THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY - Digital Himalayahimalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bnsj/pdf/bnsj_33.pdf · THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY Jo u r n a l Number33 2009 ... Rtn. H.B

THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY

J o u r n a l

Number 33

2009

67303 BritainNepal 33 COV:55503 BritainNepal 31 COV 20/10/11 08:54 Page 2

ACORN Nepal Trust(Aid for Children of Rural Nepal

and Educational Trust)

Charitable Society Regd. No. 701/1999

Main OfficeProf. Dr. Bharat B. KarkiBalkhu, Ring Road, Kathmandu - 14Tel: 279762, Post Box: 3046Fax: 977-1-282688

Founder PresidentU.K. ContactRtn. H.B. Karki21 Victoria Road, AldershotHampshire GU11 1TQTel/Fax: 01252 316058

PresidentRtn. Hari Bivor Karki

Vice-PresidentProf. Dr. Bharat B. Karki

SecretaryAnjela Nepal Karki

TreasurerMrs. Bimala Katuwal

Executive MembersDr. Yagya B. KarkiMrs. Shova SubediMrs. Sushila Khadka

Hon. MembersLady Morris of KenwoodRtn. Gerald HughesMr. Brian MayhewMs. Diana Reason

Dr Abhiram Bahadur Singh

PLEASE WRITE TO: The Gurkha Welfare Trust, PO Box 2170,

22 Queen Street, Salisbury SP2 2EX, telephone us on 01722 323955

or e-mail [email protected] Registered charity No. 1103669

That is why we are asking those

who do remember, to consider

making a provision now for the

time when funding and support

for Gurkha welfare will be much

harder to come by. You can do

this by a legacy or bequest to the

Gurkha Welfare Trust in your Will.

This will help to ensure the

long-term future of our work.

In just the last four years the

monthly ‘welfare pension’ we

pay to some 10,400 Gurkha

ex-servicemen and widows has

risen from 2,500 NCR to 3,800

NCR to try and keep pace

with inflation in Nepal. Welfare

pensions alone cost the Trust £4.4

million last year. Who knows what

the welfare pension will need to be

in 10 or 20 years time.

If you do write or amend your

Will to make a provision for the

Trust then do please let us know.

We hope it will be many years

before we see the benefit of your

legacy, but knowing that a

number of our supporters have

remembered the Trust in their

Wills helps so much in our

forward planning. Thank you.

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JournalNumber 33

2009

CONTENTS

4 Editorial

7 The Society’s News

9 We Won – The Esther Benjamin’s Trust

14 Golden Rain

18 A Great Game Connection with Jersey

24 Darjeeling and Tea

28 Autism in Nepal

30 From the Editor’s In-Tray

35 Review article – Britain’s Gurkha War

41 Short reviews

44 Obituaries

49 The International Trust for Nature Conservation

50 Useful addresses

51 Notes on the Britain – Nepal Society

52 Officers and Committee of the Society

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2

The pavilion in the Dream

Garden, the restored garden of the K

aiser Mahal (K

aiser Library).


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Mr Jhabindra PrasadAryal, Charged’Affaires with thechairman at the Supper.

The vice chairman, Mr JohnAckroyd and the secretary,Mrs Pat Mellor at the Supper.

Miss Myrtle Ross at the Supper. Brig Christopher Bullock at the Museum.


The year 2009 has been a difficult onepolitically for Nepal, as was indicated to theSociety in the lecture given to us by HE DrAndrew Hall earlier in the year. Changes ingovernment will have distracted theConstituent Assembly from their task ofproducing the new constitution, withinevitable delays. One of the major stickingpoints has been the question surroundingthe future of the Maoist ‘fighters’ nowbeing held in UN monitored camps acrossthe country. Negotiations to absorb someinto the Nepalese Army have failed. TheChief of Army Staff refused to accept thisproposition and, as a consequence, wasdismissed by the Prime Minister, PushpaKamal Dahal, (aka ‘Prachanda’). Hisdismissal was then reversed by thePresident which resulted in the PrimeMinister’s resignation and the withdrawalof the Maoist party from government. MrMadhav Kumar Nepal is the current PM (asat December 2009). The Maoists thenimposed a blockade on Parliament whichhas further delayed progress and means thatit is practically certain that the May 2010deadline for a new constitution will not beachieved. During early November itbecame apparent that unless Parliamentarybusiness was resumed, the country wouldsoon run out of government funds as thebudget had not been passed. Afterconsiderable discussion the Maoists liftedtheir blockade for three days during whichtime the budget was approved. Theblockade was then re-imposed. The currentUN mandate will run out in January 2010.Since UNMIN has not yet fully achieved itspurpose, it would seem that an extension islikely and negotiations are under way at thetime of drafting. Climate change is of greatimportance to Nepal as everywhere else. Tohighlight the Copenhagen climateconference, the Maldives government held

an under-sea cabinet meeting. Not to be outdone, the Nepalese cabinet held a meetingon 4th December at the Everest base camp,a somewhat costly and potentiallydangerous exercise.

As ever Nepal has to face both India andChina. There seems to be increasingChinese involvement as they have indicateda greater willingness to help get food andgoods to the remote northern border areasby routing traffic via their main east-westroad to the north of the main Himalayanrange, using feeder roads emanatingsouthwards into Nepalese territory. TheNepalese are increasing border security atthe northern passes and routes into the TibetAutonomous Region. This will permitgreater control over Tibetans wishing toenter Nepal en route to India andDharamsala, the current home of the DalaiLama. Both the former King Gyanendraand more recent political leaders havesought to woo Chinese support tostrengthen legitimacy and to off set Indianinfluence to the south. The quid pro quo hasbeen the tightening up over the Tibetanexiled community with the closure of theDalai Lama’s representative’s office and theUN-funded Tibetan Refugee Welfare Officein 2005 by Gyanendra and the subsequentrefusal by the Maoist government in 2008to reopen these offices. Issues in respect ofthe Arunachal (former North East FrontierAgency)/ Chinese border are once againhigh on the Chinese agenda since theyclaim this as Chinese territory. India withher own Maoist problems, will wish tominimize problems coming out ofKathmandu. All these competing pressureshave a strong influence on the direction of‘Himalayan politics’.

Notwithstanding political life in Nepal,there is this autumn a high level of touristactivity. Hotels are recording high

EDITORIAL

4


occupancy rates and tourists one meets allseem to have had enjoyable experiences.Looking ahead some problems wouldappear to be looming. Relatively little rainfell during the monsoon and already this isaffecting electricity supplies with loadshedding in place. Likewise drinking waterwill become scarcer. There are alwaysthreats of strikes and bhands by Maoistactivists which could affect movementaround the country, both road and air andhotel staff. Much will depend upon how thepoliticians resolve their differences over thecoming months.

A Society as old as ours, approaching itsgolden jubilee, inevitably loses its founderand senior members as the years go by.This year is no exception. We were sad tolearn that Jim Edwards, of Tiger Tops fame,a life member of the Society, had died inMarch. I had had the good fortune to meethim in Kathmandu in mid 1962, when weboth arrived in Nepal at about the sametime. The expat community in those dayswas very small so I was glad to get to knowsomeone of my own age on my visits toKathmandu from Dharan. Our pathscrossed quite often over the succeedingyears with our children attending the sameprep school. Jim was initially famous forhis work in making Tiger Tops an iconiclocation in for wildlife tourism in Nepal.With the late Colonel Jimmy Roberts heestablished the Tiger Mountain group ofcompanies which set the standard forwildlife tourism, trekking andmountaineering in Nepal. This brought alarge number of ‘high value’ tourists toNepal, contributing greatly to Nepal’seconomy over many years. Jim alwayssought to ensure that his work was soundenvironmentally and took great care of theneeds of his local staff. Many Societymembers, their children and their friendswill have experienced Jim’s generosity andhospitality in Nepal. He co-founded theWorld Elephant Polo Association. The

annual championships, held on Meghauliairstrip in Chitwan, attracted much attentionfrom the British press, highlighting Nepalas an important tourist destination. He wasalso the driving force behind the setting upof the International Trust for NatureConservation (ITNC), a conservationorganisation which has been able toconcentrate on projects that did notnecessarily fit the remit of the large globaltrusts. A full obituary, written by MarcusCotton, a colleague and friend is elsewherein the journal.

Another erstwhile member from theearly 1960s, Tom Spring-Smyth also died inmid year. The late fifties and early sixties inNepal were what I term the ‘Han Su Yin’ or‘post Han Su Yin period’ (See footnote.). Itwas the age of pioneering there, at least forwesterners. It was the age of BorisLissanevitch at the Royal Hotel, FatherMarshall Moran at St Xaviers School andToni Hagen, the Swiss geologist andexplorer. Tom, a retired military engineer,was working for the UN on the earlyfeasibility work for the Karnali hydro-electric project. Tom was a keenhorticulturist and travelled widely lookingfor plants. Members will recall the outing in2000 to the Hillier Arboretum hosted byTom to see the Gurkha Memorial Gardenthat he master-minded. A full obituary,written with the aid of Tony Schilling, isalso elsewhere in the journal.

Sadly too Sir Anthony Hurrell died inthe spring. He was ambassador inKathmandu 1983-86. His route to becomingambassador did not follow the usual path,not having started his career in the ForeignService. He was also a very keenornithologist and bird ringer.

As the Secretary reports, one of ourstrongest supporters, former chairman andvice president, Peter Leggatt, very sadlydied just a few days before the Society’sAGM.

I am grateful as always to the Journal’s

5


contributors. Philip Holmes has provided anupdate of the Esther Benjamin’s Trust’scontinuing operations to return Nepalesegirls who were working in Indian circusesin appalling conditions. With permissionfrom the editor of The Kukri, journal of theBrigade of Gurkhas, I have included a storywritten by Lt Col John Cross, in his owninimitable style that comes from hisjourneying around Nepal to meet ex-servicemen and their families. Major KelvinKent has written about the Jerseyconnection with one of the nineteenthcentury ‘Great Game’ characters. Althoughnot strictly about Nepal, it was at leastperipheral to that area of operations. It wasthe Nepalese consul in Lhasa that helpedSir Francis Younghusband in his initialapproaches to the Tibetan authorities in1903/04. A ‘game’ is still being played outin Central Asia and one should perhapsremember Lord Curzon’s words at the 1908annual dinner of the then Central AsianSociety, “fifty or a hundred years hence,Afghanistan will be as vital and important aquestion as it is now.” Darjeeling is verymuch part of the Nepalese diaspora and iswell known to senior members of theSociety. Thanks to the late Mr PeterLeggatt, a director of Camellia PLC, I ampleased to include a short article from theCamellia Journal, house magazine ofCamellia PLC, which sketches out a briefhistory of the development of the teaindustry in the Darjeeling district. Nepalesewere encouraged to take up work in thedeveloping tea gardens in the latenineteenth century. Over the succeedingyears with both an expanding populationand increased development, there has beena movement of Nepalese north and east intoBhutan’s lowland region, to Assam and thesurrounding states. Nepali is a very usefullanguage for travel within north east India.There is a twenty year, outstanding disputewith Bhutan over the question of theNepalese ethnic group, known as the

Lhotshampas that established itself there.Some 90,000 refugees were put in camps ineast Nepal that have been in existence sincethe early 1990s and although the question isstill not settled, some 60,000 are beingoffered the chance to move to the USA.

Thanks to the efforts of John Cross, MrJohn Pemble has had his original work onthe 1814 -16 Anglo-Nepal war republished.The book has been thoroughly reviewedunder the new title of Britain’s Gurkha War.The Society was privileged to receive alecture from Pemble, the text of which hasbeen published in Asian Affairs, the journalof the Royal Society for Asian Affairs(formerly the Royal Central Asian Society).There is quite a literary tradition in theSociety as the ‘Short Review’ sectiondemonstrates. I congratulate the authorsinvolved. Harish Karki has written abouthis early life in Nepal and the army beforecoming to UK and becoming a successfulrestauranteur. Brigadier ChristopherBullock has written the definitive history ofthe Brigade of Gurkhas and John Cross iscontinuing his series of historical novels.There are here plenty of ideas for membersor indeed their spouses for suitablepresents.

The frontispiece photograph shows thepavilion in the recently restored section ofthe garden of Kaiser Mahal. This has beentastefully done and is a haven of quietamongst the noise and bustle ofKathmandu. There is a good restaurant andcoffee bar run by the Dwarika Hotel. It isan excellent place to sit and write or justrelax. The famous library put together bythe late Field Marshal ‘Kaiser’ ShumsherRana (1892-1964) with its pictures providesa reading area for students and visitors andhouses the Ministry of Education.

(Foot note: Han Su Yin wrote a novel set in Kathmandu inthe late 1950s entitled The Mountain is Young. Hercharacters are based on real people there at that time and herdescription of life in the Valley is very evocative. Ed.)

6


7

THE SOCIETY’S NEWSBy Pat Mellor

Once again, we have been privileged tobe able to hold our AGM and ourExecutive Committee Meetings at theNepalese Embassy by kind permission ofMr Jhabindra Aryal, Charge d’Affaires.The Committee and Members give theirthanks to Mr Aryal and to all themembers of the Embassy staff who arealways unfailingly charming and helpfulto us. This last year I have been acting asHonorary Secretary with the great help ofMrs Jenifer Evans. However I amlooking forward to all the Membersputting their minds to finding that elusivebeing – a new keen Honorary Secretarybursting with wonderful new ideas.

LECTURESIn 2009 the Society was able to hold fourtalks, three at the Medical Society ofLondon and one at Canning House,Belgrave Square, where the RoyalSociety for Asian Affairs have their office& library and hold their talks. Thesewere:

Wednesday, 28th January Lt ColGerry Birch gave a fascinating talkwith a collection of slides from the1948/49 American ZoologicalExpedition to Nepal from thearchives of the Royal Society forAsian Affairs.

Thursday, 12th March, JohnPemble’s talk was entitled“Gurkhas, Guns & Shawl- woolgoats – Looking again at the AngloNepalese War”. John Pemble took members through the new revisededition of his book entitled“Britain’s Gurkha War – Theinvasion of Nepal 1814-16”. This

book has a forward written by the inimitable John Cross.

Thursday, 26th March at CanningHouse – (rather soon after the lastlecture but fitting in with DrAndrew Hall’s visit to London), HEDr Andrew Hall OBE, BritishAmbassador to Nepal, gavemembers an outline of the presentsituation from both the political andgeneral angle in Nepal. This talkwas attended by many membersinterested to hear directly about thecurrent situation. Dr Hall gave members a clear, if somewhatdepressing picture of some aspectsbut it was hoped that someimprovements were possible aswork continued on the constitution. Members were keenlyinterested and kept Dr Hallanswering questions long after theofficial end of the talk.

Thursday, 15th October, GeorgeBand OBE gave a talk entitled‘Everest 1953, Hillary and HisHimalayan Trust’, which gave us apicture of Ed Hillary and the schools that he started in Nepal as acharitable trust. This very populartalk was followed by a Nepalisupper attended by some 40members and guests.

Our grateful thanks goes to all theseexcellent speakers who gave us theirtime, shared their knowledge and showedbeautiful slides. We look forward tomeeting them again and thanking thempersonally at the Annual Nepali Supperin 2010.


8

ANNUAL NEPALI SUPPERAs usual, the Supper was held at StColumba’s Church of Scotland Hall inPont Street on the 19th February 2009,with over120 people attending. This wasa very happy and successful evening andwe were glad to welcome orderlies and apiper from the Queen’s Gurkha Engineersto play during the evening. Membersreally appreciate the help that these menso willingly provide. Also we were happyto welcome the two Queen’s GurkhaOrderly Officers to the Supper as ourguests.

Please note that the date for the 2010Annual Nepali Supper is Thursday, 18thFebruary.

SUMMER OUTINGThe Summer Outing this year was heldon Sunday, 4th July, when, with greathelp in the arrangements from MrsJenifer Evans, we visited the GurkhaMuseum in Winchester. Some 43members gathered for a pre-lunch drinkand chat (of which there was plenty) andthen we all trooped into the very lovelydining room at the Museum with thetables set with the silver and settled downto a delicious lunch supplied by theGurkha Kitchen Restaurant nearby.After lunch, Brigadier Christopher

Bullock OBE MC gave a short andinteresting talk about his forthcomingbook, Britain’s Gurkhas, before wetoured the Museum, which has seenmany of the exhibits brought up to date.It was a fascinating and well worthwhilea visit, and an excellent day out.

The date for the Summer Outing nextyear is to be Saturday, 3rd July 2010 toWhipsnade Zoo.

DEATHSIt is with sadness that I have to reportthat the following members died during2009:

Dr Brian C DaviesMr A V Jim Edwards, Life Member &Founder of Tiger MountainSir Anthony Hurrell KCVO CMG –former ambassador in KathmanduMrs Diana Roberts Major T Le M Spring-Smyth

Late Note:It is with great sadness that we have torecord the sudden and unexpected deathof Mr Peter A Leggatt, MBE, at his homein London on Sunday 29th November,former chairman and vice president ofthe Society. An obituary will be includedin the 2010 edition of the journal.

SOCIETY TIES SCARVES AND LAPEL BADGES

Mr David Jefford kindly looks after the sale of the Society ties and scarves whichcost £10.00 each including postage. They are available from him at: 20 Longmead,

Fleet, Hampshire GU52 7TR or at the AGM or one of our major functions.

Miss Jane Loveless has supervised the production of a very attractive lapel badgewhich is available for sale for £3.00 at the AGM and other major functions.


9

WE WONBy Philip Holmes

Founder/Director - The Esther Benjamin’s Trust

“Tirmaya, aged 14, from Nepal, was sentby her parents to the Weston Circus atthe age of six. She went there through anagent, whom she identified as DhanBahadur of Nepal, a local man. She doesnot remember her exact address. She hasnot visited her home in all these years,nor have her parents visited her. Sherequested Dhan Bahadur to take herback to her parents, but he pretended notto recognise her. She implored theresearchers to help her return home.”

This extract comes from a report wepublished in 2003 which followed ourundercover survey during the latter halfof 2002 investigating the use oftrafficked children in Indian circuses.Tirmaya was one of scores of lost Nepaligirls we found inside the circuses – eachof whom had been sold by their parentsinto a life of abuse (including sexualabuse) and exploitation by cruel circusowners.

Nepalese girls were highly soughtafter by the circuses as a way ofattracting customers who were lecherousvoyeurs rather than circus skills fanatics.The girls would be scantily clad duringperformances, with fixed smiles; if theysmiled too much or too little they wouldbe beaten after the show.

These modern-day slaves performedthree times a day, seven days a weekwith continuous training between shows.They were bound to the circuses byillegal contracts brokered by scurrilouschild trafficking agents – contracts whicheffectively imprisoned them for 10 to 15years with no remuneration. Illiterateparents had no idea as to the content of

the contracts they were ‘signing’ – oftenwith a thumbprint as they had never helda pen before, let alone used one – andthey were frequently written in Englishin any case.

Other parents didn’t care, for in sellingthe children they would often beoffloading unwanted progeny from firstmarriages for a few dollars in up-frontcash with the prospect of additionalpayments further down the line. Theywere consigning their daughters tooblivion.

Six years ago I was shaken by thegrim content of our report, its findings ofvicious beatings and entrapment insidethese prisons that masqueraded ascircuses, and I was moved by thedesperate requests of the children for theresearchers to help them. It seemed likean impossible task for our new, verysmall charity – an apparently unequal,unwinnable struggle with the powerfulIndian circus industry. But it was one Ifelt we had to accept.

We set up an office at Hetauda in thesouth of Nepal, in the heart of the mainchild trafficking area of MakwanpurDistrict. We liaised with families whohad sent children south into India andregretted their decision. They sought helpin retrieving their daughters. We built upa “Hetauda List” – the names and detailsof missing children against their lastknown circus whereabouts. Then webegan to work through the list, circus bycircus, mounting rescue operations bysending a team into India (sometimesaccompanied by parents) to wherever aparticular circus was thought to beplaying. Some of our team members


10

were former circus staff – poachersturned gamekeepers – who could usetheir connections in India to establish acircus’s whereabouts. At the circuslocation the team would link up with thelocal authorities and instigate a policeraid on the unsuspecting circus.

The first big rescue took place in April2004 when we freed 29 children fromThe Great Indian Circus in Kerala, southIndia. Interviews with the rescuedchildren and teenagers indicated that thesituation inside the circus was evenworse than we had believed. The newly-rescued girls could talk freely and itbecame clear that all of the teenagerswere being raped by the circus owner.One little boy, Shankar, had thehorrifying task of taking girls to thecircus owner’s tent at night. He wouldhear the screams and pleas for mercy ashe waited outside. Others told of foodthat was full of stones and shared withthe animals. The punishment forattempted escape was to be strippednaked and beaten in front of the wholetroupe. The victim’s cries would bedrowned by the revving of circus motorbike engines.

Our rescues have continued ever sinceand we have made astonishing progressto achieve results in what can often be alosing battle. These results can bemeasured not just in terms of childrenrescued but by how closely we supportthe trafficking survivors and theirfamilies after the retrieval operations –and by the actions we have taken againstthe perpetrators.

Many survivors have no families toreturn to, so we offer long-term refugeaccommodation in Kathmandu that offerscompassionate care and support,education and vocational training andsocial development opportunities. Where

reunification is possible (and deemedsafe) we financially support the childrenas they rejoin school and the older oneswho enter vocational training.

Beyond our main focus of care, wehave tackled the trafficking problem atits core in two key respects: incomegeneration activities are helpingcommunities to develop their ownsustainable income and subsequently notbe so vulnerable to the approaches oftraffickers; meanwhile, we havesuccessfully pursued legal action againstthe traffickers and circus owners – withlengthy custodial sentences suitabledeterrents to any prospective agent orowner.

Dhan Bahadur Gurung, the agentmentioned in Tirmaya’s case, wasapprehended in early 2005. In a landmarkcourt case, for which we provided thewitnesses and legal team, he wasconvicted of trafficking in May 2006 andsentenced to the maximum 20 years inprison with no prospect of remission.This was the first time the circus wasrecognised by a Nepalese court as being“immoral” and a trafficking destinationcomparable to the Indian sex trade. Sincethen we have put another 12 agentsbehind bars, the latest one being anotorious agent called Shankar Basnet.No known agents are currentlytrafficking to the circus industry.

Lakhan Chaudhary, a prominent circusowner, had raped some of the girls at hisNew Raj Kamal circus. When we rescuedthese girls in 2007, he was sent to prisonpending trial; he was the first circusowner to be jailed. The trial began thisyear and we provided the witnesses. Thekey witness, Rita (name changed), wasone of his victims and she gladly andconfidently gave evidence against him.That she had the confidence to testify is


11

tribute to her and the recovery she hasmade in our secure, compassionateresidential refuge.

Changing tideThroughout 2008 it became clear to us

that a sea change was taking place withinthe circuses – they were voluntarilysending girls back to Nepal to avoid thebad publicity they had been receiving inthe media. (For example: a rescue that Iwent on in June 2008 received front pagecoverage in The Times of India. Circusowners didn’t want the hassle, and nodoubt the word about Chaudhary’s arrestwas getting around.) The net flow ofNepalese girls was definitely back fromthe circuses, a turning of the tide that Ihad not anticipated. Nor had I expectedimprovements in working conditionsinside the circuses, with the violencestopping and girls being paid salaries.This being the case, many girls chose tostay with the troupe rather than return toa more uncertain future in Nepal throughvoluntary release by the circus.

This trafficking route between Nepaland India is now closed; the supply hasstopped because agents are in jail andthere is no longer a demand from thecircuses for Nepali girls. The “HetaudaList” has evaporated. Such a victory is arare occurrence in the struggle againstchild trafficking, where the traffickers sooften seem to be one step ahead of theauthorities and concerned organisationssuch as ours. This is certainly a battlewon, but a greater challenge lies ahead.

The challenge is to provide continuouscare for over 150 children whose onlysupport now is The Esther BenjaminsTrust. We provide the accommodation,care, access to education and vocationaltraining these young people need torecover. It costs £45 per child per month

to provide this care – and with manychildren likely to be with us for at leastthe next 10 years, that is a long-termcommitment.

Hundreds of other Nepali childrenhave been displaced to India – someworking in coalmines, others living onthe streets without support. Ourresearchers are currently investigating theseverity of the problem, but it is feasiblethat more children will need to beafforded the same care and attention asthe other beneficiaries we are helping.

To meet these commitments, we needsubstantial funds – and that is why I amasking you to join me as a child sponsor .For £25 per month you could pay for onechild’s full residential care; £15 wouldcover their education. If you can spare £5per month, it will help a child to enjoythe stimulating social activities wecoordinate at the refuge. Alternatively,you might like to consider becoming atestator if you are planning to draft or re-write your Will. Please remember howeven a modest gift in your Will can bemade to go a very long way inimpoverished rural Nepal.

The Esther Benjamins Trustwww.ebtrust.org.uk


12


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13

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14

(I am grateful to the editor of ‘TheKukri’, journal of the Brigade ofGurkhas for permission to reproduce thispiece. Ed.)

The two old men had been enemies formore than half a century. Their quarrelhad its roots in the distribution of theirinheritance. The elder brother,Jaimordhan Rai, aged 80, had the lowerand better plot of land: his youngerbrother, Dhanmordhan Rai, aged 76, hadthe upper and less fertile. Local legendhad it that the division of the twoproperties was a line of old laburnumtrees but according to the youngerbrother that was not where their fatherhad intended it to be. Claim and counter -claim had soured relations to such anextent that the two men only ever metwhen an important visitor arrived;otherwise they went their own way,armed with kukris against an attack bythe other. I learnt all this as I walked inthe hills of eastern Nepal in early 1967.

Back in the unit, while planning mytrek, I had been asked by a soldier if Iwould visit his house, taking a letter tohis father. I told him to explain where itwas to my soldier-guide who, in turn,told me it was an hour's walk from hisown home, down in the valley.

Winter was over when we reached myguide's home high up on a ridge but thecold wind was still bitter, bringingflurries of late snow. He had business toattend to so suggested I went down thevalley to the home of the soldier whoseletter I had said I would deliver.

"It's warmer down there than up here.Time you stopped shivering!" Hegrinned at me. "Leave tomorrow

morning after your meal. You'll be thereby noon; I'll send my younger brother asguide."

"That's fine. I'll be back by lateafternoon."

He eyed me, hesitated, and then said,"I'll expect you when I see you but don'tforget we're due to move off northtomorrow, for a week or so."

The weather grew warmer as wedescended and I appreciated it. From avantage point I saw a large house,strongly built and surprisingly graciousof aspect. It was surrounded by anorchard of orange, apple and peach trees,all starting to bloom. There were bananaplants and a vegetable garden. Up theslope, maybe ten minutes walk away,was a much poorer house with thesurrounding land ill-kempt. A row oftrees ran between the two areas, thericher and the poorer, almost like adividing line of falling golden rain, soprofuse were the flowers.

"That's where we're heading for", myguide told me.

"What are those trees with yellowflowers?" I asked him.

"Laburnum."Barking dogs brought the family out,

women and children first then, a minuteor so later, a stiff-backed old patriarch,the master of the house. He looked at meinquiringly but said nothing. I went upto him and made the customarysalutation. "I'm your son Kishné'sofficer. I come with his greetings,bearing a letter from him to you. He isin good health and doing well."

The old man, still not talking, gesturedthat a chair be brought for me. He thenwinced and put his hand over his mouth.

GOLDERN RAINBy John Cross


15

He was obviously in great pain.After refreshment had been offered the

old man leant over to me and, with agreat effort, said, in a straightforwardway that brooked no argument; "You aremy guest. You will stay here until theday after tomorrow, spending two nightsin my house. No friend of JaimordhanRai ever stays less."

He paused, winced and put his hand tohis face as though nursing his mouth. Heshook his head obstinately when Iremonstrated that in no way could Iabuse his hospitality for so long and,anyway, I had to move farther north thenext day.

He turned to my guide and dismissedcurtly: "You heard. Tell that up there toyour elder brother. Be off now. I'll lookafter my son's saheb and arrange for anescort from here when the time comes."

Before I could expostulate further wewere joined by another old man whocame down the hill. He looked furtivelyabout then asked, Nepalese style, notdirectly to me but to another, who I was.No one answered so he introducedhimself as the younger brother,Dhanmordhan Rai, from the house up thehill. The two old men sedulouslyignored each other except when thedictates of convention compelledotherwise. It was embarrassing and I feltuneasy; two days and two nights, Idismally thought, during an awkwardsilence as I remembered the gossip I hadpicked up on my way.

I turned to my host and said heseemed to be in pain.

"My tooth ache is so bad, has been forsix months, that I could easily hangmyself from one of my fruit trees andrelieve myself for ever from this wickedpain. I haven't had a proper meal since itstarted."

It was at least ten days' walk to the

nearest dentist and then there was noguarantee of anything being done whenhe got there. Also it was a tremendouseffort for the old man, who lived inhopes it would get better of itself. Thatgave me an idea: escape was impossiblethat day, but as I had some Chinesetoothache dope in my kit in my guide'shouse, I thought I would offer to go andfetch it for him the next day - then,having escaped, send it back down.

That evening, after our meal,Jaimordhan, torn between pain and thedictates of hospitality, sat and talked. Iegged him on judiciously, and I learnt hisside of the quarrel between the twobrothers. It seemed that the division ofthe two properties was the line oflaburnum trees but that was disputed. Itall struck me as so sad that such a feud,having festered for so long, wouldprobably outlive them both and continueinto the next generation.

My bed was to be one side of theporch. I was surprised to see two lots ofblankets brought out. I was put on oneside and my host slept on the other , witha kukri by his side and a lantern burningall night. He had slept with thatparticular kukri ever since the quarrelstarted. Before we went to sleep I putmy plan to him and he only acquiescedwhen I said I'd come back down for theother night after my journey north.

I bade farewell after our meal nextmorning. I told the old man to sendsomeone with me to bring back the phialof dope and before I left I demonstratedhow to put some cotton wool on a sliverof wood...

...I returned ten days later. The wholefamily turned out to greet me. I wasamazed to see the two old men, the twobrothers, obviously friendly and happy tobe with each other where before theopposite had been the case. I was


16

garlanded and made to sit between them."We want to tell you," said

Jaimordhan, "that we have made up ourquarrel. And it is all thanks to you!"

"Yes," chimed Dhanmordhan, "that isso. We are now talking to each otherproperly after more than fifty years."

They could only tell me that thetoothache was completely cured and, inthe euphoria of no pain and being able toeat again, Jaimordhan had suggested toDhanmordhan that he also try it. He hadsniffed it but, even so, the magic of thedope had persuaded him to take the handof reconciliation that his elder brotherhad proffered. It was all ratherwonderful and far beyond theexpectations of any of us, includingmyself.

Later on that day I paid Dhanmordhana visit in his house. Before I went Iexamined the dope and made it a

permanent present for my host. As Iwalked back down to stay a second nightin the lower house, I guessed the secretof the dope's magic. Apart from curingtoothache by its mild poison killing thedamaged nerves, its latent power ofpatching up quarrels probably lay in thefact that it had a laburnum base (as I hadread when I gave it to Jaimordhan) andthe smell of it had subtly reminded themof the smell of the yellow blossoms ofthe laburnums that had unconsciouslytaken them both back to childhood yearsof happiness.

Although that is pure conjecture, thekukri that Jaimordhan had slept with allthose years is very real. It is in mypossession, given as a token of thatmagical day.

Years later I learnt from Kishné thatneither of them had quarrelled again foras long as they lived.

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Although this piece is not about Nepalitself, Nepal is integral to the Sub-continent and its history. Many Britishofficers and Gurkha soldiers playedtheir part in what became known as‘The Great Game’ played out in CentralAsia in the 19th & 20th centuries.Kelvin Kent, a member of the Society,now living in the USA, is a ‘Jerseyman’,as was the late Jim Edwards. Kent livedin Jersey throughout the Germanoccupation. Both Kent and Edwardswere educated in Jersey at the sametime and knew each other.

In the latter half of the nineteenthcentury and beginning of the twentiethcentury a titanic imperial struggle forsupremacy in Central Asia took placeprimarily between Victorian Britain andTsarist Russia that involved Manchu-ruled China, the Indian sub-continentand even Germany, Japan and theremnants of the Ottoman Empire. Thisextremely dangerous and courageousventure, whose spies worked under theguise of explorers, archaeologists anddiplomatic entities, became known as‘The Great Game’. Rudyard Kipling’sfamous character Kim was nothingmore than “a pawn in the Great Game.”

The Great Game’s intelligencebattlefield extended from easternTurkey into what are now known asnorthern Iran, Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, WesternChina, Japan, Tibet and, of course, theold Indian sub-continent. Indeed, thegoal of all parties concerned was toscout out and analyze the locations,

movements and aspirations of theopposing sides, knowing that thecontrol of routes over the passes intoIndia and the domination of thatcountry’s vast resources were theprincipal aims and attractions.

The British, first by way of theBritish East India Company and, from1858 onwards, after the Mutiny the yearbefore, the British Government itselfwas firmly entrenched in India and all ofwhat is now Pakistan, Bangladesh, andBurma with spheres of influence inwestern China, Afghanistan andneighbouring communities. However,the Russians, who themselves werepushing relentlessly eastwards, just northof the actual Great Game geographicalregions, were becoming concerned withthe possibility of preventing furtherBritish expansion and eagerly wished tograb some of the action for themselves.The great historical ‘Silk Road’ citieslike Bokhara, Samarkand, Yarkand,Turfan and Kashgar became centres ofintrigue and virtual ‘open season’ forboth subtle and not-so-subtle methods ofsizing up the competition and usingsubterfuge to thwart the efforts of anyopponent. Expeditions reported back tothe British Viceroy in India, the RoyalGeographical Society in London and theAsiatic Society in Calcutta. Theseorganisations were involved in thearrangements for tasks of traditionalexploration, scientific research, andcartographical work, which provideddetailed measurements, local intelligenceand intricate map-making reportsrelevant to military intelligenceoperations.

A GREAT GAME CONNECTION WITH JERSEY?George Macartney’s Role in Kashgar

By Kelvin Kent FRGS


One of the Great Game explorerswas the soon-to-be famous LieutenantFrancis Younghusband who made thefirst known European crossing of thetreacherous Mustagh Pass over theKarakoram Mountains to modernPakistan in 1887. Younghusband hadmade a pioneer journey of 4,000 milesall the way from Peking, via the GobiDesert, for seven months and, ofcourse, brought back much valuableintelligence information – not least ofwhich was gathering information aboutwhat the Russians were up to. Earlier,such famous characters as Moorcroft,Conolly and Stoddart embarked onincredibly dangerous missionsresulting, not unexpectedly, in death bybrutal means. Other professionalexplorers like the Swede, Sven Hedin,also paved the way in many of thecritical areas. But also participatingindirectly in the Great Game werefamous archaeologists of the day likethe foreign-born British expert, SirAurel Stein, the German, Albert Von LeCoq, the Frenchman Paul Pelliott, themysterious Count Otani from Japan andlater, the American, Langdon Warner.All of these men shared one thing incommon and that was the city ofKashgar, situated just west of thenotorious Taklamakan Desert where thenorthern and southern legs of the SilkRoad joined before continuingwestwards to the Mediterranean.Kashgar, an oasis city in present-dayZinjiang Province of Western China, atthe foot of the Tian Shan Mountains,had become one of the key locations forthe gathering of intelligence andsubsequent communication back to theBritish Government in India and theRussian equivalent in St Petersburg. Itwas also China’s westernmost railway

outpost but accessible from Kashmir.As a firmly Muslim stronghold, in anIslamist dominated region, it housed thelargest mosque in China. For theBritish, however, it was not justKashgar as a key strategic location butthe man who fulfilled the position ofhost, consul and “mailbox” for somethirty years from 1891 to 1918. Hisname was George Macartney, who, atthe age of 24 had accompaniedYounghusband on another of hisexpeditions, this time to the Pamirs.The aim was to fill in the blanks onBritish maps and assess the likelyallegiance of local tribes, whether toAfghanistan or China. Macartney spokefluent Chinese and was the offspring ofa mixed British Chinese marriage sincehis father, Halliday Macartney, a Britishmilitary officer serving in China, hadmarried close female relative of thethen rebel Taiping Prince. HallidayMacartney later joined the Chinesearmy under General Charles Gordonand served in a number of mid levelcivilian positions in Nanking. About acentury earlier, an even more well-known member of the same Scottishfamily from Auchinleck, anotherGeorge Macartney – later to becomeViscount Macartney and an Earl in theIrish Peerage, had been a distinguisheddiplomat serving as governor of Madrasin India and Britain’s first officialrepresentative to China’s emperor.

For nearly 30 years the GeorgeMacartney (of Kashgar), with hisamazing linguistic skills and ability tospeak Mandarin, French, Russian,German, Persian, Turkic andHindustani, acted as valued interpreterand British Representative and Consul,operating from the same premisesknown as Chini Bagh. But the amazing

19


thing about this unusually intelligent,quiet and gifted man was that he madeChini Bagh the social centre, repositoryand meeting place for all of the GreatGame players of that time. This heaccomplished with the aid of his newwife, Catherine whom he brought out toIndia in 1898. That it was, literally, asophisticated game, no one denied, butsharing Russian vodka, Englishdelicacies or Japanese saki was all parfor the course. In fact, Macartneybecame the linchpin, freight handlerand post office for all expeditions andmovements to the east, north and south.His information was later used byYounghusband in preparation for thelatter’s expedition into Tibet in 1903/4and by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, inhelping to formulate British strategy incentral Asia.

Throughout the 1880s and 90s andup to two years after World War I,Macartney, now regarded as the centralcharacter in the region, both formilitary intelligence and for possessingall the latest knowledge concerning theincredible treasures that were beingdiscovered and evacuated throughKashgar by the British, German,Japanese and French, was, himself,crucial to British foreign policy in theregion. Certain extremely valuablemanuscripts were named after him andhe saw fit to purchase, for his country,many ancient Buddhist works of artuncovered from the desert regions tothe east. Macartney also mastermindedall clandestine operations andconsolidated the resulting intelligence.His network of spies were known asAksakals and resided in nearly all of thesurrounding towns. He dealt expertlyand amicably with all his counterpartsand maintained the very best of

diplomatic relations with those whowere known to be in direct oppositionto the British policies in Asia. PeterHopkirk, author of The Great Game,Foreign Devils on the Silk Road andother publications on this fascinatingperiod of British imperial historydescribes George Macartney as “one ofthe truly great players” of the GreatGame. In 1913 he received a KCIE andwas rewarded with the building of agrand new consulate building on thevery site of Chini Bagh. Even theRussians and Chinese recognized himas consul-general.

But what of a Jersey connection? Itseems that Sir George and LadyMacartney, having retired from the civilservice (probably in the late 1920sor1930s) opted for a life of comparativeseclusion, away from the limelight ofBritish society. They purchased a flat inJersey. For some reason (probablybecause he became ill) he was evidently“trapped” in Jersey by the GermanOccupation and is listed as having diedthere at the age of 78 on May 19th1945, just a few days after LiberationDay. One obituary shows his address inJersey as 4 Overseas, Dicq Road in StSavior. This was what one wouldcurrently view as a cross between arespectable flat and a retirement home.It was owned by the Sowden familyand, ironically only a hundred yardsfrom where I grew up in a house calledLeighton in Dicq Road. Evidently hehad three children, Eric, Sylvia andRobin. It would be interesting to findout if there is more to this story. Couldthere still be people on the island whoknew him? References to this GeorgeMacartney, accessible via the web,show vastly disparate information, andtend to mix him up with his earlier

20


21

namesake and even spell his namedifferently. However, a book entitledMacartney at Kashgar – New Light onBritish, Chinese and Russian Activitiesin Sinkiang, by Sir Claremont Skrineand Dr. Pamela Nightingale, firstpublished by Methuen and CompanyLimited in 1973, offers the mostaccurate account of this remarkable,unorthodox, cordial, popular, modest,astute, tactful and influential man whoendured nearly 30 years of difficultcircumstances in one of the remotestoutposts of the British Empire. Muchlater, one of Britain’s most famousmountaineers, Eric Shipton, alsooccupied the position of British Consulin Kashgar. Even today a modernversion of the ‘Great Game’ is stillbeing played out in Central Asia. Detailed map of the Kashgar region.

George Macartney on left with Francis Younghusband on right with the Amban ofYarkand in the centre. Taken at Yarkand in 1890.


22


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24

DARJEELING AND TEABy Arun Singh

Managing Director Goodricke Group Ltd

(This article is a shortened version of apiece that appeared in the winter 2009edition of the ‘Camellia Journal’, thehouse magazine of Camellia PLC. I amgrateful to the Directors of Camellia PLCfor permission to reproduce it here. Ed.)

The history of Darjeeling is complex.Originally ruled by the Raja of Sikkim, theland we know today as Darjeeling, whichlies in the foothills of the Himalayas, wasthe subject of much dispute during thelatter part of the eighteenth century. At thattime Sikkim was engaged in a series ofunsuccessful local wars and the NepaleseGorkhas had made significant inroads intoSikkim territory. British attempts toprevent the Gorkhas from overrunning theentire northern frontier culminated in theAnglo-Nepal war of 1814. The Gorkhaswere defeated in 1816 leading to the treatyof Segauli, the terms of which obligedNepal to cede all territories it had annexedfrom the Raja of Sikkim to the East IndiaCompany. Two years later, under the treatyof Titalia, the East India Companyreinstated the Raja (whom the Gorkhas haddriven out), and restored to him the landsbetween the Mechi and the Teesta andguaranteed his sovereignty.

The intervention of the Britisheffectively prevented the Gorkhas fromturning the whole of Sikkim into aprovince of Nepal. But stability did not lastlong; ten years later a dispute arose againbetween Sikkim and Nepal. The terms ofthe Treaty of Titalia meant that the BritishGovernor General, Lord Bentinck, wascalled upon to settle the matter, which hein turn deputed to a Captain Lloyd.

Captain Lloyd, accompanied by Mr JW

Grant, the Commercial Resident at Malda,duly visited Darjeeling. From a reportdated 18 June 1829, we learn that Lloydhad visited the ‘old Gorkha station calledDarjeeling’ in the February of that year and‘was immediately struck with it being welladapted for the purpose of a sanatorium’.The men also recognised the strategicimportance of Darjeeling’s location.

Lord Bentinck promptly instructed oneCaptain Herbert together with Grant, toexamine and map the area, givingparticular consideration to its strategic andcommunication benefits. Their reportconfirmed the feasibility of establishing asanatorium in Darjeeling and so Lloydbegan negotiations with the Raja of Sikkimfor the transfer of Darjeeling in return foran equivalent sum of money or land. In1835, the negotiations were concluded andDarjeeling was gifted to the British EastIndia Company.

Essentially the deal was anunconditional cessation of what was then aworthless uninhabited mountain. The landgifted by the Raja was not the whole ofDarjeeling as we know it today, but just anarrow enclave of some 138 square miles,which included the towns of Darjeelingand Kurseong, with entry and exit beingrestricted to a narrow path. In return, theRaja received a gift parcel comprising onedouble barrelled gun, one rifle, 20 yards ofred broad cloth and two shawls, one ofsuperior quality and one of inferior quality.Perhaps not surprisingly, the Raja appearedbefore the Governor General forcompensation and in 1841 it was agreed hewould receive an allowance of Rs. 3,000per annum.


25

Tea in DarjeelingHaving acquired their tract of land, the

British transferred Dr Campbell, a civilsurgeon in the Indian Medical Servicefrom Kathmandu to Darjeeling in 1839 tobe Superintendent of the new territory andsanatorium. He devoted his energies to thetask of developing the station andattracting settlers who could cultivate themountain slopes, as well as stimulatingtrade and commerce. Dr Campbell madehis own attempts at cultivation bringingChina tea seeds from Kumeon, a hillstation in northern India, and planted themin his garden. One must presume hisefforts were successful because in 1847the government decided to plant out teanurseries in the area.

The first commercial tea gardens wereestablished in 1852. These early estatescomprised three gardens, Tukvar, Steinthaland Aloobari, all of which were plantedwith seeds raised in the government

nurseries. Within four years their successled to the cultivation of a further 25 – 20hectares and by 1864 ten or so gardenshad been set up.

Darjeeling tea has worldwide reputationfor excellence due to its fine quality andflavour. Here tea is grown in century oldgardens, at elevations of 750 – 2,000metres. The bushes thrive on the rich soil,nurtured by intermittent rainfall, sunshineand moisture laden mellow mists, whilstthe hilly terrain provides natural drainagefor the district’s generous rainfall.

The high quality results in extremelylow yields with Darjeeling producing onlysome 10 million kilos of tea a year. Thetaste of the teas varies with the seasons –the first growth after the dormant winterperiod (known as the first flush) producesastringent, flavoursome teas, much prizedby some buyers, particularly those inGermany. But those of the second growthof flush are regarded by many as the finest

The bronze Buddha at Badamtam.


26

teas, producing as they do a more matureand lasting flavour. These teas have a fulltaste with a hint of muscatel.

There are just 86 estates producingDarjeeling tea, covering a total area ofonly 19,000 hectares and accounting for3% of India’s total tea output. The estatesemploy more than 52,000 people on apermanent basis with a further 15,000workers being brought in during theplucking season, which lasts from Marchthrough to November.

Most of the workers are women andthey are employed on a family basis. Halftheir income is paid in cash, with thebalance being provided by way of benefitssuch as free accommodation, subsidisedcereal rations and free medical care. Thegardens used to run primary schools butthese have now been taken over by theState, although the garden managementcontinue to maintain the buildings.

Camellia’s interest in DarjeelingThe Camellia Group owns five gardens

in Darjeeling – Thurbo, Badamtam andBarnesbeg through Goodricke Group Ltdand Castleton and Margaret’s Hopethrough Amgoorie India Ltd. The totalarea under tea is 1,844.63 hectares and theGardens’ combined annual output isaround 845,000kgs – these teas beingamongst some of the finest in Darjeeling.As well as the quality of the tea, the groupplaces great emphasis on improving theliving standards of the workers. There arewell equipped hospitals, staffed byqualified medical officers and paramedics,with housing, electricity and education forthe workers’ children also being areas ofhigh priority. Each of the gardens has itsown unique characteristics and a briefdescription of each may be of interest.

ThurboIt is thought that the name of the

garden dates back to the nineteenthcentury, when the British invading Nepal,set up a camp in what is now the Thurboestate.. ‘Camp’ translates locally as‘Tombu’, which may have become Thurboin later years.

Established in 1872 at an altitude ofbetween 762 and 1890 metres, Thurbo issituated close to the Nepalese border,nestling in the shadows of the mightyKanchenjunga. The nearby orangeorchards and orchid farms lend an exoticcharm to the garden whose teas areblessed with an unmatched quality.

BadamtamLocated in the Lebong valley, 14 miles

west of Darjeeling Bazaar, the garden wasfounded in 1861 by Christine Barnes andcovers some 351 hectares. Tea is grownbetween 305 and 1830 metres; the teas arehighly prized abroad. Over the yearsBadamtam has become a role model forother estates with its state-of –the –artmachinery and processing and its highwelfare standards. The garden hasmagnificent views of Kanchenjunga and isoverlooked by a majestic fourteen footbronze Buddha sculpted by the renownedartist Meera Muherjee.

BarnesbegLike Badamtam, Barnes beg was

planted by Christine Barnes between 1858and 1877 and is of similar size toBadamtam but at a lower altitude.‘Barnesbeg’ probably derives from Barnes‘bhag’ or garden.

Castleton & SpringsideCastleton is the flagship of Goodricke’s

gardens. It was planted by Dr CharlesGraham in 1885. The slopes span


27

Kurseong, Pankhabari and the Hillcartroads. Originally known as ‘Kumseri’,Castleton derives its name from a buildingin Kurseong which looks like a castle andexists to this day. Castleton’s teas arehighly prized by connoisseurs and royaltyin England, Japan and the Middle East. At146 hectares, Springside is one of theGroup’s smaller gardens. The namederives from the loss of an earlymanager’s baby whose grave is locatedclose to a spring which waters thegraveside garden which is still maintainedtoday.

Margaret’s HopeThis garden was planted about a

century ago at an altitude of between 915and 1830 metres. Salamanders inhabit thisestate and great pains are taken to preserve

them especially around the garden’s ownsmall lake. The name ‘Margaret’s Hope’was given to the garden in 1927 by thethen owner, Mr Cruikshank. His daughterMargaret, enchanted by the beauty of thegarden, was deeply attached to the place.On leaving for England she vowed toreturn but tragically died on board shipfrom a tropical disease. Hence her fatherchristened the garden in her memory.

This is a brief overview of the Group’sinterests in Darjeeling. As guardians ofestates that have lasted well over acentury, Camellia’s ongoing investmentshould ensure the continued fruitfulness ofthese estates for many years to come.

The Royal Society for Asian AffairsInterested in Asia? The Society’s aim is to promote greater knowledge andunderstanding of the countries of Asia, present and recent past, from the NearEast to the Pacific Rim. We are an active and friendly organisation withfortnightly lecture meetings in London, social functions, overseas tours at roughlyannual intervals, thrice-yearly publication of a much respected Journal AsianAffairs, a library of over 5000 books for members’ use and an archive collectionwhose catalogue is accessible via our website. There is a Junior Members’Section for under 25 year olds and the Society administers the annual Sir PeterHolmes Memorial Award to encourage young people aged 18-25 to travel withpurpose in Asia. Membership enquiries are invited to:The Secretary, RSAA, 2 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PJTelephone: +44(0)20-7235 5122 Fax: +44(0)20-7259 6771Email: [email protected] Website: www.rsaa.org.uk


28

Autistic disorder (autism; more recentlydescribed as "mindblindedness") is alifelong neurological and developmentaldisorder. Autistic children often haveproblems in communication, avoid eyecontact, and show limited attachment toothers and appears to live in his/her ownworld, showing little interest in others,and a lack of social awareness. The causeof autism is not known. Researchsuggests that autism is a geneticcondition. Reports from USA suggest thatabout one in 100 children has an autismspectrum disorder. Autism is moreprevalent in boys than girls, with fourtimes as many boys affected than girls.

Specialized behavioural andeducational programs are designed totreat autism. Special education programsthat are highly structured focus ondeveloping social skills, speech,language, self-care, and job skills.Preventive measures to reduce theincidence or severity of autistic disordersare not known at this time.

Nepal has been known to the world asthe land of Mount Everest, and birthplace of Lord Buddha and the land of theGurkhas. Landlocked between the twogiants of Asia, the country has undergone series of unpredictable politicalupheavals. The country is still strugglingfor basic human and medical needs. Thestruggle for physical health in the countryis still in a very infantile state and thepsychological health has been totallyneglected.

Autism is a distant stranger in Nepal,even to the medical fraternity. A personwith autism is most probably leftundiagnosed, and ends up in a mentalinstitute or is hidden in the darkest cornerof the house away from the social world.

The prevalence of autism in Nepal isunknown as no authentic study has beenconducted in this region.

AutismCare Nepal is a very smallorganization started by parents of a nineyear old autistic child on 2nd April 2008,on the auspicious occasion of the WorldAutism Awareness Day. It is the onlyactive autism organization in Nepal thatis run by passionate parents that care forautistic children. We provide support andinformation services to persons and theirfamilies with autism. We would like towork with organizations worldwide toshare information, resources and assistfamilies and children at a national andinternational level. We intend to educate,to increase awareness and act for therights of autistic children throughoutNepal. Initial work was started withdistributing brochures about autism andwriting newspaper articles. A proposal tosurvey on the population of autisticchildren is underway. The text for aNepali brochure has been completed andtext for a booklet on guidelines forparents of autistic children is beingreviewed.

Our immediate goal is to set up aschool for autistic children targeting theirspecialized behavioural and educationalprogrammes with individualizedtreatment plans to develop social skills,speech, language, self-care, and jobskills. We have rented a house for twoyears and are now furnishing the rooms.The rent is £500 pounds per month whichfor now is being paid by the parents ofautistic children. We have enthusiasticspeech therapists but lack specialtechniques and experience for workingwith autistic children. We also lackeducators and occupational therapists. We

AUTISM IN NEPALBy Dr Sunita Maleku Amatya and Kalphana Ghimire


29

need your support to support childrenwith autism in any manner such as fundraising, making a donation orvolunteering. If not we will be also happyif you all could include our children inyour daily prayers. Please check ourwebsite www.autismnepal.org for furtherinformation. We would be grateful forany support you could provide.

AutismCare Nepal, PO Box 10918,Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal

(On a recent visit to Nepal I met thefounder of Autismcare Nepal, Dr HemSagar Baral, the founder and former chiefexecutive officer of Bird ConservationNepal (BCN). It was his daughter referredto in the text above. Ed.)

ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE JOURNALWhy not advertise in the Britain-Nepal Society Jour nal

There is a membership with a large range of inter ests related to Nepal

You never know who may be interested!

Please contact Dr Peter Trott, Treasurer/Publicity [email protected]

HIMAL SOUTHASIANHimal Southasian is a monthly news and current affairs magazinewhich is published in Kathmandu. Originally it dealt only withNepal but due to its increasing success it now covers the SAARC /South Asian region. The editors consider this to be a ‘reviewmagazine’ that contains longer and more analytical articles, two ofwhich are reproduced in this edition of the Britain – Nepal SocietyJournal by kind permission of the editor.

www.himalmag.com

Subscription: 1 year US$ 40 2 years US$ 72

Mailing address: GPO Box 24393, Kathmandu, NepalTel: + 977 1 5547279 Fax: + 977 1 5552141


30

Honours and Awards2 RGR Battle Group received one MC,two QCVSs and nine mentions indespatches as a result of their six monthtour of duty in Afghanistan.

The Society congratulates Mrs PratimaPande, President of the Nepal – BritainSociety on her appointment as an MBEfor services to Anglo-Nepali relations.

Professor Surya Subedi OBEThe Society congratulates ProfessorSubedi on his appointment by the UnitedNations as Human Rights Envoy forCambodia. The press release announcingthis is shown below:

The UN Human Rights Council hasappointed a Nepali Professor as the nextUN Special Rapporteur for human rightsin Cambodia. The Council votedunanimously to endorse the nominationmade by the President of the HumanRights Council to appoint Professor SuryaP. Subedi at its meeting in Genevayesterday (March 25). The Councilconsists of 47 member States elected bythe UN General Assembly.

Speaking at the meeting of the Councilin Geneva after the Council decision toappoint Professor Subedi, the Cambodianambassador to the UN welcomed theappointment of Professor Subedi andexpressed the willingness of hisgovernment to cooperate with him indischarging his responsibilities as anindependent human rights law expert.

Dr Subedi is Professor of Internationaland Human Rights Law at the Universityof Leeds in England. He also is a Barristerin England, an Advocate in Nepal, andholds a doctoral degree in internationallaw from the University of Oxford, aMaster of Laws degree with Distinction

from the University of Hull in Englandand an LLB from Tribhuvan University,Nepal.

Commenting on his appointment,Professor Subedi said: “I am delightedand honoured by the trust and confidenceplaced in me by such a high level UNbody in recognition of my work in thefield of international and human rightslaw.” He added that “It is a huge privilegeand an opportunity to make mycontribution as an independent expert toenhance the human rights situation inCambodia. I very much look forward toworking with the government and thepeople of Cambodia.”

He went on to say that: “Such a highlevel UN appointment is a matter ofhonour and pride not only for mepersonally but also for the people and thecountry of Nepal. As the UN mandateholder in Cambodia, I will do my utmostto discharge my responsibilities aseffectively as possible.”

Since this is a non-residentialappointment Professor Subedi would beworking for the UN from his university inEngland and visit Cambodia to monitorthe human rights situation there and reportto the UN Human Rights Council.

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew MercerThe article in the last edition of thejournal concerning the late Lt Col AndrewMercer provoked some comment.Nicholas Rhodes writes of AndrewMercer: ‘He had a walk-on part in SatyajitRay’s film Kanchenjunga, and manypeople remember him ‘walking erect’ inthat film like the archetypal Britishgentlemen that he was. It made him quitea star. A photograph of Andrew Mercerappears in the book my wife and I

FROM THE EDITOR’S IN-TRAY


31

authored, Man of the Frontier S W LadenLa (1876-1936): His Life and Times inDarjeeling and Tibet - the biography ofher grandfather. The picture is with agroup of Sherpas at a reunion on theoccasion of a visit to Darjeeling byGeneral Bruce.’ (This book was reviewedin ‘Asian Affairs’ and reproduced in thelast edition of the journal. Ed.)

Lt Col J P Cross writes: ‘I wasinterested in reading about AndrewMercer whom I met in 1951. I learnt thathe was offered to be an OBE (civil) forhis services in Darjeeling, but he declinedas he feared that the Indian authoritiesmight think it an award for being a spy .’

The Tom Hughes Family TrustThe trust is still continuing its work inDharan. An annual newsletter is publishedand can be obtained by email from:[email protected]. Oldermembers from Dharan days willremember the BMH Wardmaster later theAdmin Officer, Ranjitsing Rai and hiswife Doma. They are now in their eightiesbut remain well and active. Major DavidBannister’s last newsletter mentioned a‘clock tower’ in the centre of DharanBazaar. Apparently it is a copy of the oldclock tower on the Kowloon waterfront,erected by former Gurkha soldiers as amonument to their fallen comrades.

The Vulture CrisisReaders of the journal will already beaware of the ‘crash’ in the numbers ofvultures across the Sub-continent as aresult of feeding on cattle treated withdiclofenac. In India the captive vultureprogramme has bred two slender-billedvultures, a first captive breeding success.In Nepal 44 Oriental white-backedvultures have been collected for a futurecaptive breeding programme. The leadingconservation organisations involved areRSPB, ZSL, Bird Conservation Nepal(BCN) and the Nepal Trust for NatureConservation (the former King MahendraTrust). BCN have established ‘vulturerestaurants’ near Lumbini, Dang andNawalparasi. All these sites are situatednear the East – West Highway and areopen for tourists and birdwatchers to visit.The restaurants provide a source ofdiclofenac free meat which is fed to thevultures in the area. Aged cattle that areknown to be free of diclofenac arepurchased from their owners and lookedafter till they die naturally. A recentsurvey carried out by BCN at Nawalparasiindicates that at least 42 nests have beenidentified and more are expected. On aThe Dharan clock tower.


32

recent extensive visit to Nepal, the onlyvultures noted, apart from those in thebreeding aviary at Kasara , were those inthe area of the Nawalparasi restaurant.

The Gurkha Museum in 2010The Museum’s summer exhibition willrun from 7th August to 5th September2010, entitled Faith, Food and Fashion inNepal. A series of lectures are scheduled:

18 Mar 10 - The Devil’s Wind. With DrRichard Holmes. Theme is the IndianMutiny.16 Apr 10 - The Assault onKanchenjunga 1955. Major TonyStreather.11 Jun 10 - Pakistan’s Regional Rolewith Afghanistan and India.

08 Oct 10 - Slaughter with a Smile. Areview of military operations from Crecy to Op Herrick. Major GordonCorrigan.Details of lectures and of the ‘The

Friends of the Gurkha Museum can befound at the Gurkha Museum websitewww.thegurkhamuseum.co.uk

Britain-Nepal

Chamber Of Commerce

Patron: H.E. Mr Murari Raj Sharma. President: Rt. Hon. Sir John Nott, KCB Vice President: Colonel J.M. Evans MC. Chairman: Mr Anthony Wieler Vice-Chairman: Mr Mahanta Shrestha

The Chamber encourages two way trade between the United Kingdom

and Nepal. It acts as an interface through ,formal and informal meetings, for those

seeking to develop contacts and trade and always welcomes new members with similar aims.

The Secretary Britain-Nepal Chamber of Commerce Tamesis House Tel.. +44 (0)20 8330 6446 Fax: +44 (0)20 8330 7447 35 St Philip's Avenue Email: [email protected] Worcester Park Website: nepal-trade.org.uk Surrey KT4 8JS


33


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35

REVIEW ARTICLE

John Pemble. Britain’s Gurkha War–The Invasion of Nepal, 1814 – 16.Frontline Books, an imprint of Pen &Sword Books Ltd. Barnsley, S. Yorks,UK. 2008. pp. xv + 398. B&W plates.Maps. Appx. Bibliog. Index. Hb. £19.99.ISBN 978 1 84832 520 3.

This work was originally published in1971 under the title of The Invasion ofNepal – John Company at War by theClarendon Press, Oxford. It had becomedifficult to obtain with a cost of up to$100 or more. Although the original pricewas £4.50, thought to be expensive by itsthen reviewer Sir Olaf Caroe in the RoyalSociety of Asian Affairs journal, AsianAffairs, its scarcity had turned it intosomething of a collectors’ item. Theauthor, John Pemble, had completed aspell as a civilian instructor at the RoyalMilitary Academy Sandhurst (now asenior research fellow at BristolUniversity) and used this topic forresearch which led to initial publication.

Lt Col John Cross was approached byFrontline Books for suggestions for anybooks on Nepal and the Gurkhas thatthey could publish. Cross recommendedthat this work be re-published. JohnCross, a member of the Society, ispossibly the pre-eminent authority on thehistory and languages of Nepal. He is theauthor of many books on the history ofthe Gurkhas and Nepal having served inBrigade of Gurkhas throughout hisservice life since 1944, finally retiring tolive and study there. He was asked towrite a forward for the re-launched bookre-titled Britain’s Gurkha War –TheInvasion of Nepal 1814 – 16 , which isreproduced below:

‘“To respected Ean Ramsay, the great-great-great-grandson of GeneralOchterlony from the great-great-great-grandcousin of Bhakti Thapa. Twohundred years ago we were enemies, nowwe are friends."

This was written on the back of apainting of Bhakti Thapa especiallycommissioned in Nepal by my surrogateNepali hill man son, Buddhiman Gurung,to Ean Ramsay, the last direct descendantof the Great Man. Buddhiman, his wifeand I gave it to Ean Ramsay when we methim in England in 1994.

In my view, and I have lived withGurkhas, militarily from 1944 and inNepal from 1976, almost one-third of thetime of the British-Gurkha connection, itsays it all. In straightforward un-poeticalwords, it captures the mystical dimensionof the result of the Anglo-Nepal Warwhich John Pemble so vividly andaccurately describes in this book, arguablythe best written and easiest to read bookon this subject ever produced.

I have read widely and am of theopinion that, had Nepal's army had thesame resources as had the East IndiaCompany and the 'Royal', British, Army,artillery piece for artillery piece, elephantfor elephant et cetera, the British wouldnot have prevailed. But prevail they did:the one column that beat the Gorkhas wasin 'naya muluk' – 'the new country' –chiefly in Kumaon and Garhwal; the threecolumns that were beaten back from a fewtimorous toe-holds in the Tarai failed toachieve anything positive. Apart from theincursion up to Makwanpur (and theChinese incursion of 1792), Nepal'sheartland cultural, religious and territorialvirginity is still unsullied.


36

There is no doubt that Ochterlony wasan excellent commander but as a civiladministrator he was not popular: This isborne out in letters written by WilliamLinnaeus Gardner, 1770-1835, founder ofGardner’s Horse, still an Indian Army unitnow designated 2nd Lancers (Gardner’sHorse). In a letter dated 16 September1820 he wrote: ‘I have no hesitation insaying that the English name is at presentdisgraced. … I wish for the sake of hischaracter, that Sir David would die.’ In anundated and earlier letter he wrote: ‘SirDavid is very unpopular here with allnatives and all Europeans. Skinner [ofSkinner’s Horse fame] told him on takingleave that it was a pity he (Sir D) had notdied 16 years ago, for then he would nothave left a dry eye in Delhi, but that now ,were he to die, there would be publicrejoicings, and the dhole [drums] wouldresound in every house!!!’ (The GardnerPapers, NAM 6305-56).

I have walked well over ten thousandmiles in Nepal, am known to many andhave spoken to thousands of Nepalis. It isstriking that the motto, 'It is better to diethan be a coward', reputedly the motto thathas become the motto of all Gurkhasoldiers to this day, has never once beenmentioned. This is, I believe, because itnever was the hill man's motto. Certainly,the hill Gurkha, like everyone else, doesnot want to lose. What the hill man willsay is that, once there seems no hope ofstaying alive, that is when one can fightwithout worrying about one's life. I donot know the originator of the quotationbut Kaji Amarsing Thapa, a relation ofBhimsen Thapa, the prime minister, whostarted the Anglo-Nepal War and who alsolost it, is reputed to have used the saying.Amarsing seems not to have approved ofthe war but, not wanting to appear againstthe most powerful man in Kathmandu,echoed, but did not originate similar

sentiments as expressed by the Sikh,Mokhan Chand, in 1809 when Ochterlonymoved from Delhi to compel the Sikhdurbar to give up its recent conquests, 'Itis better to die in honour than to live inshame' and later by the Afghan MuzaffarKhan, defender of Multan in 1818, 'It ismore honourable to die fighting than tocapitulate without firing a shot'.

But it is pertinent to ask if, in fact, sucha motto was 'binding'? No: the Gorkhacommander, Bal Bhadra (Bahadur)Kunwar (a.k.a.Thapa, Singh), at Kalunga(Nala Pani), gained immortality inNepalese annals by his bravery. His nameis on the reverse of the same memorialthat was erected to Gillespie. Nepalesehistory is silent that Bal Bhadra left thefighting after the battle of Kalunga andNepalko Sainik Itihas (Nepal's MilitaryHistory), published by Headquarters of theRoyal Nepal Army, 1992, has it that suchinformation only came from the British.William Moorcroft, Chief of Stud at Pusa,recorded in his journal, D248/59ff, that hesaw Bal Bhadra killed as he led a Gurkhabattalion of Ranjit Singh's army thatattacked the Afghans near Attock, in 1824.And much more recently, in 1996, therequest for the required 'constitution' to setup a Gurkha Museum in Kathmandu wasturned down by the Chief District Officer,his reason being that he would do nothingto help turncoats.

People ask why the Governor Generalof the time did not do more against Nepalthan was the case. While this is fullyexplained by Pemble, it is fair to say that,had he, without doubt the remarkablerelations the British and the Nepalis havehad since the war would never havefructified in the way they have. Of atruth, the opposite would have been true.One proud Nepali boast is that it is stillone of the very few countries in Asia thatwas never a colony, albeit the


37

Government to its south did affect itsbehaviour.

Ochterlony's victory was in a minorwar against a people unknown to those inEngland. Only on India's northernmarches were the Nepalis (or Gorkhalis,as they were often called) known about.When the news of Ochterlony's victoryeventually did reach England, theeuphoria of Napoleon's defeat was stillheady in military circles. Its significanceand long-term implications were totallylost in England. And yet, today, not so faroff the two-hundredth anniversary of theBritain-Nepal connection, more respect ispaid to the hill man Gurkha than, againprobably, to the vanquished of Waterloo.

Prior to the war, the tactics used in 'thenew country' between 1790 and 1814were sedulously copied by theRevolutionaries in the opening years ofthe civil war that started in the Far Westof Nepal in 1996 but this time theopposition to such was insufficient to curbit – the government of the day could notuse artillery against its own people.Another similarity is that, in both cases,one man from each house, willy-nilly, hadto serve the army that was trying toexpand territorially. Likewise, theproblems that were engendered by a 'babyking' in 1814 have, sadly in my view,been all too frequent between then andnow.

Those whom Ochterlony was fightingagainst were only partly men fromheartland Nepal. The rigour of thediscipline and hardships encountered hadthe effect of many of them deserting, firstto Ranjit Singh's army in Lahore and laterto the British. Although there was noproof of this, I believe that those menfrom heartland Nepal thought that theBritish would be able to take them back totheir home areas. They were disappointedin that but the paternalistic attitude of the

British officers, the friendliness of theBritish soldiers and their own obvioussuperiority to the men from the plains,made them realise, probably for the firsttime ever, their value as fighting men.This factor still pertains. As an aside,Bhakti Thapa's weapons are in a cave atthe top of a steep mountain and are stillworshipped twice a year and the languageof the prayers is that of the now-deadlanguage of the Duras, Bhakti's mothertongue. At last count I saw that therewere eight swords and five scimitars.

Since being soldiers in the Indian andBritish armies, the Gurkhas' record hasbeen and is unsurpassed. Just threeexamples from modern times: withoutthem the land war in Burma would nothave been won in 1945, maybe never; theEmergency in Malaya and Confrontationin Borneo would have rumbled on formany more years, probablyinconclusively; and, with much panacheand efficiency, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On another level, too, even when the1st of Foot was no longer on the BritishArmy's Order of Battle, the Gurkhas,albeit fewer in number, were retained.And not only that: the Gurkha soldier hasa worldwide reputation of doing that bitextra for longer and at a higher standardthan, probably, any other soldier. A highstandard brings its own penalty ofexpectation and, luckily for Britain andindependent India, Gurkhas are fullyconfident and able to maintain thatstandard to an almost mystical dimension.

Even so, please read on from here.Pemble's explicit and engaging writingshows how, against all expectations, thismystical dimension started.’

JP Cross

The book has attracted reviews from bothCol Dennis Wood and Brig Bullock, bothexperienced historians of the Brigade of


38

Gurkhas, having been serving officers ofthe Brigade and trustees of the GurkhaMuseum.

Brig Bullock writes:

‘This scholarly and erudite bookthrows a particularly interesting slant onthe causes of The Anglo –Nepal war andthe warrior state of Nepal which provokedit as well as covering the war itself infascinating detail. Most books about thecauses of the war tend to follow the linethat because Nepal had occupiedterritories claimed by the British EastIndia Company war resulted whereasPemble looks much deeper in his questfor the reasons behind it which werecomplex and owed as much topersonalities as politics . He also divergesfrom the commonly held view that theruling class of Nepal originated from theadmixture of Rajputs fleeing north toavoid the Mogul invasion of India andNepal’s ethnic Mongolian inhabitants andpredates them to a much earlier stage inthe history of Nepal. This well researchedand thought provoking work makes clearthat the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814-16 wasfundamental to the subsequent relationsbetween the two countries leading to therecruitment of the hillmen of Nepal, theGurkhas first by the British in India andsubsequently their employment separatelyby Britain and India.

In 1814 Nepal was a warlikeexpansionist state whose highly efficientarmy had already invaded Tibet and nowoccupied the sensitive North West Indianstates of Kumaon and Garhwal .Alreadyembroiled elsewhere with Sikhs andMaharattas it was a tricky situation for thesurrogate of British power,TheHonourable East India Company and ittook drastic, if reluctant military steps tosolve it. At first it limited itself to driving

the Nepalese army out of the territoriesthey had occupied and when this did notcurb Nepal’s militaristic tendencies byinvading Nepal itself. Clearing theNepalese out of the territories they hadoccupied was a major undertakinginvolving large numbers of King’s ServiceBritish troops and East India Companysepoys but even so met with mixedsuccess most of the columns beingbaulked by the determined Gurkharesistance. Fortunately in GeneralOchterlony, his energy in no way abatedby the possession of two Indian wives andnumerous progeny, the British had aleader of real quality in stark contrast tosome of his fellow column commanders.His column’s victory in the first campaignwas enough to convince the Nepalese toagree to a negotiated settlement whichthey subsequently renounced believing,erroneously, that the British were overextended.

Ochterlony’s masterly conduct of thesecond campaign, the invasion of Nepalitself, was a desperate race against theonset of monsoon conditions and makesfor compulsive reading. This secondcampaign, no longer bedevilled by thefoibles and inadequacies of fellowcommanders, showed just how quicklyOchterlony had transformed his East IndiaCompany army after the first bitterexperience of being confronted by theformidable fighting power of the Gurkhaarmy and its charismatic leaders. Whatdistinguished the fighting throughout wasthat despite its severity both sidesbehaved with exceptional civility inregard to prisoners and wounded foundedon a mutual respect that has continued tothe present day.

Colonel John Cross who writes theForeword is probably the greatest livingexpert on the Gurkha state having spenthis entire adult life with them first as a


39

Gurkha officer and then as an inhabitantof Nepal itself. It is thus not surprisingthat he sets the scene so subtly for thisfascinating book.’

Col Wood writes:

‘The Nepal War could have been ofvery little interest to the British public atthe time. It was fought in a remote part ofthe world where British interests werethen controlled and managed by theHonourable East India Company (HEIC),motivated as a trading organisation, ratherthan by the British Government. Even theHEIC’s hierarchy knew very little aboutNepal, and no one could have foreseenthe war’s future effects. Moreover it musthave been eclipsed by the threat from thenearby French betes noires with theirchief ogre’s escape from Elba and thecrucial battle of Waterloo taking place inthe middle of it. Yet its consequences,unimaginable at the time, have been ofhuge value to both Britain and Nepal.From it have followed 200 years ofalliance and friendship between the twonations which provided peace in animportant frontier region of India andextraordinary military support for Britainever since, including the long hard timesof two World Wars beside the IndianMutiny of 1857-58 when the going wasalso tough. In short, Britain has gainedincalculable value from Gurkha soldierswho have been enlisted for service underthe Crown since 1815. Even now theBritish army has nearly 4,500 Gurkhas inits infantry, engineer, signals and logisticsforces. In return, Nepal has also had greatbenefit from the inward flow of money,education and training of its people andan external source of employment for acountry where jobs were once few exceptin domestic agriculture and basic trades.

Dr Pemble, a Senior Research Fellow

at Bristol University and once on the staf fat Sandhurst is an historian and author ofwide interests and considerable skill. Herehe describes the invasion of Nepal withclarity and accuracy in just over half thebook’s content, and adds extra value bydevoting almost a third of the book tosetting the scene in some detail for about50 years or more prior to 1814. In thislead-in he gives lucid and interestingdescriptions and comments on the Gurkhapeople, their depredations and annexationof their neighbours’ lands, their quarrelwith the British the geography and thetruth about Himalayan trade and theBengal army. His analysis of of the sizeand state of the Company’s and Britishforces over several decades is an eye-opener and very helpful to a reader tryingto understand why they often performedpoorly during the operations of 1814-16.Officers and men: their numbers, morale,organisation, dress, equipment, pay,promotion systems, age and service,training and the enervating effects of theIndian climate are among the topicscovered and they make fascinatingreading.

Although the Nepal war broughtBritish victory in the end, it was a sorrytale of many military failures. JohnPemble describes the strategy and tactics,the problems caused by immenselydifficult terrain, and the qualities ofpeople on both sides including those ofthe opposing commanders (most of thesenior British ones proving to be inept).There are good descriptions of theinvading columns, their opponents andtheir success and failures; although it is apity that the black & white maps showonly the basic geography and not thecolumns’ routes or the sites of theiractions. The Bengal Army and the Britishregiments revealed major shortcomings inseveral ways for mountain warfare in


40

inaccessible places. But fortunately forBritain, as is often the case, most of theofficers and men endured hardship,dangerous living and fighting withadmirable courage and fortitude. Theywere said to have suffered 3,000 battlecasualties besides 2,000 lost fromsickness and desertion. Importantly, thebook also describes the circumstances andorigins of recruiting those Gurkhas andother hillmen who formed the 1st & 2ndNusseree, Sirmoor and KemaoonBattalions in April 1815; three of whichlater became the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd GurkhaRifles. One of those original recruits wassenior Subedar in the Sirmoor Battalion,during the Indian Mutiny 42 years later.

This is a definitive account of arelatively obscure war from which sprangthe shoots of that wonderful alliance andfriendship between Britain and Nepalwhich has been of huge benefit to bothcountries for nearly 200 years. It is notonly a splendid historical record which

everyone interested in Gurkhas and inIndia should have for reference but goodreading and excellent value for money aswell.’

As both the reviews above fullydemonstrate, there is a great deal of verydetailed information contained within thiswork. Members who attended will longremember Pemble’s thought provokinglecture that he delivered to the Society inMarch. He postulated that at the time theBritish were, may be subconsciously,looking for heroes as their empiredeveloped across the world. The text ofthe lecture has been printed in theNovember 2009 edition of Asian Affairs,the journal of the Royal Society for AsianAffairs. This is not a book to read on aflight to Kathmandu. It deserves seriousstudy and will serve as an outstandingsource for reference for the origins of theBritish – Gurkha connection and thehistory of that time.

THE GURKHA MUSEUMPENINSULA BARRACKS

ROMSEY ROAD, WINCHESTERHAMPSHIRE SO23 8TS

Tel: (01962) 842832 Fax: (01962) 877597

THE UNIQUE AND EXCITING GURKHA STORY

Open: MON-SAT 10am - 4.30pmSUN 12 - 4pm

Registered Charity No. 272426


41

SHORT REVIEWS

A Boy from Siklis – The Life andTimes of Chandra Gurung. ByManjushree Thapa. Penguin Books,India. 2009. Pp 226. Pb. NCR 400 (ICR250). ISBN 978-0-1430-6548-7.

In September 2006, a helicopter crash ineast Nepal claimed the lives of bothNepalese and foreign environmentalistson their way to the KanchenjungaConservation Area. The foremost of thosekilled that day was Dr Chandra Gurung.(See p.37 of Journal No 30 of 2006. Ed.)Manjushree Thapa, who for a timeworked with Dr Gurung, has written asensitive biography of his life along withthe background to the early work onconservation in Nepal. She hasresearched his childhood in the Gurungvillage of Siklis and how by sheer hardwork and enthusiasm, he rose to leadNepal’s most successful conservationproject – the Annapurna ConservationArea Project (ACAP). That a man fromthis background was able to achieve thenecessary high academic qualificationsand rise to lead a conservationorganisation (the King Mahendra Trust –now the National Trust for NatureConservation in Nepal) under royalpatronage and eventually head Nepal’sWWF programme is a tribute to hisabilities both as a leader and a diplomat.This work makes fascinating reading forall those who have an interest inHimalayan conservation and is a fittingtribute to his memory. Sadly his loss,with those others on that day, hasprofoundly set back future work on theenvironment in Nepal.

GDB

(This work is readily available inPilgrims Book Store, Thamel,Kathmandu. Ed.)

Britain’s Gurkhas. By ChristopherBullock. Third Millennium Publishing,London. 2009. Pp 320. Hb. £45. Over 200illustrations. ISBN 978-1-906507-27-5.

This work was launched at the GurkhaMuseum on 10th November 2009, toolate for a full review in the journal. Thisis a major definitive piece on theGurkhas and their history of the uniqueconnection with UK. Below is a quotefrom Third Millennium’s own materialthat advertises the book, which I fullyendorse.

‘Ranging from 18th century India to21st century Afghanistan, this new,highly illustrated authorised history ofthe Brigade of Gurkhas is destined tobecome the definitive work on thesubject. In this account, the wholepanorama of the Brigade’s unique historyis covered from the early 19th century tothe present day, including the tensemoments when the continued existenceof the Brigade hung by the slenderest ofthreads. As well as being a thoroughlyresearched and accurate account, thereare plenty of instances of Gurkha humourshining through amidst battle andadversity. It is highly readable and alsotakes full advantage of the uniquearchives of the Gurkha Museum. Withthe invaluable help of the Curator andArchivist, the book is lavishly illustratedwith pictures, photographs and maps,many never seen outside the Museum.’

General Sir David Richards, KCB,CBE, DSO ADC Gen, ColonelCommandant Brigade of Gurkhas writes in


42

the Forward: ‘I wholeheartedly commendBrigadier Bullock’s book as our authorisedhistory to anyone who wishes to knowmore about our splendid soldiers.’

GDB

Johnnie Gurkha’s is with me. By HariBivor Karki. Arthur H Stockwell Ltd,Ilfracombe, Devon. 2009. Pp 232. Pb.£6.99. ISBN 978-0-7223-3997-8.

Hari Bivor Karki or Harish Karki toSociety members has written hisautobiography to date. The book tells hisstory from his birth in Okhaldunga in thehills of east Nepal in 1945 to the presentday as a successful restauranteur inAldershot. His family moved down toBiratnagar so that they could provide abetter education than was then obtainablein the hills at that time. In 1961 Harishenlisted into the Brigade of Gurkhas,joining the Gurkha Engineers. After onlysix years service he had to return homeas his father had become seriously ill. Hethen had to seek out other forms ofemployment. Having completed anengineering degree he worked for a timeon the construction of the then new East-West Highway that was being built withassistance from various internationalagencies. Later he joined the NationalCadet Corps as boxing instructor and wasresponsible for training both the armyand the police. During this time hestarted working part time at the SoalteeHotel in the catering department tosupplement his income. Harish haddiscovered a new interest and one thatwould take him to UK, as the firstNepalese restaurants were then openingup. Eventually he opened his ownrestaurant, ‘Johnnie Gurkha’s’, inAldershot which became a very wellknown place to eat in this busy garrison

town. Over the years Harish kept a diaryand it is on this that he bases the book.He is a thoughtful person who has had tomake some difficult decisions for hisfamily. He has had to overcome manyproblems that face immigrant familiesand he tells this with sensitivity. Also hehas played a significant part in helpinghis fellow Nepalese as they sought toestablish themselves into new, and tothem, strange surroundings. His storymakes interesting reading, especiallywhen immigration is currently so topical.I recommend this work to the Society.

GDB (The book was released on 21stDecember 2009. Ed.)

Kathmandu Valley Style. By LisaChoegyal et al. Serindia. Hb. Cost £40appx.

This a ‘coffee table’ format recentlypublished by Serindia. It has an excellentchoice of architectural pictures taken ofan eclectic selection of both modern andtraditional buildings in the KathmanduValley which have been well produced.These include the British ambassador ’sresidence, the Kakani bungalow, Lisa’sown house in Budanilkantha, as well asRana palaces and modern structures. It isavailable through Amazon.

GDB

The Crown of Renown – Gurkhas andthe Honourable East India Company:1819-1857/8. By Lt Col JP Cross.Hallmark Press International. 7Greenway Gardens, Croydon, UK. Pb.£19.95 ISBN 978-1-906459-38-3.

The latest in John Cross’s series ofhistoric novels was released on 4thDecember 2009.


43

(Hallmark Press see [email protected]). The work covers theperiod of early contact with Nepal by theEast India Company [Known as ‘JohnCompany’ - even in the early 1960sIndian rupees were being traded in Nepalnear the border areas with India and stillreferred to as ‘Company rupees’. Ed.] upto the Indian Mutiny. This follows hisother historic novels, The Throne ofStone and The Restless Quest – Britain

and Nepal on collision course and thestart of the British-Gurkha connection in1746 – 1815. This latter work is due tobe re-published in UK by the BlenheimPress in 2010. Cross plans two furthernovels. The next, The Fame of the Name,will cover the period to 1947 with thelast to cover 1947 to date, entitled TheFire of Desire.

GDB

Mrs Celia Brown has agreed to take onthe task of collecting archival materialand in obtaining where possible, briefmemoirs. She would like to hear fromanyone who may wish to contribute.However, in the first instance she wouldappreciate it if members could let herknow what they have available. Theeditor of the journal and the committeeare planning to produce a short history of

the Society over the period 1960 to 2010to commemorate the Society’s fiftiethanniversary in 2010. Archival materialwill play an important part in theproduction of this publication.

Her address is: 1 Allen Mansions, AllenStreet, London W8 6UY andemail:[email protected]

THE ARCHIVIST


44

A.V. Jim EdwardsJim Edwards, who died recently inKathmandu, was one of the pioneers oftourism in Nepal, along with his friendsBoris Lissanevitch and Colonel JimmyRoberts. A far-sighted man, gifted withluck and charisma, Jim had the vision tosee the future for conservation-basedwildlife tourism, in the Himlayanmountains and jungles that he loved, longbefore the concept of “ecotourism” cameinto being.

A.V. Jim Edwards was born 24thNovember 1935 in Hampshire, England,before moving to Jersey, Channel Islandswhen he was thirteen after the early deathof his mother. He was educated inEngland then on the island. His father,Slim, served in the RAF during theSecond World War and spent much of hislife at sea. In his teenage years, Jim wasan adventurous youth and enjoyed sailingand swimming as well as representingJersey with friend Charles Maine inbadminton. His first job was as a deliveryboy for a St. Helier butcher and an illicit

pound of sausages often found its wayonto the Edwards’ table! After a briefspell with the States of Jersey, he didnational service with the Queen’s OwnRoyal West Kent Regiment and thenjoined Lloyds bank, Tonbridge Wellsbefore being transferred to Sweden, aposting he found more convivial.Dreaming of seeing more of the world,and always the adventurer, Jim droveoverland on a Saab car promotion,through Europe, the Middle East, and theIndian sub-continent before arriving inNepal in May 1962. Enraptured by thesplendours of the country, he decided thiswas where he wanted to live. Travelfurther afield was put on hold and hespent a year exploring the Terai jungles,hunting, and fishing, largely in the remoteKarnali region in far west Nepal. Jim alsoworked around this time with the newUSAID Mission in Kathmandu, managinglogistics.

In 1964, Jim teamed up with Americananthropologist turned wildlife ecologist,Dr Charles (Chuck) McDougal and startedthe first wildlife tourism company, NepalWildlife Adventure, to operate jungletreks, fishing and hunting expeditions. Itwas the beginning of a long anddistinguished career in the travel industry.In 1969, with his mind set on learningmore about the travel trade, Jim enrolledin the Pan American World AirwaysManagement Training Course, in NewYork. In his absence, Chuck McDougalcontinued to run Nepal WildlifeAdventure, while Jim in return, was ableto send many clients to their companyfrom the US and Europe. Finishing hiscourse, he worked for Pan Am in Sales,Marketing, and Public Relations in NewYork City for three years.

OBITUARIES


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In Kathmandu, there was a smallcommunity of foreigners who all kneweach other. On a tip-off from BorisLissanevitch, Nepal’s pioneer hotelier, Jimheard of Tiger Tops a small camp in theChitwan rhino reserve that was in need ofimproved management. Elected a fellow ofthe prestigious Explorer’s Club in NewYork in 1967, Jim met the owners of TigerTops, Texan millionaires and big gamehunters, Herb Klein and Toddy LeeWynne. At their request, in 1971, Jim andChuck McDougal took over the Tiger TopsJungle Lodge that the Texans had built inthe 1960s as a wildlife tourism enterprisein Chitwan where they had enjoyedhunting safaris. With Chuck’s hard workon the wildlife, his brother, John Edwards,on the operational side, and Jim’smarketing and business flair, they turnedTiger Tops into a famous conservationtourism model. Jim used his contacts inPan Am and the World Wildlife Fund, tohelp lobby the Nepal government to turnChitwan into a National Park and it wasgazetted in 1973. In 1974, Jim teamed upwith Colonel Jimmy Roberts, the pioneerof Himalayan trekking who had startedMountain Travel, the first trekkingcompany in the world. Thus was formedTiger Mountain, very much Jim’s group ofadventure travel companies throughoutNepal and India. Over the 1970s and1980s, the group of companies includedpartnerships with lodges in MadhyaPradesh, Kashmir, and Karnataka in India,expanded camps in Nepal and activities inSri Lanka. Tiger Mountain pioneeredtourism in Ladakh and organised earlytours in Bhutan and Tibet. A chancemeeting with explorer, Col. JohnBlashford-Snell, led to pioneering descentsof Nepal’s Trishuli River in Nepal,resulting in the establishment of HimalayanRiver Exploration, the first river running

company in South Asia. Jim’s last majorproject was the establishment of apermanent lodge on Prince Charles’s“Royal Trek” route operated by MountainTravel in 1980. Jim’s eldest son, Kristjan,supervised the project. Sir Edmund Hillaryopened Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge in1998.

Seeing the effective manner in whichtourism, carefully and sensitively managed,could be a positive force for conservation,Jim, and his colleagues formed theInternational Trust for NatureConservation, a UK registered charity witha mandate to support conservationinitiatives around the world. ITNC hassupported various conservation projects inNepal and India. Jim is widely recognisedfor his immense contribution to Nepal’stourism industry, setting standards ofadventure tourism that are admired all overAsia. At a time when Nepalese corporatemanagement was in its infancy, Jim’sconstant concern was to provideopportunity to many Nepalese, often withlimited education, and to set the standardsfor caring and inclusive management thatremains the hallmark of Tiger Mountaintoday. It was a matter of great pride to Jimthat Mrs Gandhi commented, “Why do wehave to look to Nepal to learn how tomanage wildlife tourism lodges.”

For his contribution to Nepal’s tourismindustry, Jim Edwards was the recipient ofmany awards and accolades. Jim foundedthe World Elephant Polo Association in1981 with James Manclark and ran theannual World Championships at Meghauli,Chitwan, a tribute to his sense of humour,marketing acumen, and enjoyment of a fineparty. Elephant polo attracted manycelebrities and further promoted Tiger Topsas well as raising funds for many charities.

A man of immense charm and love oflife, Jim could bowl people over with his


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inspirational energy, hospitality, self-deprecating sense of humour andmonumental generosity. Jim defiedstereotypes, yet sought an element ofconformity, and was immensely pleased tobe made an honorary member of theSirmoor Club, the regimental associationof 2nd Gurkhas and member of the StMoritz Tobogganing Club. He wasiconoclastic and did not suffer fools easily.Indeed his anger, when roused, was famedfor its fulminating qualities! Yet, normally,he subsided just as quickly. Jim had a sharpeye for a finely turned ankle, and muchenjoyed the company of women. In 1970,he married Icelandic beauty, Fjola Bender.Then in 1978, he met Belinda Fuchs atTiger Tops, a zoologist from Switzerland,and they were married in 1983. In lateryears, he lived happily with his devotedcompanion Tia Rongsen from Nagaland.Jim had four children who were a source ofgreat pride and comfort to him: two by hismarriage with Fjola, Kristjan, and AnnaTara; and two sons by his marriage toBelinda, Timothy, and Jack.

Jim was passionate about the jungle andenjoying wild places with friends. Hefished regularly on several rivers inIceland, where he suffered the first of twostrokes in 2004 while fishing with his sons,Timothy and Jack. His courage andtenacity in regaining mobility won himwide respect. Sadly, in January 2009 hesuffered a second major stroke whilstmahseer fishing in Karnataka. Aparadoxical man, Jim challenged andinspired all those with whom he came incontact. Life was never dull when Jim wasaround. He enriched the lives of manyfrom all over the world and providedsupport for many Nepalis at home andabroad as part of his lifelong love andcommitment to Nepal and her people. Wemourn his passing but in Virgil's words –

meminisse juvabimus – we shall delight inremembering.

Marcus Cotton

Sir Anthony Hurrell KCVO CMGAnthony Hurrell died in April 2009 aged82. He had a distinguished career in thecivil and diplomatic service. He came, forthose days, from a relatively humblebackground and achieved a great dealthrough hard work and application and asense of duty. He was always surprisedthat he had been promoted and, as was asoften the way, he underestimated his ownability. He was finally appointedambassador in Kathmandu from 1983 to1986. His route to the this post was anunconventional one since he was not in thediplomatic service prior to his appointmentin Kathmandu, as all his previous servicehad been in other civil servicedepartments. He was born in February1927 in Norwich, son of a publican andwas educated at Norwich School and StCatherine’s College, Cambridge. Afternational service 1948-50 in the RAEC, hejoined the Department of Labour where heserved for some three years before movingto the Ministry of Education for nineyears. In 1964 he was transferred to theMinistry of Overseas Development.During his time there he spent a year as aFellow at the Center for InternationalAffairs, Harvard. In 1972 he wasappointed Head of the South East AsiaDivision of the ODM based in Bangkok.On his return to UK he was promoted toUnder Secretary and then joined theCentral Policy Review Staff in the CabinetOffice which was followed by a year withthe Duchy of Lancaster in 1977. Hereturned to the newly named OverseasDevelopment Agency (ODA) workingfirstly in the Asia and Oceans Division and


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then the International Division, work forwhich he was made a CMG, before beingselected as ambassador to Nepal. Shortlybefore the end of his tenure in Kathmandu,HM The Queen and the Duke ofEdinburgh visited Nepal on their secondvisit to the country. He was appointedKCVO. Throughout his career he was ablysupported by his wife, Jean who shared hisenthusiasms and interests On hisretirement he returned to his house,‘Lapwings’, in Dunwich on the Suffolkcoast where he was able to continue hislife-long interest in ornithology. He was avery skilled bird-ringer and set up what isknown as a ‘constant effort site’. Thismeans that the site, when operating, mustbe manned and checked every day. He wasalways reluctant to leave ‘Lapwings’. Allholidays generally had to be taken in Julyas this was considered to be the leastproductive month for bird-ringing. Hereturned to Kathmandu on holiday in 1990to look once again at the rich birdlife inNepal, travelling from west to east visitingall the sites that he once knew. I believethat he looked upon his time in Nepal asthe highlight of his career.

GDB

Major T Le M Spring-Smyth Tom Spring-Smyth died on 30th April2009 aged 85. He was for many years amember of the Society. Tom came from along line of distinguished forbears, bothSprings, Smyths and the Le Mesurierfamily, who trace their history back to thesixteenth and thirteenth centuries. Theseforbears include a General of the BritishArmy (a VC and MC). Earlier, anotherwas a cavalry subaltern in the Sikh wars.Tom went to Bedford School completinghis education in time to join the army inthe middle of World War II, following his

father to become a professional militaryengineer. After officer training he wascommissioned into the Royal Engineersand posted to the King George V’s OwnBengal Sappers and Miners. His firstposting was to the Sirmoor Field Companyin Burma. He quickly rose to become theofficer commanding. His company wasassigned to the planned invasion ofMalaya which did not take place followingthe atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Heremained in northern Burma with his unitwhere they were engaged in road andbridge maintenance and inland watertransport. In 1946 the company returned toIndia where Tom was appointed to 7 FieldCompany of 8th Indian Division. Theywere sent back to Burma and Tom was inRangoon for Indian Independence on 15August 1947. He returned to England andback to peacetime training. In 1950 he wasposted to 68 Squadron of the GurkhaEngineers in Hong Kong and later asAdjutant, served in the regiment in HongKong and the Malayan emergency.Notwithstanding his experience, the moreformal strictures of post war soldieringwere not always to his liking.

On retiring he was able to satisfy a life-


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long love of plants and joined a BritishNatural History Museum expedition,collecting plants and seeds in east Nepal.He then joined and later ran the hydro-electric power feasibility study on theKarnali River in west Nepal under the UNSpecial Fund. Looking back these werecarefree times with a small expatcommunity based on Kathmandu. In 1968he was back in Nepal with the OverseasDevelopment Ministry working on Gurkharesettlement. This was followed byprojects with the UN FAO and as projectofficer, World Food Programme in Nepal.In 1975 he joined consulting engineers, SirWilliam Halcrow & Partners and set uptheir office in Singapore. His role was toexpand the firm’s work into south andSoutheast Asia. Tony Schilling, a memberof the Royal Horticultural Society formany years, first met Tom when he wentto Kathmandu to help with the newlyestablished botanical garden at Godaveri atthe southern end of the Kathmandu Valley.Tony had already been aware of Tom’swork as he had been the receiver ofseedlings sent back to Kew that Tom hadcollected in 1961 on the British NaturalHistory Museum expedition. Many ofthese seedlings were rhododendrons, oneof Tom’s great interests. Tony writes: ‘Ipersonally sowed and carefully recordedthese valuable accessions from the distantHimalaya, little thinking that our pathswould cross in a few years time when Irealised my own dream of working andexploring in Nepal. Nor did I realise thatfollowing my return to Britain in 1967 inorder to take up the curatorship ofWakehurst Place, the numerous youngplants resulting from Tom’s expeditionwould be transferred from Kew to themore agreeable growing conditions in theHigh Weald of Sussex. Later many ofthese plants found their way into other

gardens including the Royal BotanicalGarden Edinburgh, the Crown Estates,Windsor and the Sir Harold HillierArboretum. It was during the 1961expedition that that Tom collected anddespatched three seedlings of thedeciduous Daphne bholua var. glacialis viathe diplomatic bag to Kew. The clone,subsequently named Gurkha, was one ofthose seedlings and is now wellestablished in gardens. Another of Tom’saccomplishments was his introduction ofthe Dawn Redwood, Metasequoiaglyptostroboides, to Nepal in 1971.’ (Thestory of this is recorded in the 2007 editionof the journal by Dr Mark Watson. Ed.)Tom’s friend, Roy Lancaster, a wellknown plantsman took the plants, thepurpose of which was to introduce them toNepal as quick growing trees that might beuseful for fuel wood. The aim was to helpto preserve the indigenous forest varietiesthat were traditionally used for thatpurpose. Throughout the remainder of hiscareer Tom continued to collect plants andseeds and give horticultural advice fromwherever he went, including theRothschild garden at Ramat Hanadiv inIsrael. Later in life he was proud of theestablishment of the Sir Horace KadoorieGurkha Memorial Garden at the SirHarold Hillier Arboretum, near Romsey.The following is an extract written by Tomfrom the Indian Army AssociationNewsletter, 1999: ‘At the centre of theGardens lies Jermyns House containinggarden staff offices and a restaurant, all ina wonderful setting. Behind the housethere is a steep-sided descending valleywith a path down the middle. Looking atthis in early September 1996 it suddenlycame to me that it could be the perfect sitefor a Gurkha Memorial Garden plantedexclusively with plants from Nepal. I sawa mini Nepalese valley before me. The


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curator and staff fell for the project at onceand from the start we had the enthusiasticsupport from Brigadier ChristopherBullock, curator of the Gurkha Museum,Winchester, only some 15 minutes up theroad. It was Christopher who had thebrilliant idea for the form of the memorialitself – a stepped stone platform – as achautera – a resting place for porters’heavy loads. The vertical faces of theplatform were to carry the badges of theBrigade of Gurkhas and those of theGurkha Brigade of the old Indian Army.’The project was funded by the Kadoorie

Foundation Trust in Hong Hong. Theblueprint for the chautera was provided bythe Royal Engineers Works Section in HQBritish Gurkhas Nepal and signed by aNepalese draughtsman. Tom contributedmuch in his life both as a military engineerand horticulturist.

GDB

(I am grateful to Major (Retd) DickFrancis of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineersand Mr Tony Schilling for providinginformation for this piece. Ed.)

The ITNC was established by the lateJim Edwards in 1980 as he was acutelyaware of the need for conservation ifsuccessful wildlife tourism was tocontinue to be a viable proposition. Itwas his way of trying to put somethingback into the environment. It is a UKregistered charity administered by agroup of experienced trustees. Mrs PatMellor acts the Charity’s secretary. Anintegral part of the trust’s activities isrecognizing the needs of localcommunities and in particular raisingawareness of the benefits of healthyhabitats and wildlife populations. ITNCworks mainly in Nepal and India. Thetrust has initiated several projects whichonce established, have been handed overto local groups for further successfulmanagement. The Trust operateseducational programmes, speciesmonitoring and effective anti-poachingactivities.

Tiger projects currently ongoing are:Long term monitoring, includingcamera trapping to look at populationdynamics in the Chitwan NationalPark.Tiger Haven in the adjacent DudhwaNational Park, India.

Other projects include:Anti-poaching in the Nepal NationalparksReforestation in the Tharu Village treenurserySea Buckthorn cultivation in Ladakh.Community conservation awarenesscamps.

Details can be found on the Trust’swebsite: www.itnc.org Following the death earlier this year ofJim Edwards, the Trust is hoping to raisesufficient funds for a suitable project inhis memory. Donations can be madethrough Mrs Pat Mellor, secretary to bothITNC and the Society.

THE INTERNATIONAL TRUST FOR NATURE CONSERVATION(ITNC)


The UK Trust for Nature Conservation in Nepalc/o Conservation ProgrammesZoological Society of LondonRegent’s ParkLondon NW1 4RYTel: (020) 7449 6304Fax: (020) 7483 4436

The Gurkha Welfare TrustPO Box 217022 Queen StreetSALISBURY SP2 2EXTel: 01722 323955Fax: 01722 343119www.gwt.org.uk

School of Oriental and African StudiesUniversity of LondonThornhaugh Street, Russell SquareLondon WC1H 0XGTel: (020) 7898 4034

The Britain Nepal Otology Service(BRINOS)Greensand CottagePuttenham Road, Seale Farnham GU10 1HPTel: (01252) 783265

Yeti Association(Nepali Association in UK)66 Abbey AvenueWembleyMiddlesex HA0 1LLEmail:[email protected]

The Esther Benjamin’s TrustThird Floor, 2 Cloth CourtLondon EC1A 7LSWebsite: www.ebtrust.org.uk

The Britain-Nepal Medical Trust130 Vale RoadTonbridgeKent TN9 1SPTel: (01732) 360284

The Gurkha MuseumPeninsula BarracksRomsey RoadWinchesterHampshire SO23 8TSTel: (01962) 842832

Britain-Nepal Chamber of CommercePO Box BNCCc/o 12a Kensington Palace GardensLondon W8 4QUTel/Fax: (01483) 304150/428668www.nepal-trade.org.uk

Student Partnership Worldwide17 Deans Yard London SW1P 3PB

The Royal Society for Asian Affairs2 Belgrave SquareLondon SW1X 8PJTel: (020) 7235 5122www.rsaa.org.uk

Bird Conservation NepalPO Box 12465LazimpatKathmandu NepalTel: + 977 1 4417805www.birdlifenepal.org

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USEFUL ADDRESSES


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The Britain-Nepal Society was foundedin 1960 to promote good relationsbetween the peoples of the UK andNepal. We especially wish to fosterfriendship between UK citizens with aparticular interest in Nepal and Nepalesecitizens resident – whether permanentlyor temporarily – in this country. A muchvalued feature of the Society is the easeand conviviality with which members ofevery background and all ages mingletogether.

Members are drawn from all walks oflife including mountaineers, travellers,teachers, returned volunteers, aidworkers, doctors, business people,members of the Diplomatic Service andserving and retired officers of the Brigadeof Gurkhas. The bond they all share isan abiding interest in and affection forNepal and the Nepalese people.Membership is open to those of all agesover 18 and a particular welcome goes toapplications from those under 35.

Ordinary members pay a subscriptionof £15 (husband and wife members £25)per annum. Life membership is a singlepayment of £300, joint life membership,a payment of £500, and corporatebusiness members £50 and charities £25per annum. Concessionary rates areavailable at both ends of the age range.

The annual journal includes a widerange of articles about Nepal and is sentfree to all members.

We keep in close touch with the Nepal-Britain Society in Kathmandu, and theirmembers are welcome to attend all theBritain-Nepal Society’s functions.However we do not have reciprocalmembership.

Members of the Yeti Association whichprovides equally for Nepalese residentsor those staying in this country are alsowelcome to attend the Britain-NepalSociety’s functions, and can become fullmembers of the Britain-Nepal Society inthe usual way. The Yeti is a flourishingorganization and they publish their ownattractive journal.

Throughout the year, the Society holdsa programme of evening lectures, whichare currently held at the Medical Societyof London, Chandos Street, offCavendish Square, where members areencouraged to meet each other over adrink beforehand.

The Society holds an Annual NepaliSupper, usually in February and in theautumn we hold our AGM. The Societyalso holds receptions and hospitality forvisiting senior Nepalese.

The Committee is actively seekingsuggestions from members for ways ofexpanding and developing theprogramme.

Those interested in joining the Societyshould write to the HonoraryMembership Secretary:

Mrs Pat Mellor3 (c) Gunnersbury AvenueEaling CommonLondon W5 3NHTel: 020 8992 0173

NOTES ON THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETYPresident: HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO


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President: His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO

Vice-PresidentsBrigadier AB Taggart MC

Lieutenant Colonel HCS Gregory OBE, KSGMrs Celia Brown#

Colonel JM Evans MCSir Neil Thorne OBE, TD, DL

Mr Peter A Leggatt MBEMrs Pat Mellor**

Sylvia Countess of Limerick CBE

Committee (2009/10)Chairman: Lieutenant Colonel Gerry D Birch*

Vice-Chairman: Mr John L AckroydActing Honorary Secretary: Mrs Pat Mellor**

Mrs Jenifer EvansHonorary Treasurer: Dr Peter A Trott

Dr Raghav Dhital OBESir Robert ffolkes Bt OBE

Mr Harish KarkiMiss Jane LovelessMr IP ManandharMrs Sneha Rana

Mrs Maggis SolonMrs Frances Spackman

Colonel John SK Swanston

Mr Jhabindra Parsad Aryal, (Minister Counsellor), the Nepalese Embassy (ex officio)Miss Rosalind Corrigan, FCO (ex officio)

Mr Simon L Lord ED, HQ Brigade of Gurkhas (ex officio)

Editor of the Journal: Lieutenant Colonel GD Birch*

Archivist: Mrs Celia Brown #


Documents

THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY - Digital Himalayahimalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bnsj/pdf/bnsj_33.pdf · THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY Jo u r n a l Number33 2009 ... Rtn. H.B