43 Facts About Francis Younghusband

Francis Younghusband is remembered for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet, led by him, and for his writings on Asia and foreign policy.

Francis Younghusband was born in 1863 at Murree, British India, to a British military family, being the brother of Major-General George Younghusband and the second son of Major-General John W Younghusband and his wife Clara Jane Shaw.

Francis Younghusband's uncle Lieutenant-General Charles Younghusband CB FRS, was a British Army officer and meteorologist.

In 1876 at age thirteen, Francis Younghusband entered Clifton College, Bristol.

James and a young British consular officer from Newchwang, Harry English Fulford, on 4 April 1887, Lieut Francis Younghusband explored Manchuria, visiting the frontier areas of Chinese settlement in the region of the Changbai Mountains.

Francis Younghusband crossed the most inhospitable terrain in the world to the Himalayas before being ordered to make his way home.

Francis Younghusband reported to the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, his crossing through the Karakoram Range, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs and where the range converged with the Himalayas; the nexus of three great empires.

Whilst encamped in the valley of the Yarkand River, Francis Younghusband received a messenger at his camp, inviting him to dinner with Captain Bronislav Grombchevsky, his Russian counterpart in "The Great Game".

Francis Younghusband accepted the invitation to Grombchevsky's camp, and after dinner the two rivals talked into the night, sharing brandy and vodka, and discussing the possibility of a Russian invasion of British India.

Francis Younghusband received a telegram from Simla, to attend the Intelligence Department to be interviewed by Foreign Secretary Sir Mortimer Durand, transferred to the Indian Political Service.

Francis Younghusband served as a political officer on secondment from the British Army.

Francis Younghusband refused a request to visit Lhasa as an interpreter, disguised as a Yarkandi trader, a cover not guaranteed to fool the Russians, after Andrew Dalgleish, a Scots merchant, had been hacked to death.

Francis Younghusband was accompanied by a Gurkha escort, celebrated for their ferocity in combat.

Francis Younghusband probed the villages to gauge the reception: calculating it was a den of thieves, they ascended the steep ravine.

The nervous reception over, they were all relieved to find safety; Francis Younghusband wanted to know who was waylaying innocent civilian traders, and why.

Reluctantly, Francis Younghusband dined with the Cossack leaders, who divulged the secrets of their common rivalry.

Francis Younghusband tentatively concluded that their possessions at Bokhara and Samarkand were vulnerable.

Impervious to reason though Safdar Ali was, Francis Younghusband was not prepared to allow him to laugh at the Raj.

In 1890, Francis Younghusband was sent on a mission to Chinese Turkestan, accompanied by George Macartney as interpreter.

Francis Younghusband spent the winter in Kashgar, where he left Macartney as British consul.

Francis Younghusband sought to investigate the Pamir Gap, a possible Russian entry route to India, but first needed to address issues with the Chinese authorities in Kashgar.

Francis Younghusband learnt that they had raided the Chitral territory; furthermore, they had penetrated the Darkot Pass into the Yasin Valley.

Francis Younghusband's descriptions went hand in glove with Molyneux's paintings of the valley.

Francis Younghusband participated in the geopolitical rivalry between Britain and Russia, known as 'The Great Game,' which persisted into the 20th century before being formally concluded by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Treaty.

Ultimately, 202 men of Francis Younghusband's expedition were killed in action while 411 died of non-combat causes.

In 1891, Francis Younghusband received the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, and then he was awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in December 1904.

Francis Younghusband was awarded the Kaisar-I-Hind Medal in 1901, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1905.

In 1906, Francis Younghusband settled in Kashmir as the British Resident representative before returning to Britain in 1909, where he was an active member of many clubs and societies.

In 1889, Francis Younghusband reached base of Turkestan La from north, and he noted that this was a long glacier and a major Central Asian dividing range.

In 1919, Francis Younghusband was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society, and two years later became Chairman of the Mount Everest Committee which was set up to coordinate the initial 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition to Mount Everest.

Francis Younghusband supported efforts to summit Mount Everest and endorsed George Mallory's participation in early expeditions, and they followed the same initial route as the earlier Tibet Mission.

Francis Younghusband remained Chairman through the subsequent 1922 and 1924 British Expeditions.

In 1938, Francis Younghusband encouraged Ernst Schafer, who was about to lead a German expedition, to "sneak over the border" when faced with British intransigence towards Schafer's efforts to reach Tibet.

In 1897 Francis Younghusband married Helen Augusta Magniac, the daughter of Charles Magniac, MP.

In July 1942 Francis Younghusband suffered a stroke after addressing a meeting of the World Congress of Faiths in Birmingham.

Francis Younghusband died of cardiac failure on 31 July 1942 at Madeline Lees' home Post Green House, at Lytchett Minster, Dorset.

Francis Younghusband described having a mystical experience during his retreat from Tibet, which he said instilled him with a profound sense of 'love for the whole world and convinced him that "men at heart are divine".

Francis Younghusband published a number of books with titles including The Gleam: Being an account of the life of Nija Svabhava, pseud.

Francis Younghusband explored speculative concepts such as pantheism, a Christlike 'world leader' residing on the planet 'Altair,' and ideas reminiscent of the Gaia hypothesis, exploring the theology of spiritualism, and guidance by means of telepathy.

Francis Younghusband explored Eastern philosophy and Theosophy advocating for a non-anthropomorphic understanding of divinity.

Francis Younghusband held the view that spiritual forces in the universe are directing evolution and producing life and intelligence on many different planets.

Francis Younghusband founded the World Congress of Faiths to promote dialogue between different religions.

Francis Younghusband allegedly believed in free love, marriage laws examined as a matter of "outdated custom".