Charles Howard - Bury Lieutenant - Colonel Charles Kenneth Howard - Bury DSO , DL , JP ( 15 August 188120 September 1963 ) was a British soldier , explorer , botanist and Conservative politician . Background and education . A member of the Howard family , he was born at Charleville Castle , King ' s County , Ireland , the only son of Captain Kenneth Howard - Bury ( 1846 – 1885 ) , son of the Honourable James Howard . His mother was Lady Emily Alfreda Julia , daughter of Charles Bury , 3rd Earl of Charleville . His father had assumed the additional surname of Bury in 1881 after his wife succeeded to the Charleville estates . He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . Career until 1921 . Howard - Bury was always interested in climbing as a youth , which led him to take up the larger routes in Austrian Alps . He joined the King ' s Royal Rifle Corps in 1904 and was posted to India , where he went travelling and big game - hunting . In 1905 he secretly entered Tibet without permission and was rebuked by Lord Curzon . His early travel diaries date from 1906 and show his keen powers of observation , encyclopaedic knowledge of natural history , and linguistic ability . At the outset of the European War , Howard - Bury rejoined his regiment and served with distinction as a frontline officer on the Somme & throughout the conflict . He was captured during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 and then made a dramatic escape from his POW camp , before being recaptured ten days later . 1921 Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition . At the behest or Sir Francis Younghusband in 1920 , Howard - Bury successfully paved the way for the Everest Expedition . In 1921 he was the leader of the , organised and financed by the Mount Everest Committee , a joint body of the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society . In 1922 he wrote a full account of the expedition , published as " Mount Everest The Reconnaissance , 1921 " . During the 1921 expedition Howard - Bury found many footprints at high altitude , he later pronounced that the tracks " were probably caused by a large ' loping ' grey wolf " , however his sherpas were quick to offer that they were the tracks of a " metch kangmi " ( meaning " filthy snowman " ) . It was at this time that Henry Newman of " The Statesman " in Calcutta ( now Kolkata ) obtained descriptions from the expedition ' s porters on their return to Darjeeling . Bill Tilman writes in his book ( see also ) that Newman mistranslated " metch kangmi " as " abominable snowman " ; hence the phrase " Abominable Snowman " came into existence in 1921 . Later Newman wrote in a letter to " The Times " " The whole story seemed such a joyous creation I sent it to one or two newspapers " . Izzard adds " whatever effect Mr . Newman intended , from 1921 onwards the Yeti - or whatever various native populations choose to call it - became saddled with the description " Abominable Snowman " , an appellation which can only appeal more to the music - hall mind than to mammologists , a fact which has seriously handicapped earnest seekers of the truth " Political career . The Everest expedition of 1921 made Howard - Bury a public figure and in 1922 he was elected to parliament for Bilston as Conservative . He lost his seat in 1924 but returned to the House of Commons in 1926 , when he was elected for Chelmsford . He resigned in 1931 . He was also a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for County Westmeath . Personal life . Howard - Bury died in September 1963 , aged 82 . He never married . He left his house at Belvedere to his friend Rex Beaumont .