Mission Tibet [1903-1904]

The photographs are of Tibet when the Francis Younghusband led the mission to invade Tibet. In 1903 a substantial army was assembled in Sikkim and camped some 15 miles north of Sikkimese border at Khampa dzong where the leaders of the mission put forth repeated efforts to bring Tibetans to the negotiating table. Though the battles that took place are hardly a proud chapter in British military history John Claude White’s incomparable photographs have turned out to be the only lasting legacy of the ill-fated adventure of the Imperial Raj into Tibet.