Francis Younghusband Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband , KCSI , KCIE ( 31 May 1863 – 31 July 1942 in Dorset ) was a British Army officer , explorer , and spiritual writer . He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia ; especially the 1904 British expedition to Tibet , which he led , during which a massacre of Tibetans occurred , and for his writings on Asia and foreign policy . Younghusband held positions including British commissioner to Tibet and President of the Royal Geographical Society . Early life . Francis Younghusband was born in 1863 at Murree , British India to a British military family , being the second son of Major - General John W . Younghusband and his wife Clara Jane Shaw . Clara ' s brother , Robert Shaw , was a noted explorer of Central Asia . As an infant , Francis was taken to live in England by his mother . When Clara returned to India in 1867 she left her son in the care of two austere and strictly religious aunts . In 1870 his mother and father returned to England and reunited the family . In 1876 at age thirteen , Francis entered Clifton College , Bristol . In 1881 he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and in 1882 he was commissioned as a subaltern in the 1st King ' s Dragoon Guards . Military career . In 1886 - 1887 , on leave from his regiment , Younghusband made on an expedition across Asia . With a senior colleague , Henry E . M . James ( on leave from his Indian Civil Service position ) and a young British consular officer from Newchwang , Harry English Fulford , Younghusband explored Manchuria , visiting the frontier areas of Chinese settlement in the region and the Changbai Mountains . Younghusband carried out numerous scientific observation ( in particular , showing that the Changbai Mountains ' s highest peak , Baekdu Mountain is only around 8 , 000 feet tall , even though the British maps the travelers had showed [ nonexsitent ] snow - capped peaks 10 , 000 - 12 , 000 ft tall in the area ) , while Fulford was providing the travelers with a language and cultural expertise . Parting with his British companions , Younghusband then crossed the Gobi Desert to the Chinese Turkestan , and pioneered a route from Kashgar to India through the uncharted Mustagh Pass . For this achievement he was elected the youngest member of the Royal Geographical Society and received the society ' s gold medal . In 1889 , the year he made Captain , Younghusband was dispatched with a small escort of Gurkha soldiers to investigate an uncharted region north of Ladakh , where raiders from Hunza had disrupted trade between Yarkand and India the previous year . Whilst encamped in the valley of the Yarkand River , Younghusband received a messenger at his camp , inviting him to dinner with Captain Bronislav Grombchevsky , his Russian counterpart in " The Great Game " . 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 . Grombchevsky impressed Younghusband with the horsemanship skills of his Cossack escort , and Younghusband impressed Grombchevsky with the rifle drill of his Gurkhas . After their meeting in this remote frontier region , Grombchevsky resumed his expedition in the direction of Tibet and Younghusband continued his exploration of the Karakoram . In 1890 Younghusband was sent on a mission to Chinese Turkestan , accompanied by George Macartney as interpreter . He spent the winter in Kashgar , where he left Macartney as British consul . In 1891 he returned to India through the Pamirs . At Bozai Gumbaz in the Little Pamir he encountered Russian soldiers , who forced him to leave the area . This was one of the incidents which provoked the Hunza - Nagar Campaign . During his service in Kashmir , he wrote a book called ' Kashmir ' at the request of Edward Molyneux . Younghusband ' s descriptions went hand in hand with his paintings of the Valley by Molyneux . In the book , Younghusband declared his immense admiration of the natural beauty of Kashmir and its history . In 1890 , Younghusband transferred to the Indian Political Service . He served as a political officer on secondment from the British Army . The Great Game , between Britain and Russia , continued beyond the start of the 20th century . Younghusband , among other explorers such as Sven Hedin , Nikolai Przhevalsky , Chokan Valikhanov and Sir Aurel Stein , participated in earnest . Rumors of Russian expansion into the Hindu Kush and a Russian presence in Tibet prompted the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon to appoint Younghusband , by then a Major , to serve as British commissioner to Tibet from 1902 - 1904 . Invasion of Tibet and Massacre at Guru . In 1903 - 1904 , under orders from Curzon , Younghusband , jointly with John Claude White , the Political Officer for Sikkim , led a British expedition to Tibet , whose putative aim was to settle disputes over the Sikkim - Tibet border ; the expedition controversially became ( by exceeding instructions from London ) a " de facto " invasion of Tibet . About one hundred miles inside Tibet , on the way to Gyantse , thence to the capital of Lhasa , a confrontation outside the hamlet of Guru led to the massacre , by the expedition , of 600 - 700 Tibetan militia , largely monks . Some estimates of Tibetan casualties are far higher ; including other conflicts , more than five thousand Tibetans may have been killed , against British casualties of five . The British force was supported by King Ugyen Wangchuck of Bhutan , who was knighted in return for his services . In 1891 , Younghusband received the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire which was upgraded to Knight Commander in 1904 ; and in 1917 , he was awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India . He was also awarded the Kaisar - I - Hind Medal ( gold ) in 1901 . In 1906 , Younghusband settled in Kashmir as the British representative before returning to Britain where he became an active member of many clubs and societies . He was promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel in 1908 . During the First World War , his patriotic Fight for Right campaign commissioned the song Jerusalem . Himalaya and mountaineering . Younghusband was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society in 1919 , and two years later became Chairman of the Mount Everest Committee which was set up to coordinate the initial to Mount Everest . He actively encouraged climbers , including George Mallory , to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest , and they followed the same initial route as the earlier Tibet Mission . Younghusband remained Chairman through the subsequent 1922 and 1924 British Expeditions . In 1938 Younghusband encouraged Ernst Schäfer , who was about to lead a German expedition to Tibet , to " sneak over the border " when faced with British intransigence towards Schäfer ' s efforts to reach Tibet . Personal life . In 1897 Younghusband married Helen Augusta Magniac , the daughter of Charles Magniac , MP . They had a son who died in infancy , and a daughter , Eileen Younghusband ( 1902 – 1981 ) , who became a prominent social worker . From 1921 to 1937 the couple lived at Westerham , Kent , but Helen did not accompany her husband on his travels . In 1939 he met Madeline Lees , 32 years his junior , with whom he is alleged to have conducted a mystical affair which lasted until his death . Wrote the foreword to " Towards Angkor in the footsteps of the Indian invaders " , by H . G . Quaritch Wales ( 1937 . ) His uncle Lieutenant - General Charles Younghusband CB FRS , was a British Army officer and meteorologist . Spiritual life . Biographer Patrick French describes Younghusband as one who was Ultimately he became what French calls a " premature hippy " who " had great faith in the power of cosmic ray s , and claimed that there are extraterrestrials with translucent flesh on the planet Altair . " During his 1904 retreat from Tibet , Younghusband had a mystical experience which suffused him with " love for the whole world " and convinced him that " men at heart are divine . " This conviction led him to regret his invasion of Tibet , and eventually , in 1936 , to found the World Congress of Faiths ( in imitation of the World Parliament of Religions ) . Younghusband published a number of books with what we might call New Age themes , with titles like " The Gleam : Being an account of the life of Nija Svabhava , pseud . " ( 1920 ) ; " Mother World ( in Travail for the Christ that is to be ) " ( 1924 ) ; and " Life in the Stars : An Exposition of the View that on some Planets of some Stars exist Beings higher than Ourselves , and on one a World - Leader , the Supreme Embodiment of the Eternal Spirit which animates the Whole " ( 1927 ) . ( This last was admired by Lord Baden - Powell , the Boy Scouts founder . ) Key concepts include what would come to be known as the Gaia hypothesis , pantheism , and a Christlike " world leader " living on the planet " Altair " ( or " Stellair " ) , who radiates spiritual guidance by means of telepathy . Younghusband also came to believe in free love ( " freedom to unite when and how a man and a woman please " ) , marriage laws being a matter of " outdated custom . " He wrote his longtime lover Madeline , Lady Lees that " I " have " made the discovery that bodily union does not impair soul union but heightens and tightens it . " Lees agreed . French , restoring censored passages from Younghusband ' s correspondence , discovered a letter from him suggesting that Lees was pregnant with Younghusband ' s child : The identity of the child is unknown , and its existence cannot be confirmed . One of Younghusband ' s domestic servants , Gladys Aylward , became a Christian missionary to China . The Ingrid Bergman film " The Inn of the Sixth Happiness " is based on her life , with an actor portraying Younghusband . Death . In July 1942 Younghusband suffered a stroke after addressing a meeting of the World Congress of Faiths in Birmingham . He died of cardiac failure on 31 July 1942 at Madeline Lees ' home Post Green House , at Lytchett Minster , Dorset . He was buried in the village churchyard .