MS 952
Reference code
MS 952
Title
Photographs relating to Charles Howard-Bury
Level
Sub-fonds
Administrative / Biographical history
Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury (1881–1963) was a British officer, explorer, naturalist, linguist, and Conservative politician. Born in London, he was the only son of Captain Kenneth Howard (who assumed the surname Howard-Bury on marriage in 1881), grandson of the 16th Earl of Suffolk, and Lady Emily Bury, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Charleville. Through his mother he inherited Charleville Castle and estates in County Offaly, Ireland.
Privately educated at Charleville Castle, Eton, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Howard-Bury developed an early interest in travel, climbing, and botany. Serving with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps from 1904, he travelled widely in India, Burma, Central Asia, Tibet, the Pamir, Russian Turkestan, and the Karakoram. After resigning his commission in 1912 to manage his Irish estates, he returned to military service during the First World War, commanding battalions at Arras, the Somme, Passchendaele, and Ypres. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1918 and spent several months as a prisoner of war in Germany before release in December 1918.
In 1920 Howard-Bury joined Sir Francis Younghusband in organising and funding an expedition to the little-known Mount Everest. He volunteered to lead a deputation to the Dalai Lama to seek permission to climb Everest. When permission was granted he was selected to lead the reconnaissance mission in 1921 - the first by Europeans on the mountain, The team mapped routes to the summit, gathered scientific specimens, and produced the first photographs of the region. Howard-Bury is credited with observing the tracks of a creature which was later dubbed ‘the abominable snowman’ or ‘Yeti’. His account, Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance (1922). His leadership of the expedition earned him the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Howard-Bury also served as Conservative MP for Bilston, Wolverhampton (1922–24) and Chelmsford (1926–31), before retiring to his Irish estate, Belvedere. During the Second World War he acted as assistant commissioner of the British Red Cross, establishing a hospital for wounded soldiers at Belvedere. He died there in 1963.
Claude Tulloch Ducat (1864–1921), a contemporary and friend of Howard-Bury, was born in Bombay and educated at Worcester College, Oxford, and the Inner Temple. He served with the Bombay Lancers before entering the Indian Political Service in 1887. Ducat held posts in Rajputana, Merwara, and Ajmer, and was later British Consul at Kerman (Iran) and at Muscat and Oman. He retired to England, where he died in Cheltenham in 1921.
Privately educated at Charleville Castle, Eton, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Howard-Bury developed an early interest in travel, climbing, and botany. Serving with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps from 1904, he travelled widely in India, Burma, Central Asia, Tibet, the Pamir, Russian Turkestan, and the Karakoram. After resigning his commission in 1912 to manage his Irish estates, he returned to military service during the First World War, commanding battalions at Arras, the Somme, Passchendaele, and Ypres. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1918 and spent several months as a prisoner of war in Germany before release in December 1918.
In 1920 Howard-Bury joined Sir Francis Younghusband in organising and funding an expedition to the little-known Mount Everest. He volunteered to lead a deputation to the Dalai Lama to seek permission to climb Everest. When permission was granted he was selected to lead the reconnaissance mission in 1921 - the first by Europeans on the mountain, The team mapped routes to the summit, gathered scientific specimens, and produced the first photographs of the region. Howard-Bury is credited with observing the tracks of a creature which was later dubbed ‘the abominable snowman’ or ‘Yeti’. His account, Mount Everest: The Reconnaissance (1922). His leadership of the expedition earned him the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Howard-Bury also served as Conservative MP for Bilston, Wolverhampton (1922–24) and Chelmsford (1926–31), before retiring to his Irish estate, Belvedere. During the Second World War he acted as assistant commissioner of the British Red Cross, establishing a hospital for wounded soldiers at Belvedere. He died there in 1963.
Claude Tulloch Ducat (1864–1921), a contemporary and friend of Howard-Bury, was born in Bombay and educated at Worcester College, Oxford, and the Inner Temple. He served with the Bombay Lancers before entering the Indian Political Service in 1887. Ducat held posts in Rajputana, Merwara, and Ajmer, and was later British Consul at Kerman (Iran) and at Muscat and Oman. He retired to England, where he died in Cheltenham in 1921.
Date
1906-1910
Extent & medium
1 file containing 8 photographs
Content description
A collection of eight photographs relating to Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury’s travels in India, Burma and Tibet between 1906 and 1910; and of his friends Claude Ducat, Indian Political Service and Helen Mitchell Walker Ducat
Provenance
Unknown.
Physical characteristics
Some wear and damage to the mounted photographs.
Associated material
Howard-Bury Collection, Westmeath County Library, Ireland.
Location of this record in the archive hierarchy
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Number 98 of 121 at this Level
Beneath this record in the archive hierarchy
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