Francis Younghusband
Sir Francis Younghusband | |
---|---|
First World War | |
Awards | Order of the Star of India Order of the Indian Empire Charles P. Daly Medal (1922) MacGregor Medal[1] |
Alma mater | Royal Military College, Sandhurst |
Spouse(s) | Helen Augusta Magniac |
Early life
Francis Younghusband was born in 1863 at
As an infant, Francis was taken to live in England by his mother. When Clara returned to India in 1867 she left her son in the care of two austere and strictly religious aunts. In 1870 his mother and father returned to England and reunited the family. In 1876 at age thirteen, Francis entered
Military career
Having read
On arrival in India he was granted three months' leave by the Commander-in-Chief
In 1889, he made captain, and was dispatched with a small escort of
Indian Political Service career
Younghusband received a telegram from Simla, to attend the Intelligence Department (ID) to be interviewed by Foreign Secretary
Younghusband finally arrived at Gulmit to a 13-gun salute. In khaki, the envoy greeted Safdar Ali at the marquee on the Karakoram Highway, the men of Hunza kneeling at their ruler's feet. This was colonial diplomacy, based on protocol and etiquette, but Younghusband had not come for merely trivial discussions. Reinforced by Durand's troops, Younghusband's arguments were to prevent the criminal looting, murder and highway robbery. Impervious to reason though Safdar Ali was, Younghusband was not prepared to allow him to laugh at the Raj. A demonstration of firepower "caused quite a sensation", he wrote in his diaries. The British major was disdainful, but content when he left on 23 November to return to India, which he reached by Christmas.
In 1890, Younghusband was sent on a mission to
In July 1891, they were still in the Pamirs when news reached them that the Russians intended to send troops "to note and report with the Chinese and Afghans". At
During his service in Kashmir, he wrote a book called Kashmir at the request of
Expedition to Tibet
In 1903, Curzon appointed Younghusband as the head of the Tibet Frontier Commission; John Claude White, the political officer of Sikkim, and E. C. Wilton, served as his deputy commissioners in the commission.[14] Younghusband subsequently led the British expedition to Tibet, which had the putative aim to settle disputes over the Sikkim–Tibet border, but eventually exceeded instructions from the government of the United Kingdom and became a de facto invasion of Tibet.[15] Roughly 100 miles (160 km) inside Tibet, on the way to Gyantse, thence to the capital of Lhasa, a confrontation outside the hamlet of Guru led to a victory by the expedition's troops over 600–700 Tibetan soldiers.[16] Younghusband's well-trained troops were armed with rifles and machine guns, enabling them to easily defeat disorganised Tibetan forces wielding hoes, swords and flintlocks.
Ultimately, 202 men of Younghusband's expedition were killed in action while 411 died of non-combat causes.
In 1891, Younghusband received the Companion of the
Himalaya and mountaineering
In 1889, Younghusband reached base of Turkestan La (North) from north, and he noted that this was a long glacier and a major Central Asian dividing range.[21]
In 1919, Younghusband was elected President of the
In 1938, Younghusband encouraged Ernst Schäfer, who was about to lead a German expedition, to "sneak over the border" when faced with British intransigence towards Schäfer's efforts to reach Tibet.[23]
Personal life
In 1897 Younghusband married Helen Augusta Magniac, the daughter of
From 1921 to 1937 the couple lived at Westerham, Kent, but Helen did not accompany her husband on his travels. In July 1942 Younghusband suffered a stroke after addressing a meeting of the World Congress of Faiths in Birmingham. He died of cardiac failure on 31 July 1942 at Madeline Lees' home Post Green House, at Lytchett Minster, Dorset.[26] He was buried in the village churchyard.[25]
Spiritual life
Biographer Patrick French described Younghusband's religious belief as one who was
brought up an
racial theory, then transformed it into what Bertrand Russell called 'a religion of atheism.'[27]Ultimately he became a spiritualist and "premature hippie" who "had great faith in the power of cosmic rays, and claimed that there are extraterrestrials with translucent flesh on the planet Altair."[28]
During his 1904 retreat from Tibet, Younghusband had a mystical experience which suffused him with "love for the whole world" and convinced him that "men at heart are divine".
World Parliament of Religions). Younghusband published a number of books with titles including The Gleam: Being an account of the life of Nija Svabhava, pseud. (1923); Mother World (in Travail for the Christ that is to be) (1924); and Life in the Stars: An Exposition of the View that on some Planets of some Stars exist Beings higher than Ourselves, and on one a World-Leader, the Supreme Embodiment of the Eternal Spirit which animates the Whole (1927). The last drew the admiration of Lord Baden-Powell, the Boy Scouts founder.[30] Key concepts consisted of the central belief that would come to be known as the Gaia hypothesis, pantheism, and a Christlike "world leader" living on the planet "Altair" (or "Stellair"), exploring the theology of spiritualism, and guidance by means of telepathy.In his book Within: Thoughts During Convalescence (1912), Younghusband stated:
We are giving up the idea that the Kingdom of God is in Heaven, and we are finding that the Kingdom of God is within us. We are relinquishing the old idea of an external God, above, apart, and separate from ourselves; and we are taking on the new idea of an internal spirit working within us – a constraining, immanent influence, a vital, propelling impulse vibrating through us all, expressing itself and fulfilling its purpose through us, and uniting us together in one vast spiritual unity.[31]
Younghusband took interest in Eastern philosophy and Theosophy and dismissed the idea of an anthropomorphic god.[32] Taking influence from Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution, he proposed purpose in the cosmos through a creative life force. Younghusband's philosophy of cosmic spiritual evolution was outlined in his books Life in the Stars (1927) and The Living Universe (1933).[32] In the latter book he proposed the idea that the universe is a living organism. Younghusband held the view that spiritual forces in the universe are directing evolution and producing life and intelligence on many different planets.[32] Younghusband's ideas were dismissed by scientists and few took his ideas seriously. He founded the World Congress of Faiths to promote dialogue between different religions.[32]
Younghusband allegedly believed in free love ("freedom to unite when and how a man and a woman please"), marriage laws examined as a matter of "outdated custom".[33]
Fictional portrayal
One of Younghusband's domestic servants, Gladys Aylward, became a Christian missionary in China. The Ingrid Bergman film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) is based on Gladys Aylward's life, with Ronald Squire portraying Younghusband.[34]
Works
Younghusband wrote 26 books in all between 1885 and 1942. Subjects ranged from Asian events, exploration, mountaineering, philosophy, spirituality, politics and more.
- Confidential Report of a Mission to the Northern Frontier of Kashmir in 1889 (Calcutta, 1890).
- The Relief of Chitral (1895) (co-authored with his brother George John Younghusband)
- South Africa of Today (1896)
- The Heart of a Continent (1896) The heart of a continent: vol.1
- . The Empire and the century. London: John Murray. 1905. pp. 599–620.
- Kashmir (1909) (with illustrations by Major Edward M. J. Molyneux)
- India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. London: John Murray. 1910.
- Within: Thoughts During Convalescence (1912)
- Mutual Influence: A Re-View of Religion (1915)
- The Sense of Community (1916)
- The Heart of Nature; or, The quest for natural beauty (1921)
- The Gleam (1923)
- Modern Mystics (1923) (
ISBN 1-4179-8003-6, reprint 2004)- Mother World in Travail for the Christ that is to be (1924)
- Wonders of the Himalayas (1924)[35]
- The Epic of Mount Everest (1926) (
ISBN 0-330-48285-8, reprint 2001).- Life in the Stars (1927)
- The Light of Experience (1927)[35]
- Dawn in India (1930)
- The Living Universe (1933)
- The Mystery of Nature in Frances Mason. The Great Design: Order and Progress in Nature (1934)
- The Sum of Things (1939)
- Vital Religion (1940)
Taxon named in his honor
Brahmaputra) drainage and in endorheic lakes in its vicinity.[36]References
Citations
- ^ "MacGregor Medal". United Service Institution of India. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b c d C. Hayavando Rao, ed. (1915). The Indian Biographical Dictionary. Madras: Pillar & Co. pp. 470–71. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ James 1888, pp. 235–238
- ^ General Sir C MacGregor, The Defence of India, (Simla, 1884)
- ^ a b Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). The Heart of a Continent, pp. 58-290. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics.
James, Sir Henry Evan Murchison (1888), The Long White Mountain, or, A journey in Manchuria: with some account of the history, people, administration and religion of that country, Longmans, Green, and Co.- ^ James 1888, pp. 254, 262)
- ^ James 1888, pp. 125, 217)
- ^ The Heart of a Continent, pp. 186ff
- ^ The Heart of a Continent, pp. 234ff
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography "Sir George Macartney"
ISBN 978-0-313-32280-8. ISSN 1061-1924. Archived from the originalon 1 June 2006. ISBN 978-0-14-196430-0.- ^ "Tibetans' fight against British invasion". En.Tibet.cn – China Tibet Information Center. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
- ^ Morris, James: Farewell the Trumpets (Faber and Faber, 1979), p. 102.
ISBN 978-0-7535-1359-0.- ^ Great Britain. India Office The India List and India Office List for 1905, p. 145, at Google Books
- ^ "Scottish Geographical Medal". Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
ISBN 9781408829004.- ^ 1999, Saga of Siachen, The Himalayan Journal, Vol.55.
- ^ "Text of The Epic of Mount Everest, Sir Francis Younghusband". Archived from the original on 26 May 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
- ^ Hale, Christopher. Himmler's Crusade (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003) pp. 149-151
ISBN 9780857731432.- ^ a b Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Anon. 1942 Obituary: Sir Francis Edward Younghusband. Geographical Review 32(4):681
- ^ French, p.313.
- ^ French, p. xx
- ^ quoted in French, p. 252.
- ^ French, p. 321
S2CID 162397265.- ^
ISBN 0-226-06858-7- ^ French, p. 283
- ^ French., p. 364
- ^ a b Hopkirk, op cit.
- ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Order CYPRINIFORMES: Family CYPRINIDAE: Subfamilies ACROSSOCHEILINAE, BARBINAE, SPINIBARBINAE, SCHIZOTHORACINAE, SCHIZOPYGOPSINAE and Incertae sedis". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
Sources
ISBN 0-7195-5427-6.- Broadbent, Tom (2005). On Younghusband's Path: Peking to Pindi. Head-Hunter.
ISBN 0-9548542-2-5.- Candler, Edmund (1905). The Unveiling of Lhasa. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
- Carrington, Michael (2003). "Officers Gentlemen and Thieves: The Looting of Monasteries during the 1903/4 Younghusband Mission to Tibet".
S2CID 144922428. ISBN 978-0195838626. ISBN 0-00-215733-0. ISBN 1-56836-022-3.- Mehra, P. (1968). The Younghusband Expedition.
ISBN 978-1-58243-106-2.- Seaver, George (1952). Francis Younghusband: Explorer and Mystic.
External links
- Halkias, Giorgos, The 1904 Younghusband's Expedition to Tibet, ELINEPA, 2004
- Description of rare Younghusband photograph collection held by the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia [1]
- Works by Francis Younghusband at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Francis Younghusband at Internet Archive
- Works by Francis Younghusband at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Portraits of Francis Younghusband at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- "Archival material relating to Francis Younghusband". UK National Archives.
- World Congress of Faiths' History
- Royal Geographic Society photograph of Younghusband's Mission to Tibet
- 1st King's Dragoon Guards (regiments.org)
- The heart of nature (1921)
- India and Tibet (1910)