cap was an away game to Wales at Swansea. Partnered with Louis Greig in his favoured half-back position, Cunningham ended on the losing side after a narrow 6-5 win by the Welsh. The Scottish selectors kept faith with Cunningham and Greig for the next game of the campaign, against Ireland, but both men were dropped for the final game of the tournament after a second loss.

Although out of favour with the Scottish team, Cunningham was back in the Oxford University team in the 1908 Varsity Match. Partnered again with Williamson, who was also made an international in 1908, after being selected for England. Cunningham and Williamson had another excellent game, and Cunningham set up Oxford's only try after he drew out the defence to allow Martin to score.[3]

The next season Cunningham was back in the Scotland team and played in the first game of the 1909 Home Nations Championship, again facing Wales. Cunningham scored his first international points in the game against Wales, with a penalty goal. This score was the only points for Scotland that game, and they lost 3-5. Cunningham missed the next game to Ireland, but was back in the team for the final game of the Championship, his first Calcutta Cup encounter with England. Cunningham was given the Scotland captaincy for the England match, and he spearheaded the Scotland team to a convincing win.[4] During the England game, Cunningham converted three of the four Scottish tries. At the end of the year, Cunningham played in his final Varsity Game for Oxford. In the build-up to the match Oxford were on good form, losing just three matches, and it was noted that Cunningham was absent from the side in each of these loses.[5] The Varsity Game was an extremely heavy win for Oxford, and was known as "Poulton's Match", after Ronald Poulton who scored five of Oxfords' nine tries.[6]

Cunningham retained the captaincy of Scotland for the 1910 Championship, which was now known as the Five Nations Championship with the inclusion of France. Cunningham led the team in a win over France, but then was unavailable against Wales. When he returned for the Ireland game, he led his country for the third time and his third win as captain. His winning streak was broken by his final captaincy match, the final game of the 1910 campaign, against England. Cunningham played just one more match for Scotland, now playing club rugby for London Scottish, a loss to England in 1911. No longer captain, Cunningham was moved to centre, and despite one final conversion for his team, he never represented his country again.

Civil service career

Cunningham joined the Indian Civil Service in 1911 and was awarded an OBE in 1921, KCIE in 1935 and GCIE in 1945.[7]

Cunningham served as the governor of the North-West Frontier Province three times, twice during the British Raj[8] and once after the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan. After his second term ending in 1946, Cunningham returned to Britain. However, he was invited by the colonial government in July 1947 to return and resume the office at the request of Pakistan's incoming governor general Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He is said to have agreed reluctantly, taking office on 15 August 1947.[9]

The North-West Frontier Province was at that time governed by a ministry belonging to the Indian National Congress. Jinnah amended the operative constitution, the 1935 Government of India Act, in order to be able to dismiss the ministry. Cunningham was unsure of the constitutionality of the measure, but he went along with Jinnah's wishes. A Muslim League ministry headed by Abdul Qayyum Khan was appointed on 23 August.[9]

In the subsequent months, the Pakistani tribal invasion of Kashmir was carried out under the nose of Cunningham, orchestrated by the provincial premier Abdul Qayyum Khan. Cunningham thought it was going to be disastrous and tried to stop it. But he fell in line after the accession of Kashmir to India, when Jinnah ordered his governors to enter into "the full spirit of the struggle". The tribesmen not only looted and pillaged property, but they also abducted women and sold them off to brothels. Cunningham regretted that the Pakistan government was permitting this and was evidently demoralised. His diary entry states, "I could have found half a dozen excellent grounds for resigning in the last two weeks or so, but I feel that we may be able to get the thing gradually under control again and that one must try to see it through."[9][10][11]

References

1. George Cunningham Scrum.com
2. Marshall (1951), pg 121-123.
3. Marshall (1951), pg 125.
4. Griffiths (1987), pg 2:16.
5. Marshall (1951), pg 126.
6. Marshall (1951), pg 129-130.
7. Provinces of Pakistan since 1947
8. Provinces of British India
9. Ahmed, Ishtiaq (2013), Pakistan – The Garrison State: Origins, Evolution, Consequences (1947-2011), Oxford University Press Pakistan, pp. 77–78, ISBN 978-0-19-906636-0
10. Moore, Robin James (1987), Making the new Commonwealth, Clarendon Press, pp. 51–55, ISBN 978-0-19-820112-0
11. Rakesh Ankit (March 2010). "By George: The Cunningham Contribution". Epilogue. 4 (3): 33-35. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2019.

Bibliography

• Griffiths, John (1987). The Phoenix Book of International Rugby Records. London: Phoenix House. ISBN 0-460-07003-7.
• Marshall, Howard; Jordon, J.P. (1951). Oxford v Cambridge, The Story of the University Rugby Match. London: Clerke & Cockeran.

Survey of India
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20


Survey of India
Survey and mapping agency overview
Formed: 1767; 253 years ago[1]
Jurisdiction: East India Company (1767–1858)
British Raj (1858–1947)
Government of India (from 1947)
Headquarters: Hathibarkala Estate, New Cantt Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India[2]
Minister responsible: Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology
Survey and mapping agency executives
Lt. Gen. Girish Kumar, Surveyor General of India
Col. Amardeep Singh, Addl. Surveyor General
Parent department: Department of Science and Technology
Website surveyofindia.gov.in


A map showing the triangles and transects used in the Great Trigonometrical Survey (1802-1852), produced in 1870.


Surveyor-General of India George Everest (b.1790-d.1866) under whom GTS was completed and Mount Everest was named in his honour.

The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying.[3] Set up in 1767[4] to help consolidate the territories of the British East India Company, it is one of the oldest Engineering Departments of the Government of India. Its members are from Survey of India Service cadre of Civil Services of India and Army Officers from the Indian Army Corps of Engineers. It is headed by the Surveyor General of India. At present, Survey of India is headed by Lt Gen Girish Kumar, VSM.

SI (cartography) as well as ASI (archaeology), BSI (botany), FSI (forests), FiSI (fisheries), GSI (geology), IIEE (ecology), NIO (oceanography), RGCCI (Census of India) and ZSI (zoology) are key national survey organisations of India.

History

The-history of the Survey of India dates back to the 18th Century . "First modern scientific survey of India" was undertaken by W. Mather in 1793–96 on instructions of Superintendent of Salem and Baramahal, Col. Alexander Read. The present Dharmapuri district, Krishnagiri district and North Arcot in western Tamil Nadu were then called Baramahal.[5]

Great Trigonometrical Survey (1802–1852) was started by British surveyor Col. William Lambton on 10 April 1802 from St. Thomas Mount in Chennai to foothills of Himalayas. 36 inch huge half ton weight Theodolite was used, which took 57 days to measure the 12-km base line. This 5-decade project was completed under Survey General Lt. George Everest in the year 1852. Pioneering mathematician and Surveyor Radhanath Sikdar measured Mount Everest in 1852, with a height of 29,002 feet. Modern measurements indicate the height is 29,037 feet. This is regarded as the beginning of a new age of systematic topographical mapping in India succeeding the classical age, and the founding of one of the oldest survey and mapping agencies in the world"..

Organisation

The Survey of India, headquartered at Dehra Dun, has 18 Geo Spatial divisions ranging from the prediction of tides to aerial survey. It has 23 Geo-spatial Data Centers spread across India, each catering to the respective administrative area. Surveyors are the back bone of Survey of India. Appointments to Group 'A' Civil Stream posts in the Junior Time Scale (Dy Supdtg Surveyor) in Survey of India are made on the basis of competitive Indian Engineering Services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and also through permanent secondment of Army Officers Defence Stream by the Union Public Service Commission. The important posts/ grades in Survey of India are in the following order of seniority: Draftsman, Plane Tabler, Survey Assistant, Surveyor, Officer Surveyor, Deputy Superintending Surveyor, Superintending Surveyor, Superintending Surveyor (Non-Functional Second Grade)/Deputy Director, Director/Deputy Surveyor General, Additional Surveyor General, Surveyor General.

Responsibilities

• Advisor to Govt: Survey of India acts as adviser to the Government of India on all cartography of India related matters, such as geodesy, photogrammetry, mapping and map reproduction.
• Geo names: Survey of India is responsible for the naming convention and spellings of names of geographical features of India.
• Certification and publication: Scrutiny and certification of external boundaries of India and Coastline on maps published by the other agencies including private publishers. Publication of tide tables (one year in advance) and maps of India.
• Surveys: geodetic datum, geodetic control network, topographical control, geophysical surveys, cadastral surveying, geologic maps, aeronautical charts within India, such as for forests, army cantonments, large scale cities, guide maps, developmental or conservation projects, etc.
• National borders: Demarcation of the borders and external boundaries of India as well as advice on the demarcation of inter-state boundaries.
• Oceanic tidal prediction: Undertake prediction of tides at 44 ports including 14 foreign ports.
• Research and development: In the area of photogrammetry, cartography, geodesy, topographical surveys and indigenisation of technology.
• Training: Training for the central and state government departments as well as from foreign countries.

Maps

Survey of India publishes maps and the unrestricted category maps can be obtained at very affordable prices from its several Geo-spatial data centers. Restricted category maps require due approval from government authorities. Many other rules govern the sale and use of Survey of India maps. Only an Indian citizen may purchase topographic maps and these may not be exported from India for any reason.

See also

• Indian Institute of Surveying & Mapping (IIS&M)
• Survey of India Service
• Cartography of India
• Linguistic Survey of India

References

1. "About Us". Survey of India. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
2. "Contact us". Survey of India. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
3. On 250th birthday, Survey of India wants to shed its cloak of secrecy, Indian Express.
4. St. Peter Church Allahabad.
5. Baramahal records Vol.I P.220, In Letter Dated 04.10.1797 The British Government appreciated Col. Alexander Read.
• Reginald Henry Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, 5 vols. Dehra Dun, Survey of India (1945–1968)

External links

• Official website
• India Grid System: the coordinate system used by Survey of India.
• Open Series Map (OSM): new map numbering system introduced as per the National Map Policy of 2005 by Survey of India.
• India and Adjacent Countries (IAC): old map numbering system used previously by Survey of India

Edward Lisle Strutt
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20

We owe much too to the Alpine Club, and in particular to Colonel E. L. Strutt, the Editor of the Alpine Journal, who is also one of our founder members.

-- The Founding of the Himalayan Club, by G.L. Corbett

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt, CBE, DSO (8 February 1874 – 7 July 1948) was a British soldier and mountaineer, and President of the Alpine Club from 1935–38.[1] After a distinguished military career he defended classical mountaineering against what he saw as unhelpful trends in the sport for speed.

Family

Strutt was the son of Hon. Arthur Strutt and Alice Mary Elizabeth Philips de Lisle. His paternal grandfather was Edward Strutt, 1st Baron Belper. On 10 October 1905 he married Florence Nina, daughter of John Robert Hollond MP DL, of Wonham, Bampton, Devon. They had no children.[2]

Education and military life

Strutt was educated at Beaumont College, Windsor, then at Christ Church, Oxford, and the University of Innsbruck. He joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) as a lieutenant, and was promoted to captain on 20 February 1900.[3]. The battalion was embodied in late December 1899 for service during the Second Boer War, and in early March 1900 left Queenstown on the SS Oriental for South Africa.[4]. Strutt left Cape Town for the United Kingdom with most of the battalion in May 1902, shortly before the end of the war.[5] He later served in the First World War, gaining many decorations and attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Scots.

Strutt commanded a detachment of soldiers from the Honourable Artillery Company that escorted the family of Charles I, the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King, to safety in Switzerland in 1919,[1] after having served as the family's protector at Eckartsau on the personal initiative of King George V.[6][7] Strutt was also involved in a Hungarian Habsburg restoration bid in February 1921 and as a communication link between the Habsburg Imperial and Royal couple aboard HMS Cardiff, on their way to exile in Madeira, and their children in Switzerland in November 1921.[8]


Seat of League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig

In 1920 Strutt was appointed Allied High Commissioner of the League of Nations in Gdańsk which under the auspices of the League was known then as the Free City of Danzig (Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk).[2]

Alpinism

Strutt had numerous mountaineering expeditions to Tyrol, Ötztal, the Stubai Alps and the Karwendel range. From 1892 the family employed Beatrice Tomasson as a governess. Despite Tommason being fifteen years older than Strutt the family believed they were romantically involved. Tomasson became a member of the Austrian Alpine Club in 1893 and began to attempt major climbs in the Dolomites from 1896 onwards.[9][10]

Strutt was climbing leader and deputy to expedition leader C. G. Bruce on the 1922 British expedition to Mount Everest that included George Finch and George Mallory. Strutt proved to be an unpopular member of the party, being thought of as 'pompous and pontificating'.[1] The expedition was called off when an avalanche killed seven Sherpa climbers.

Strutt was editor of the Alpine Journal from 1927–37, these being the years – according to Alan Hankinson – in which 'the Alpine Club [...] had declined into a stuffy, snobbish, backward-looking institution.' Hankinson added:

Its dominant figure was Colonel E. L. Strutt [...] for many years the autocratic and outspoken editor of the Alpine Journal. His views were rigid and intolerant. The only decent and honourable way to climb was the way in which he had climbed as a young man. Crampons were inadmissible; pitons anathema.[11]

As editor, Strutt published a number of attacks on what he saw as the insidious modern trends in mountaineering, more often than not on the part of the Germans. Although Strutt had words of praise for those climbers (on expeditions to peaks such as Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat) whom he perceived as climbing in the classical tradition –- 'We yield to no one in admiration for the German overseas parties led by Rickmers, Bauer, Borchers, Merkl, and others. The modesty of these parties have been excelled only by their skill'[12] –- he had a different reaction to climbers using modern tactics in the Alps. He continued in this article from the 1935 Alpine Journal:

But for the present-day German mountaineer in the Alps, wonder replaces admiration. There is no lack of skill –- on rocks at any rate -– but judgement and even an elementary knowledge of the ethics of mountaineering are often conspicuously absent. In these pages it has been too frequently our task to relate some unjustifiable exploit and, in the same number, to record the inevitable disaster accruing to the perpetrator. While regretting the folly of it all, we mourn the loss of promising lives.[13]

The trend towards climbing (and descending) the great peaks at great speed also disgusted Strutt. On hearing of an American who had hired a guide to take him up and down the Matterhorn in five hours, Strutt commented that this was the kind of crime 'for which the death penalty is inadequate'.[14]


The north face of the Eiger

The ongoing attempts on the north face of the Eiger (the Eigerwand) -– which had thus far resisted all efforts, and had taken the lives of six German and Austrian climbers -– were a particular object of his disdain, provoking his most notorious outburst (in his 1938 Presidential Valedictory Address to the Alpine Club, just before the first successful ascent by Anderl Heckmair and party):

The Eigerwand –- still unclimbed –- continues to be an obsession for the mentally deranged of almost every nation. He who first succeeds may rest assured that he has accomplished the most imbecile variant since mountaineering first began.[15]

Decorations

• Queen's South Africa Medal and four clasps, King's South Africa Medal and two clasps (Second Boer War)
• Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918
• Chevalier, Order of Leopold (Belgium)
• Chevalier, Order of Romania
• Croix de Guerre (Belgium)
• Croix de Guerre (France) with four palms
• Officer, Légion d'honneur
• Commander, Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1919[2]
• Mentioned in despatches four times

Bibliography

• T. S. Blakeney, "The Alpine Journal and Its Editors III, 1927–52"

References

• STRUTT, Lt-Col Edward Lisle, in Who's Who 1948 (London: A. & C. Black, 1948)
• Pugnacious Defender of Emperor Charles (The Monarchist, 7 July 2008)
1. Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt
2. thePeerage.com – Person Page 7639
3. "No. 27169". The London Gazette. 27 February 1900. p. 1353.
4. "The War - Embarcation of Troops". The Times (36080). London. 3 March 1900. p. 9.
5. "The War - Invalids and others returning home". The Times (36766). London. 13 May 1902. p. 10.
6. Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor – The Life and Times of Otto von Habsburg, Hambledon Continuum, London 2003. ISBN 1-85285-549-5.
7. Gordon Brook-Shepherd, The Last Habsburg, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1968. ISBN 0-297-17650-1.
8. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor.
9. Reisach, Hermann (2001). "Beatrice Tomasson and the South Face of the Marmolada" (PDF). Alpine Journal: 105–113. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
10. Willett, Maxine (6 August 2006). "Tomasson, Beatrice (1859-1947)". Mountain Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
11. Alan Hankinson, Geoffrey Winthrop Young: Poet, Educator, Mountaineer, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1995, p. 304
12. E. L. Strutt, 'A Superiority Complex', in Mirrors in the Cliffs, ed. J. Perrin, London: Diadem, 1983, p. 437 Daniel Anker notes in this context, 'The German attempts on Nanga Parbat were, during the same period, every bit as deadly as those on the Eiger, yet the Alpine Journal maintained a serious tone in its accounts of them. The reason is that Nanga Parbat was considered by the British to be an interesting mountaineering problem.' Eiger: the Vertical Arena, Seattle: The Mountaineers, 2000, pp. 21–2
13. 'A Superiority Complex', p. 437
14. Strutt quoted in Claire Engel, Mountaineering in the Alps, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1971, p. 198
15. From Strutt's Presidential Valedictory Address, 1938, in Alpine Journal, Vol. L, reprinted in Peaks, Passes and Glaciers, ed. Walt Unsworth, London: Allen Lane, 1981, p. 210

Gendun Chophel
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/20

The monk-intellectual, Gedun Ch'omp'el (1895-1951), was one such indigenous critic of the existing system in Tibet. In the 1940s the British and Tibetan Governments co-operated in suppressing the activities of the ’Young Tibet Party' with which he was associated. While this group espoused a mixture of ideologies, and received Chinese funding, the British also noted that Ch'omp'el was in correspondence with the Russian Tibetologist, Nicholas Roerich, whose political affiliations were uncertain.

-- Tibet and the British Raj, 1904-47: The Influence of the Indian Political Department Officers, by Alexander McKay

A portrait of Gendun Chophel in India 1936

Gendun Chompel,Gendün Chöphel (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་འཕེལ།, Wylie: dge 'dun chos 'phel)[1][need quotation to verify] (1903–1951) was a Tibetan scholar, thinker, writer, poet, linguist, and artist. He was born in 1903 in Shompongshe, Rebkong, Amdo. He was a creative and controversial figure and he is considered by many to have been one of the most important Tibetan intellectuals of the twentieth century.

Gendün Chöphel was a friend of Rahul Sankrityayan. His life was the inspiration for Luc Schaedler's film The Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet.[2] He is best known for his collection of essays called The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chophel.[3] and Grains of Gold: Tales of a Cosmopolitan Pilgrimage, written during his time in India and Sri Lanka in between 1934 and 1946. These essays were critical of modern Hinduism, Christianity, and British imperialism. While condemning places and events like the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Goa Inquisition, he praised certain British colonial practices like the abolition of sati.[4]

He completed The Passion Book in 1939[5], a work of poems written in Tibetan verse.[6] It is the most famous work of erotica in the canon of Tibetan Buddhism. He used two sources for his work - classical Sanskrit writing and the experiences that he was having in his own life.[7]

See also

• Tibet Improvement Party

References

1. 西藏革命党考实
2. The Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet
3. Lopez Jr., Donald S. (2006). The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Choephel. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-49316-4.
4. Schaeffer, Kurtis R; Kapstein, Matthew T; Tuttle, Gray, eds. (2013). "Tibetans Addressing Modern Political Issues". Sources of Tibetan Tradition. Columbia University Press. p. 753.
5. Kerner, Ian (December 19, 2018). "Sex tips ... from a Buddhist monk?". CNN.
6. Butler, John (2018-04-22). ""The Passion Book: A Tibetan Guide to Love and Sex" by Gendun Chopel". Retrieved 2018-12-19.
7. The Passion Book.

Sources

• Chöphel, Gendün (2006), Clarifying the core of Madhyamaka: Ornament of the thought of Nagarjuna. (2nd ed.), Arcidosso, GR, Italy: Shang Shung Publications
• Chöphel, Gendun; Hopkins, Jeffrey (1993), Tibetan Arts of Love, Snow Lion Publications, ISBN 0-937938-97-1
• Chöphel, Gedün (2006). Die tibetische Liebeskunst. Nietsch. ISBN 3-934647-97-9.
• Chöphel, Gedun (1985). Dhammapada, Translation of the Dharma Verses with the Tibetan Text. Dharma Publishing. ISBN 0-913546-98-4.
• Chöphel, Gedun (2009). In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Choephel, a Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Donald S. Lopez Jr. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10452-2.
• Bogin, Benjamin; Decleer, Hubert (1997), "Who was 'this evil friend' ('the dog', the 'fool', 'the tyrant') in Gedun Choephel's Sad Song?", The Tibet Journal, 22 (3): 67–78
• Dhondup, K.: "Gedun Choephel: the Man Behind the Legend". Tibetan Review, vol. 13, no. 10, October 1978, p. 10–18.
• Huber, Toni (2000). Guide to India, a Tibetan Account By: Gendun Choephel. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. pp. 162pp. ISBN 81-86470-25-5.
• Jinpa, Thupten (2003), "Science as an Allay or a Rival Philosophy? Tibetan Buddhist Thinkers' Engagement with Modern Science", in Wallace, B. Alan (ed.), Buddhism & Science: Breaking New Ground, Published by Columbia University Press, pp. 71–85, ISBN 0-231-12335-3
• Lopez, Donald S. (Jr.) (2007). The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Choephel. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-49317-2.
• Mengele, Irmgard (1999). Gedun Choephel: A Biography of the 20th Century Tibetan Scholar. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. ISBN 81-86470-23-9.
• Stoddard, Heather (1985). Le mendiant de l'Amdo (Recherches sur la Haute Asie). Paris: Societe d'ethnographie. ISBN 2-901161-28-6.
• Roerich, George N. and Gedun Choephel (Translator) (1988). The Blue Annals by Gö Lotsawa. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976, Reprint in 1979. [reprint of Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949, in two volumes].

External links

• Gendun Choephel
• The Story of a Monk Wanderer: part 1 [1], part 2 [2]
• Gendun Choephel – Angry Monk website