William Moorcroft
"William Moorcroft (1767 – 27 August 1825) was an English veterinarian and explorer employed by the East India Company. Moorcroft travelled extensively throughout the Himalayas, Tibet and Central Asia, eventually reaching Bukhara, in present-day Uzbekistan." Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moorcroft_(explorer) As such he was an early player in "the Great Game" between Russia and UK.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Bamiyan Valley | "Moorcroft continued his journey, reaching Kashmir on 3 November 1822, Jalalabad on 4 June 1824, and Kabul on 20 June. He and his companions were the first Europeans to see the Buddhas of Bamiyan" (Wiki). In fact the Hungarian pholologist, orientalist and founder of Tibetology", Sándor Kőrösi Csoma had done so around Jan 1822 and had subsequently met up with Moorcroft in Kashmir in July 1822. | |
| Bukhara | The ostensible objective of Moorcroft's expedition to Turkestan was to improve the breeding stock of horses owned by the British by acquiring animals in both Tibet and Turkestan where, he had heard that Bukhara "had the greatest horse market in the World" (Marco Polo had described the merits of Turkoman hoses 500 years earlier). The journey was also a part of the wider "Great Game" to control Central Asia. Moorcroft first conceived the idea of reaching Bukhara for this purpose as early as 1816 and finally succeeded in April 1825... but found no special horses and a Russian mission under A Negri had reached Bukhara in 1820 to establish trade relations. | |
| Fort and Shalamar Gardens | The gardens contain a building where Moorcroft stayed in May 1820 whilst visiting Maharaja Ranjit Singh and now named after him as the "Moorcroft Pavilion". Moorcroft had gone to Lahore to obtain permission for his expedition to cross the Punjab. Moorcroft had a veterinary qualification from the university of Lyon before any such course existed in England. He first went to India to look after the EIC stud in Calcutta. Ranjit Singh made use of Moorcroft's medical knowledge by having a medical examination by him which is described in the book "Beyond Bukhara - The life of William Moorcroft" (page 237) | |
| Potala Palace | Moorcroft is recorded as having died in Andkhoy (Afghan Turkestan) on 27 Aug 1825 of a fever....his companion surviving by only a few days. However, the French missionary traveller Abbé Evariste Régis Huc claimed in his book "Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China During the Years 1844-5-6" that Moorcroft had in fact later reached Lhasa and lived there for 12 years!! (statement by the Governor of Karchi - "Maps are feared in this country—extremely feared, indeed; especially since the affair of a certain Englishman named Moorcroft, who introduced himself into Lha-Ssa, under the pretence of being a Cashmerian. After a sojourn there of twelve years, he departed; but he was murdered on his way to Ladak. Amongst his effects they found a numerous collection of maps and plans, which he had drawn during his stay at Lha-Ssa."). This is not thought to have been the case but continues to this day in the form of "The Moorcroft Mystery" |
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