William Frederick Travers O'Connor
Sir William Frederick Travers O'Connor C.I.E. C.S.I. C.V.O. | |
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Born |
30 July 1870 Ireland |
Died |
14 December 1943 Chelsea, London |
Buried | St Luke's Church Office, Headley Road, Grayshott, Hindhead, GU26 6LF |
Allegiance |
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Service/ |
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Years of service | 1890-1925 |
Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
Unit | Royal Artillery |
Battles/wars | Tirah Campaign, British expedition to Tibet, World War I |
Awards | Order of the Indian Empire, Royal Victorian Order,The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Knight Bachelor |
Signature |
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Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Frederick Travers O'Connor C.I.E. C.S.I. C.V.O (30 July 1870, Ireland - 14 December 1943, Chelsea.[1][2][3][4]) was a British and Indian Army officer and diplomat. He was 6'1" tall with blue eyes and a fair complexion.[5] He is remembered for his travels in Asia, cartography, study and publication of local cultures and language, his actions on the Younghusband expedition to Tibet, Royal Geographic Society council member,[6] member of the Royal Automobile Club[7] and for his work negotiating and signing the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923.[8]
Early life
O'Connor was born on 30 July 1870, Longford, Ireland,[1] son of land agent[1] Matthew Weld O’Connor, and Harriet Georgina,[9] daughter of Anthony O’Reilly, of Baltrasna, County Meath. He had a sister, Lina O'Connor, and two younger brothers Matthew O'Connor and Myles O'Connor.[10] He was educated at Charterhouse School[1][11] as a Junior Scholar, in Verites house, 1884-1887.[12][10] Member of Charterhouse shooting team in 1885, and placing 7th,[12][10] winning the House Shooting Cup in 1885.[10]
He passed through the Royal Military Academy in 1888 and was gazetted to the Royal Artillery in 1890.[13] He received Henry Wilkinson sabre number 29781 in 1889, as gift from a family member.
Military career
14 February 1890 - Joined 14th Field Academy Royal Artillery at Shorncliffe as Second Lieutenant.[1][4]
14 February 1893 - Promoted to Lieutenant.[14]
1894 - Served in Indian mountain battery stationed near Darjeeling.[1][11]
1897-98 - Employed in the Swat valley and Tirah Campaigns, patrolling the Kurrum Valley.[15] Awarded medal and 3 clasps.[16]
1 October 1899 - Promoted to Captain.[17]
1899-1903 - Appointed inspecting officer of the Kashmir Imperial Service Troops, stationed at Gilgit near the border of Afghanistan and Chinese Turkmenistan.[1]
11 December 1903 – Departed Sikkim as interpreter, secretary and chief intelligence officer[18] to Sir Francis Younghusband's Lhasa mission as part of British expedition to Tibet.[1][11][19] Awarded medal and clasp.[20]
1904 - Employed former Sengchen Lama's personal attendant Sherab Gyatso to be his personal language teacher and suspected intelligence informant.[21]
21 May 1904 - Fought, and wounded, in battle to capture village of Pala.[22] David (born Dorje) MacDonald briefly took over O'Connor's interpretor duties during recovery.[11]
1905 - Posted as the first British Trade Agent at the new Trade Mart in Gyantse, under the Anglo-Tibet Convention.[1][10][11]
May 1905 - Investigated theft of remains of Younghusband mission money from boxes left at Gyantse.[11]
Summer 1906 - Stayed with Gertrude Bell whilst she worked on her travel book The Desert and the Sown[23].
1907 - Import of two motor cars, by carrying over the Himalayas, into Tibet.[24] One was an 8hp Clement brought as a gift for Thubten Choekyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama, who presided over Tashi Lhunpo monastery near Shigatse. The other was his own 6.5hp Baby Peugeot (Peugeot Type 69).[25]
1908 - Accompanied Sikkimese Prince on world tour and also to meet 13th Dali Lama.[11] O'Connor was the first Indian Government official to meet the Dali Lama.[11]
14 February 1908 - Promoted to Major.[26]
30 September 1909 - Appointed His Majesty's council for the districts of Seistan and Kain.[27][1]
1910 - Serving in Mashad[11] as Consul-General and Agent to the Governor-General.[9]
1912 - Transferred to Shiraz, capital province of Fars,[1] as Consul.[9]
28 October 1913 - Met with the Edwin Montagu, Under-Secretary of State for India, at lunch arranged by Gertrude Bell, for 1.5 hour briefing and questions on the status of the frontier.[23]
November 1915 - Taken captive by Persian army[1][15]
14 February 1916 - Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.[28][4]
August 1916 - Released from Persian captivity as part of prisoner exchange.[1][15]
1918 - Met with Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Information and sent to Siberia to further the cause of the Allies and their friends amongst the Russians.[1][29]
9 April 1918 - Sailed from the Liverpool to New York on board the SS Carpathia.,[30] taking 11 days,[29] to meet with senior military[15] and diplomats regarding the US policy in Siberia.
3 June 1918 - Arrived in to Vladivostok[29] and served as Resident.[9]
January 1921 - Appointed political officer at Gangtok.[11]
March 1921 - Left position in Gangtok and returned to England, when mother fell seriously ill.[11]
21 December 1921 - Signed Nepal Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923 as British Envoy at the Court of Nepal.[31][8][9]
1925 - Retired from military service.[1]
Distinctions
- The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Companion (C.I.E.), 1904[32]
- Royal Victorian Order, Commander (C.V.O.), 1922[1]
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Companion (O.S.I.
), 1924[33]
- Knight Bachelor, 1925[34]
Later life
2 February 1930 - Article in Detroit Free Press newspaper showing O'Connor leading tiger hunt in India.[35]
28 June 1931- Article in The Indianapolis Sunday Star newspaper saying O'Connor inviting 5 Americans on tiger hunt for $100,000 ($20,000 each).[36]
30 June 1931- Bankruptcy petition filed.[37]
29 July 1931 - Receiving Order issued on a creditor's petition.[37][7]
11:00 12 August 1931 - Date First Bankruptcy Meeting.[37]
30 October 1931 - Date of bankruptcy public examination.[37]
13 Jul 1932 - Arrived in Southampton from New York on the RMS Berengaria.
16 July 1934 - Crossed border from Canada to Seattle, to go to L.A. and tour the US.[5]
27 November 1938 - The Old House performed by John McCormack at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[10]
November 1939 - The Old House recorded by John McCormack.[10]
14 December 1943 - Death, Chelsea.[1]
17 December 1943 - Funeral, St Luke's Church Office, Headley Road, Grayshott, Hindhead, GU26 6LF
Works
- Routes in Sikkim, 1900.[38]
- Report on Tibet, 1903.[39]
- Rules for the Phonetic Transcription into English of Tibetan Words, with Charles Alfred Bell,1904[40][41]
- Lhasa: an account of the country and people of Central Tibet, with Perceval Landon and Herbert James Walton, 1905.[42]
- Folk Tales from Tibet with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and Some Verses from Tibetan Love Songs, 1906.[43]
- On the frontier and beyond: a record of thirty years' service, 1931[29]
- Wrote music and lyrics to The Old House,[1][3] Quietide and One Hundred Years Ago, 1937.[1]
- Things mortal, 1940.[10]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "The Annual Register Volume 185". 1943.
- ↑ Alex., McKay, (1997). Tibet and the British Raj : the frontier cadre, 1904-1947. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0700706275. OCLC 37390564.
- 1 2 "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- 1 2 3 "(550) - Army lists > 1913-1919 - Quarterly Army Lists (First Series) 1879-1922 > 1917 > Third quarter > Volume 3 - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- 1 2 US Department of Labor Immigration Service, Form 54S, 1934-07-16
- ↑ "Obituaries". The Geographical Journal. 103 to 104: 304. 1944.
- 1 2 "THE BANKRUPTCY ACTS, 1914 AND 1926" (PDF). Edinburgh Gazette. 1934-08-04. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- 1 2 "Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923". Wikipedia. 2018-02-27.
- 1 2 3 4 5 F., Riddick, John (1998). Who was who in British India. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313292329. OCLC 39045191.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O'Connor, Frederick (1940). Things Mortal. London: Hodder and Stoutghton Limited.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Alex., McKay, (2009). Tibet and the British Raj : the frontier cadre, 1904-1947 (2nd ed.). Dharamsala, H.P.: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. ISBN 9788186470923. OCLC 435961312.
- 1 2 Charterhouse register, 1872-1900. RareBooksClub.com. 2012. ISBN 1236288785.
- ↑ "The London Gazette 25th February 1890".
- ↑ "London Gazette 4th April 1893".
- 1 2 3 4 1933-, Newton, David, (2009). Kipling's Canadian : Colonel Fraser Hunter, MPP, maverick soldier-surveyor in "the Great Game". Victoria, BC: Trafford. ISBN 9781425191412. OCLC 606116081.
- ↑ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ↑ "The London Gazette 12th December 1905".
- ↑ "Frederick O'Connor (biographical details)". cosmos.ucc.ie. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ↑ 1940-, Allen, Charles, (2004). Duel in the snows : the true story of the Younghusband mission to Lhasa. London: John Murray. ISBN 0719554276. OCLC 53709120.
- ↑ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ↑ Netherlands), International Association for Tibetan Studies. Seminar (9th : 2000 : Leiden, (2002). Tibetan studies : PIATS 2000 : Tibetan studies : proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000. Blezer, Henk., Ardussi, John., Buffetrille, Katia., Diemberger, Hildegard., Huber, Toni. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004127755. OCLC 52449349.
- ↑ 1869-1927., Landon, Perceval, (2000). Lhasa : an account of the country and people of Central Tibet and of the progress of the mission sent there by the English Government in the year 1903-4. Varanasi: Pilgrims. ISBN 8177690574. OCLC 647450672.
- 1 2 1868-1926,, Bell, Gertrude Lowthian,. Gertrude Bell : complete letters. Volume I and II. Bell, Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe, Lady, 1851-1930,. [United States]. ISBN 9781500826901. OCLC 967604643.
- ↑ "Images of First Cars to Cross the Himalayas into Tibet 102 Years Ago and Secret Photos of Japan from 1898 for Sale".
- ↑ "Bonhams : TIBET Album, likely to have belonged an army mechanic responsible for the first motor cars Tibet". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ↑ "London Gazette 10 April 1908".
- ↑ "London Gazette 15 October 1909".
- ↑ "The London Gazette 19 May 1916".
- 1 2 3 4 O'Connor, Frederick (1931). On the frontier and beyond: a record of thirty years' service. London: John Murray.
- ↑ US Department of Labor Immigration Service, Form 500, 1918-04-09
- ↑ "TREATY SERIES NO. 31 ( 1925). TREATY BETWEKS UNITED KINGDOM AND NEPAL TOGETHER WITH Note respecting the Importation of Arms and Ammunition into Nepal" (PDF).
- ↑ "The London Gazette 16th December 1904".
- ↑ "1924 New Year Honours". Wikipedia. 2018-03-13.
- ↑ "1925 Birthday Honours". Wikipedia. 2017-08-30.
- ↑ "Tiger Hunting in India". Detroit Free Press. 1930-02-02.
- ↑ "The Indianapolis Sunday Star". The Indianapolis Sunday Star. 1931-06-28.
- 1 2 3 4 "The London Gazette - 31st July 1931".
- ↑ O'Connor, W. F. (1900). Routes in Sikkim. India: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing.
- ↑ "William Frederick Travers O'Connor - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ↑ Martin, Emma (2016-07-21). "Translating Tibet in the Borderlands: Networks, Dictionaries, and Knowledge Production in Himalayan Hill Stations". Transcultural Studies. 0 (1): 86–120. ISSN 2191-6411.
- ↑ William Jones (1962). Journal Of The Asiatic Society 1961 Vol Iii.
- ↑ O'Connor, Frederick (1905). Lhasa: an account of the country and people of Central Tibet.
- ↑ Connor, Capt. W. F (1906). Folk Tales from Tibet with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and Some Verses from Tibetan Love Songs. London: Hurst and Blackett LTD.