Major-General Sir Hamilton St Clair Bower (1 September 1858 – 5 March 1940) was a

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

officer who wrote about his travels through

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Private life

Bower was born on

Portsea Island Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. The island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all the i ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, the son of a Scottish father Admiral James Paterson Bower (1806–1889) of Inverarity, Forfarshire, and an Irish mother, Barbara Hickson. He was educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School and the

Royal Naval School The Royal Naval School was an English school that was established in Camberwell, London, in 1833 and then formally constituted by the ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. lxxxvi). It was a charitable institution, established as a boarding school for the sons ...

, New Cross. His father had retired to 4 Moredun Crescent in Edinburgh. Originally commissioned into the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Artillery

Militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the

Devonshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the World War I, First World War and the World War II, ...

23 October 1880. He was appointed to the Indian Staff Corps 2 February 1884 and posted to the 17th Cavalry 15 September 1885.''The Star and Crescent. Being the story of the 17th Cavalry from 1858 to 1922''. page 287 He is buried with his parents in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. The grave lies in the first north extension close to the main east–west path.

Personal life

He married firstly, Mary Sherrard in

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

, India in 1894. He married secondly, Maud Edith Ainslie in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 1889. He had three daughters.

Sanskrit medical manuscript

In 1889-1890 Lieutenant Hamilton Bower travelled through Chinese Turkestan, where in the city of

Kucha Kucha or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; , Кучар; zh, t= 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t= 庫車, p=Kùchē; ) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of what is now the Taklam ...

he purchased a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

-language

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

written in the

Brahmi alphabet Brahmi ( ; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as ...

.Ray H. Greenblatt
The Vanishing Trove: Reviled Heroes; Revered Thieves
The Chicago Literary Club. 2 October 2000 The medical manuscript, which later became known as the ''

Bower Manuscript The Bower Manuscript is a collection of seven fragmentary Sanskrit treatises found buried in a Buddhism, Buddhist memorial stupa near Kucha, northwestern China. Written in early Gupta script (late Brahmi ) on birch bark document, birch bark, it ...

'', sent a shock-wave through the world of Indian scholarship, especially

Indology Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

, pointing to the existence of a forgotten

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

civilization in Chinese Turkestan. During his time in Turkestan, Bower, who was then a British intelligence officer on a Government mission, attempted to track down the killer of Andrew Dalgleish, a Scottish trader murdered on the road from

Leh Leh () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

in 1888.Hamilton Bower
"A trip to Turkistan"
''

Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter C ...

''. 1895. p.241-257 In the 1890s Bower travelled to Tibet and wrote a memoir of his experiences entitled ''Diary of a Journey across Tibet''. In 1894 he received the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

Founder's Medal The Founder's Medal is a medal awarded annually by the Royal Geographical Society, upon approval of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, to individuals for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery". Foundation From ...

"for his remarkable journey across Tibet, from west to east".''Nature''
Volume 49 (1894)

Later military career

Bower served as D.A.Q.M.G (Intelligence) from 18 April 1893 to 4 May 1895. He served in the

Dongola Expedition The Mahdist War (; 1881–1899) was fought between the Mahdist State, Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad, Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided One"), and the forces of the Khedivate of E ...

1896 as D.A.Q.M.G (Intelligence) and was rewarded with a Brevet of Major.January 1908 Indian Army List He raised and commanded the

1st Chinese Regiment The 1st Chinese Regiment (also known as the Weihaiwei Regiment) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised in British Weihaiwei. The regiment, which was praised for its performance, consisted of Chinese enlisted men serving under Brit ...

at Wei-hei-Wei in 1898, and was in China during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in 1900, where he was in command of the regiment as they took part in the relief of Tientsin and the relief of Peking. After the end of hostilities, he was from 21 July to 30 November 1901 the delegate of the British military commander (Major-General

O'Moore Creagh General Sir Garrett O'Moore Creagh (2 April 1848 – 9 August 1923), known as Sir O'Moore Creagh, was a senior British Army officer and an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can ...

) on the provisional government. For his services during the rebellion, he was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

(by Maj.-General Creagh) and received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed Commander of the Legation Guard in Peking on 1 December 1901, and served as such until 24 November 1906. Appointed Brevet Colonel 10 February 1904. Appointed Squadron Commander, 17th Cavalry 15 October 1906, promoted Lieutenant-Colonel 23 October 1906. In January 1908 he was the second in command of the 17th Cavalry. Promoted Colonel 1 December 1908 and temporary Brigadier-general commanding the Dehra Ismail Khan Brigade and subsequently the Assam Brigade. Promoted Major-General 15 February 1909 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath CB in October 1910. He was the General Officer Commanding for the Abor Expedition and was rewarded with promotion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath KCB. He retired a Major General on 30 January 1914. He was appointed temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and commandant of the Haddington Volunteer Regiment 1 September 1916. He relinquished his commission on 26 February 1920 and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.London Gazette 2 March 1920

List of publications

* ''Some notes on Tibetan affairs''.

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1893. *
Diary of a journey across Tibet
'.

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: Rivington, Percival and Co., 1894.
The Bower Manuscript : facsimile leaves, Nagari transcript, romanised transliteration and English trans. with notes
Calcutta : Off. of the Superintendent of Govt. Printing, 1894. co-authored with A. F. Rudolf Hoernle
"A trip to Turkistan"
''

''. 1895. 241-257 * "The Abor Expedition: Geographical Results: Discussion". ''Geographical Journal'', Feb., 1913, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 109–114. co-authored with L. A. Bethell and

Thomas Holdich Colonel Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich (13 February 1843 – 2 November 1929) was an English geographer and president of the Royal Geographical Society. He is best known as Superintendent of Frontier Surveys in British India, arbiter in the Cor ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bower, Hamilton 1858 births 1940 deaths Burials at the Dean Cemetery People from Portsea, Portsmouth British people of Scottish descent British people of Irish descent English explorers English travel writers Explorers of Central Asia British Indian Army generals British Indian Army officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Deputy lieutenants of East Lothian British Weihaiwei people People educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School People educated at the Royal Naval School Recipients of the MacGregor Medal Military personnel from Portsmouth British military personnel in colonial India