Famous mountaineers of India at 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival venue IMF Delhi P 20170325 181352

The Himalayan Club is an organization founded in India in 1928 along the lines of the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

. The stated mission of the organization was "to encourage and assist Himalayan travel and exploration, and to extend knowledge of the Himalaya and adjoining mountain ranges through science, art, literature and sport." The Club publishes a journal, the Himalayan Journal and has a library. Chewang Motup Goba from

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...

is the current president of The Himalayan Club.

History

The idea to start such an organization was proposed in 1866 by Mr. F. Drew and Mr. W. H. Johnson to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Douglas Freshfield Douglas William Freshfield (27 April 1845 – 9 February 1934) was a British lawyer, mountaineer and author, who edited the ''Alpine Journal ''from 1872 to 1880. He was an active member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club and ...

, active member of the Royal Geographic Society wrote in the Alpine Journal in 1884, "The formation at Calcutta or Simla," he said, "of (a) Himalayan Club, prepared to publish Narratives of Science and Adventure' concerning the mountains, would be the most serviceable means to this end." The organization was finally established on 17 February 1928 in the office of Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood. A library was established at Shimla. Some of the 127 founding members were: * Sir G. L. Corbett, Secretary for Commerce and Industry; * Major Kenneth Mason of the Survey of India * Mr. T. E. T. Upton, Solicitor to the Government of India * Major General Walter Kirke, acting Chief of the General Staff * Brigadier E. A. Tandy,

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* The Viceroy, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood * Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, Commander in Chief * Sir Malcolm Hailey, Governor of the Punjab * Sir Edwin Pascoe, Director of the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

* Major General Kenneth Wigram * Brigadier W. L. O. Twiss * Mr. G. Mackworth Young, Army Secretary * Mr. J. G. Acheson, Deputy Foreign Secretary * Major E. O. Wheeler of the Survey of India; * Captain J. G. Bruce,

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, of the

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The membership of the organization grew from 250 in 1928 to 572 in 1946. A library was initially established in Shimla at United Service Institution of India but moved to the Survey of India and in 1932 to New Delhi. In 1947, most of the British members left India but continued to be members. With more members in Calcutta, it was managed from there and the library moved from the Army headquarters to the Calcutta Light Horse Club in 1948. In 1958 the library moved to the Geological Survey of India and in 1966 it moved to the National Library of India in Calcutta. In 1971, it moved back to New Delhi where it was housed in the Central Secretariat and before moving to the Indian International Centre in 1976 where it continues to be located.

Presidents emeritus

*Jagdish Nanavati (2000-2012) *Dr. M.S. Gill (2013-present) *Harish Kapadia (2013-present)

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteFacebook Group
Climbing organizations Alpine clubs