Jim Corbett
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Edward James Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was an
Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...
hunter and author. He gained fame through hunting and killing several man-eating tigers and leopards in Northern India, as detailed in his bestselling 1944 memoir '' Man-Eaters of Kumaon''. In his later years, he became an outspoken advocate of the nascent
conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...
. Born in Naini Tal, Corbett explored and hunted in the jungles of India in childhood. He shot his first man-eater in 1907 and continued to hunt and kill such animals over the next four decades. Animals such as the
Champawat Tiger Tiger attacks are a form of human–wildlife conflict which have killed more humans than attacks by any of the other big cats, with the majority of these attacks occurring in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. Reasons for attacking ...
, the Leopard of Rudraprayag, and the Panar Leopard had taken hundreds of victims in the divisions of Kumaon and Garwhal, before their deaths at Corbett's hands. ''Man-Eaters of Kumaon'', which detailed several such hunts, became an international bestseller; it was followed by several other books and was adapted into a 1948 Hollywood film. Corbett increasingly disdained what he saw as the rapacious extermination of India's forests and wildlife, and fervently promoted wildlife photography as an alternative to
trophy hunting Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for field sports, sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game (hunting), game", is typically a mature male specimen from a p ...
. He played a major role in the creation of India's first wildlife reserve in 1934; it was renamed
Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named ''Hailey National Park'' after Willi ...
after his death. The
Indochinese tiger The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar and Thailand. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, including 85 in ...
subspecies received the
scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
''Panthera tigris corbetti'' in his honour. For many years, Corbett earned a living working for the railway companies, and for twenty-two years supervised the transport of goods across the
Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
at Mokameh Ghat. During the First World War, he recruited a labour corps and commanded them on the Western Front; he also supervised the logistics of the
Third Anglo-Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War was a short war which began on 3 May and ended on 8 August 1919. The new Amir of the Emirate of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan declared a Jihad against the British in the hope to proclaim full independence, as well as ...
in 1919. Returning to his home town during the interwar period, he became a prominent local landowner and businessman who also organised hunts for the elite of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, including the then- Governor-General Lord Linlithgow, who became a close friend. Corbett served as an instructor in jungle survival for troops of the
Burma Campaign The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...
during the Second World War. Dismayed by the febrile atmosphere surrounding Indian independence, he emigrated to
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
in 1947, and died in
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County and was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province (Kenya), Central Province. The town is situated a ...
eight years later.


Ancestry and early life

The Corbetts descended from several families who had emigrated from the
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
to the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
over the course of the 19th century. His paternal grandparents Joseph and Harriet Corbett, having eloped together from a
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
and a
nunnery A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Comm ...
in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, had arrived in India on 7 February 1815. They had nine children; the sixth, Christopher William, was born at
Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...
in 1822, and followed his father into the army, where he served as a medical officer. He married Mary Anne Morrow in December 1845, and they had three children before her early death. Surviving the Indian Mutiny of 1857, he retired from military service and married Mary Jane Doyle , a 22-year-old widow of Anglo-Irish descent, in 1859. She had had four children with Charles James Doyle of
Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...
, who had been killed in the rebellion. In 1862, Christopher William was appointed the postmaster of Naini Tal, a thriving
hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...
in northern India which had been untouched by the Mutiny. There, he and Mary Jane had nine children, and additionally raised four children of a deceased sister. As Christopher William's salary was not large enough to support so many people, they supplemented their income through shrewd property investments, which Mary Jane was especially skilled at—she in effect became the first
estate agent An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of real estate, properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a Letting agent, letting or manag ...
in Naini Tal, a valuable position in the rapidly-expanding town. Through his social connections and friendship with Henry Ramsay, the commissioner of the
Kumaon division Kumaon (; , ; historically romanised as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a List of divisions in India, revenue and administrative division in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is b ...
, Christopher William was additionally able to acquire a plot of land in the southern plains near Kaladhungi, on which he built a winter residence he named Arundel. Edward James Corbett, the eighth and penultimate child of Christopher William and Mary Jane, was born on 25 July 1875 in Naini Tal. His early childhood years were privileged, and he was cared for by his mother, his elder sisters, and local servants; from the latter, he picked up the local languages, the basics of Hindu practices and philosophy, and some of their superstitions. However, the family soon suffered two misfortunes: first, a large landslide on 18 September 1880 which killed 151 people additionally ruined several of the Corbett's property investments; and second, Christopher William, who had retired from postmastership in 1878, died on 21 April 1881 after suffering heart problems. Mary Jane built a home on the opposite side of Naini Tal lake to the landslide; named Gurney House, it would be Jim Corbett's home for most of his life. Corbett spent much of his childhood exploring the jungles around Gurney House; from these explorations, and from willing adults such as his eldest brother Tom, and a nearby headman named Kunwar Singh, he gained intimate knowledge of the habits of the local wildlife. He also began hunting, first with projectile weapons such as a catapult and a pellet bow, until being gifted an old
muzzle-loading A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading fire ...
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
at the age of eight. With these weapons, he grew more skilled at hunting and tracking animals. After surviving a near-fatal bout of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
at the age of six, he began his formal education in Naini Tal at Oak Openings School; there, training with the local cadet company, the ten-year-old Corbett's shooting impressed a group of dignitaries including the future Field Marshal Earl Roberts enough that he was granted a loan of a military-specification Martini-Henry rifle. Not long afterwards, he shot his first
big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, c ...
—a
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...
—with this rifle. Although Corbett soon became proficient as a young hunter, as a student, first at Oak Openings and then at the Diocesian Boys' School, he was fairly average. Although he wanted to become an engineer, that required further education and money which the family did not have, as Tom had now married and was supporting his own family. He also knew that it would be his responsibility to look after his mother and two sisters in later years. In turn they, especially his one-year older sister Maggie, were quite devoted to him. Leaving home at the age of seventeen, he took his first job as a temporary fuel inspector in
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
, with a salary of one hundred rupees per month.


Work career and WWI service

Corbett spent the two years of his contract near Bakhtiarpur, in charge of a sizeable labour force which collected timber to be used as locomotive fuel. The gruelling work was slightly eased by the rapport he, unlike most of European descent, could build with his men. In cutting down up to of forest per day, he gained an appreciation for the then-unknown sciences of
ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
and conservation. At the end of his contract, Corbett's honesty in not keeping excess profits for himself impressed a senior railway agent and earned him a job at the
Samastipur Samastipur is a City and Municipal Corporation in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Burhi Gandak River flows through the city. It is one of the five railway divisions of ECR, H ...
office, where he worked for a year on various jobs. He was then appointed, in 1895, to the contract of transporting goods across the
Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...
at Mokameh Ghat: by structuring his workforce efficiently and forming strong friendships with his subordinates, Corbett managed to clear the preexisting backlog, to the surprise of his superiors. He would remain in control of shipping goods at Mokhameh Ghat for the following twenty-two years. His life at Mokameh Ghat was regular and peaceful. Living in a bungalow with three servants, only rarely seeing other Europeans, he began to become an active member of the local community, building a small school; the initial number of twenty students rapidly expanded to over three hundred, and the local government was compelled to take over the institution's running. Within a few years, Corbett was promoted to oversee the passenger steamers as well as the cargo shipping. This promotion gave him a large increase in salary, much of which he remitted to his family in Naini Tal, as well as access to the high-ranking travellers who often crossed the Ganges, such as Indian royalty and Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, the
Prime Minister of Nepal The prime minister of Nepal (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of Nepal. The prime minister leads the Council of Ministers of Nepal, Council of Ministers and holds the chief executive authority in the country. They must maintain ...
. He also trained new arrivals from Britain whom the railways had recruited there. At Mokameh Ghat, Corbett had come to view himself as more Indian than any other identity, but he retained his patriotism for Britain. He attempted to enlist when the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...
broke out, but the railway authorities refused to release him from his contract, believing he was too valuable in his position at Mokameh Ghat. When the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
broke out 1914, Corbett travelled to
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 ...
to enlist but was rejected as too old at 38. However, as the war of attrition dragged on, the authorities began to recruit more heavily from India and he was commissioned as a
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
in 1917, to the displeasure of his superiors. Ordered to raise a labour corps, he easily recruited five thousand men in Kumaon, where he was greatly esteemed because of his hunting of man-eaters; he took a tenth of these as a personal unit, named the 70th Kumaon Company. They set sail from
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
in late summer 1917. Landing in
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
, Corbett and his men were soon transferred to the Western Front, where they were posted to numerous positions including La Chapellette near Péronne. In the difficult conditions, Corbett sought to protect his men and keep their morale high. In addition to being in an unfamiliar land and climate, the Indian troops, often scorned by their British counterparts, faced difficulties like not being able to eat tinned beef stew or pork, both staples of British
trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from a ...
. Corbett conducted himself well. After a visit to La Chapellette in January 1918, Lord Ampthill, who was in charge of the foreign labour corps, noted that Corbett struck him as "competent and resourceful", having introduced a novel way of heating the troop accommodation and having built, to Ampthill's astonishment, a "substantial brick building" containing a bathroom and drying room, both heated by an
incinerator Incineration is a list of solid waste treatment technologies, waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-ene ...
. At the conclusion of the war in 1918, only one of the five hundred men in the company had died. Corbett, now promoted to the rank of Major, explored London for a day before departing from
Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...
, visiting the
pyramids of Giza The Giza pyramid complex (also called the Giza necropolis) in Egypt is home to the Great Pyramid, the pyramid of Khafre, and the pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during th ...
on his way back home to India. While negotiating with the railways on how he would rejoin their workforce, Corbett was unexpectedly called up again by the army for the
Third Anglo-Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War was a short war which began on 3 May and ended on 8 August 1919. The new Amir of the Emirate of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan declared a Jihad against the British in the hope to proclaim full independence, as well as ...
in 1919. In late April or early May, he was sent to
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
, where he likely was in charge of the
supply lines Military supply-chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services for military materiel applications. Military supply chain management includes sub-suppliers, suppliers, internal inf ...
before the Battle of Thal, in which he may have seen action. He was subsequently involved in subduing tribes in
Zhob district Zhob District (, ) is a district in the northwestern part of Balochistan province of Pakistan. The population of Zhob District was estimated at 355,692 in 2023. Water from Zhob River is used for irrigation in the district. Administration The 199 ...
and
Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...
.


Businessman and local notable

After the Third Anglo-Afghan War finished in 1919, Corbett declined to return to the railways, and worked on a Kumaon house agency he had invested in and whose owner had subsequently died. Corbett expanded this business, named F.E.G. Mathews & Co. after its late owner, into hardware and tradesmanship. Around 1915, he had purchased the near-derelict village of Chhoti Haldwani near Kaladhungi. Despite initial difficulties, the village came to prosper: Corbett imported new crops such as bananas, grapes, and maize, and maintained the village to a high standard. A wall he built to protect the villagers remains standing. Corbett became close friends with Percy Wyndham, the Kumaon District Commissioner, and with him fought
banditry Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, ...
in the jungles; they also invested together in East African coffee. Wyndham retired in 1924 to the farm they had invested in near Majengo, and Corbett travelled to East Africa most years to inspect his investment and see his friend. He also built a house for himself and Maggie in Kaladhungi, although he normally eschewed what was nominally his bedroom and preferred to sleep in a tent in the garden; when the house was later converted into a museum in his honour, staff erected a bust of him on the normal site of his tent. In 1920, Corbett retook the position of vice-chairman of the Naini Tal municipal board, which he had vacated a decade earlier due to local inactivity. As part of this committee for two decades, he enforced economic standards and improved
civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
in the town. As chairman of the public works committee, he took a personal interest both in maintaining and renewing the town's attractiveness, and in environmental protection. He passed laws against excessive fishing and deforestation, and unsuccessfully campaigned for power lines to be placed underground. As a more prominent figure in Naini Tal, Corbett began to be accepted into a wider social circle, to whom he had previously been an outcast. He was increaingly called upon to coordinate hunting events. Initially simple partridge shoots, Corbett was soon organising tiger shoots for the elite of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
. This culminated in a close friendship with Lord Linlithgow,
Governor-General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...
between 1936 and 1943; Corbett organised hunts near Kaladhungi for Linlithgow and his family several times a year, and was often invited to stay in the Viceroy House in Delhi.


WWII service

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Corbett, who had retained his rank of major in the reserve army, immediately volunteered again. Unsurprisingly, at well over sixty years old, he was rejected. After initially working for a charity which looked after the families of active servicemen, he became a recruitment officer in 1940 after lying about his own age. After two years in this role, he suffered from a serious typhus infection, probably exacerbated by a near-drowning experience he had had when a boat capsised on the
Sharda River The Sharda River is the downstream of Kāli River (or Mahakali River) that originates in the northern Uttarakhand state of India in the Great Himalayas on the eastern slopes of Nanda Devi massif, at an elevation of in the Pithoragarh distr ...
. During a three-month hospital stay, he lost almost half his weight and came close to becoming a cripple, but overcame his physical challenges with regular exercise. During Corbett's convalescence in 1942/43,
Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
had commenced the
Burma campaign The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...
in the jungles of Southeast Asia. When he next approached the army in late 1943, they saw his potential as a source of knowledge: by February 1944, he had been appointed senior instructor in junglecraft at
Chhindwara Chhindwara is a major city in India and a Municipal Corporation in the Chhindwara district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city is the administrative headquarters of Chhindwara District. Chhindwara is reachable by rail or road fro ...
and recommissioned as a lieutenant colonel. He inspected the Burmese forests in March 1944 and returned to India on his first flight, courtesy of American airmen he had befriended. Corbett's training, for British and American troops destined for the Burmese jungles, encompassed a wide range of topics. Survival techniques he taught included obtaining fresh water, distinguishing poisonous snakes and edible plants, trapping small animals, creating natural herbal medicines for wounds, fevers, stomach problems, and communicating by blowing through reeds. His students were taught how to orient themselves, how to pinpoint sounds, and how to keep maximum visual awareness. He displayed how tracking skills allowed him to assess how many enemy soldiers passed on a track, how long ago, how fast they were travelling, and even whether their guns were loaded. One of the soldiers he trained later noted that "Corbett appeared to be a cross between a magician and a master detective".


Relationship with wildlife


Hunting man-eaters

In 1907, Corbett was approached by the deputy commissioner of Naini Tal, who asked him to hunt the
Champawat Tiger Tiger attacks are a form of human–wildlife conflict which have killed more humans than attacks by any of the other big cats, with the majority of these attacks occurring in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. Reasons for attacking ...
. This tigress had allegedly killed two hundred people in Nepal, before a mass beating drove her into India. She established her territory around Lohaghat in early 1903 and doubled her total over the next four years, claiming a victim once every three weeks on average. None of the ''shikaris'' (hunters), sportsmen, or army infantry deputised to hunt her had come close. Corbett accepted the task, and hunted the tigress for a number of days. After a seventeen-year-old girl was killed, a beat involving 298 men was organised, which drove the tigress from cover and allowed Corbett to shoot her. As a reward, he was presented with a rifle by Sir John Hewett, Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces. A twelve-guinea .275 Rigby with leaf sights and a French walnut stock, it became Corbett's favourite weapon, used in most subsequent man-eater hunts. In the wake of this success, Corbett was asked to hunt two other man-eaters active in India: a tiger active around Mukteshwar, and the Panar Leopard in the villages in the east of the
Almora district Almora is a District (India), district in the Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand state, India. The headquarters is at Almora. It is 1,638 meters above sea level. The neighbouring regions are Pithoragarh district to the east, Chamoli district to the w ...
. The latter animal had killed over four hundred people. Corbett tackled them both in 1910, tracking and killing the tiger in the spring; he was forced to abort his initial attempt to kill the leopard in April because of his work at Mokameh Ghat, but returned in September and killed the animal in a nighttime hunt. It was over fifteen years before Corbett hunted another man-eater. In 1925, he was asked by his friend Sir William Ibbotson to hunt the Leopard of Rudraprayag, which since 1918 had been terrorizing the populace of the neighbouring Garhwal division. Although it had only claimed 125 victims, much less than the Panar Leopard, it received far more attention, being mentioned in the newspapers on multiple continents across the
Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...
, in addition to nearly every publication in India. This notoriety came about because the leopard's territory covered the
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
trails to the Hindu shrines of
Kedarnath Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86.5 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarters. Kedarnath is the most remote ...
and
Badrinath Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is a Hindu holy place, and is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage. It is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage c ...
, then visited by 60,000 pilgrims annually. Corbett's sister Maggie tried to dissuade her brother, now fifty years old, but was unsuccessful. He hunted the leopard for ten weeks in the autumn of 1925, sometimes with Ibbotson and sometimes alone, on some occasions coming close and on one terrifying occasion being hunted himself, before reaching the limits of his endurance and returning home. He returned early the next year, and again searched for several weeks. On the final night he was due to spend at Rudraprayag—he had put off urgent business in East Africa for three months already—he baited and fatally shot the leopard. Over the next several years, Corbett continued hunting man-eating tigers. When shooting the Talla Des man-eater in April 1929, he suffered from an
abscess An abscess is a collection of pus that has built up within the tissue of the body, usually caused by bacterial infection. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pre ...
in his ear which almost deafened him permanently. That year, he began hunting the
Tigers of Chowgarh Tiger attacks are a form of human–wildlife conflict which have killed more humans than attacks by any of the other big cats, with the majority of these attacks occurring in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. Reasons for attacking ...
, shooting first the cub and subsequently, on 11 April 1930, its mother. These were followed by: the Kanda man-eater in July 1932; the Mohan man-eater, likely around May 1933; the Chuka man-eater in April 1938; and the Thak man-eater in November of that year. He shot his final man-eater at the age of 71 after the Second World War.


Conservation

On his trips to East Africa in the 1920s, Corbett began to compare the untouched grasslands there to the increasingly exploited forests in India. This kickstarted his thoughts on what would become known as conservationism, although for the time being he continued to hunt for sport, shipping antelope trophies back to India and killing the famous large tiger called the Bachelor of Powalgarh in 1930. His biographer Martin Booth noted that Corbett never "truly resolved a conflict of ideals" between his love for the forest and animals and some desire to exploit them for himself, such as in his continuing organisation of tiger shoots. Corbett likely bought his first camera in Britain or
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
on his way back from the Western Front. He was in possession of one by the time he went on a hike with an
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
schoolmaster in September 1921. Corbett was fascinated by the photography of his acquaintance Frederick Walter Champion, who devised ways of recording tigers on cine film. He soon came to appreciate that unlike a trophy, which soon loses its colour and elegance, photographs lasted forever, did not result in an animal's death, and required somewhat greater skill—because the early cameraman had to get much closer than the rifleman. In a ten-year project, he constructed a "studio" around a jungle stream near his home, where he arranged foliage, hiding places, and hydrology to draw tigers to be filmed. His greatest success came in early 1938, when he filmed seven tigers, including one white, present simultaneously on the bank of the stream. In the 1930s, Corbett felt increasingly aggrieved at the degradation of the forests. He began writing to newspapers to condemn over-shooting and ruthless deforestation. These letters criticised shooting laws, called for conservation funds to be established, and censured over-eager hunters. In collaboration with Malcolm Hailey, governor of the United Provinces, he established an conservationist association named "The All India Conference for the Preservation of Wild Life". In 1934, he persuaded Hailey to establish India's first national park over of forest in the
Ramganga Ramganga is a tributary of the river Ganges, originating in Uttarakhand state, India. Ramganga West Ramganga West River originates from Dudhatoli or Doodhatoli ranges Course The Ramganga River originates in the southern slopes of Dudhato ...
river valley; in 1957, it was renamed the
Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named ''Hailey National Park'' after Willi ...
. The legislation introduced to protect this reserve was far ahead of its time, compared to other parts of India.


Personal life

Corbett never married. His biographer Martin Booth dismissed suggestions that he was
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
, instead citing his personal demeanor and his economic, social, and familial circumstances. As a "domiciled"
Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...
, Corbett was inferior socially to any young women from Britain looking for a husband, especially considering his isolated and somewhat primitive life at Mokameh Ghat. He was also generally quiet and introverted. This lack of social confidence was encouraged by his mother Mary, who was intensely protective of all her sons, perhaps motivated by a desire to be looked after in old age. In 1902, she and Maggie, who was similarly jealous of any potential wife for Jim, managed to obstruct his courtship of a holidaying English girl he had fallen in love with. Within months of Mary Corbett's death on 16 May 1924, Jim fell deeply in love with a nineteen-year-old woman named Helen, who was on holiday in India with her parents. While she was flattered by his devoted courtship, but was not certain about the prospect of marriage to him, while her family and Jim's friends considered them totally unsuitable for each other. Rebuffed, he withdrew. On a trip to Britain in 1928, he stopped in Edinburgh to make a final bid for Helen's hand in marriage, but found she was engaged. It was common practice for European men to have affairs with Indian women of good standing; it is possible Corbett did so, either at Mokameh Ghat or in Naini Tal. For many years, through love letters and private visits, he conducted an affair with Jean Ibbotson, the wife of his good friend William, who may have known about and condoned the relationship. Jean was extroverted, pretty, a skilled huntress, and a lover of nature; it is likely she played a part in Corbett's increasing conservationism. Corbett formed a number of close friendships with Indians, most notably his bearers, who served as a mix of army batmen and
butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
s. The two Corbett was closest to were Mothi Singh, who probably served Corbett the longest, and Madho Singh, who was notably present when Corbett killed the Chowgarh tigress. He also forged a close friendship and business relationship with Bahadar Shah Khan, the Muslim headman of Chhoti Haldwani, who was an intermediary between Corbett and the village's inhabitants, and who on occasion served as Corbett's bearer or even advisor. Corbett received the
Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...
in the 1928 New Year Honours. He was made a Companion of the
Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...
in the King's 1946 Birthday Honours.


Writing career and later life

After 1947, Corbett and his sister Maggie retired to
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County and was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province (Kenya), Central Province. The town is situated a ...
,
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
, where he lived in the cottage 'Paxtu' in the grounds of the Hotel Outspan, which had originally been built for his friend Lord Baden-Powell. He continued to write and sound the alarm about the declining numbers of wild cats and other wildlife. Corbett was at the Treetops, a hut built on the branches of a giant ficus tree, as the bodyguard of Princess Elizabeth when she stayed there on 5–6 February 1952. That night, her father,
King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
died, and Elizabeth ascended to the throne. Corbett wrote in the hotel's visitors' register:
For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen—God bless her.
Corbett died of a heart attack a few days after he finished his sixth book, ''Tree Tops'', and was buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri. ''Man-eaters of Kumaon'' was a great success in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the first edition of the American Book-of-the-Month Club being 250,000 copies. It was later translated into 27 languages. In 1968, one of the five remaining
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of tigers was named after him: ''Panthera tigris corbetti'', the
Indochinese tiger The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar and Thailand. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, including 85 in ...
, also called Corbett's tiger. In 1948, in the wake of ''Man-Eaters of Kumaon''s success, a Hollywood film, '' Man-Eater of Kumaon'', was made, directed by
Byron Haskin Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing '' The War of the Worlds'' (1953), one of many films where he ...
and starring Sabu, Wendell Corey and Joe Page. The film did not follow any of Corbett's stories; a new story was invented. The film was a
flop Floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance in computing, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate measur ...
, although some interesting footage of the tiger was filmed. Corbett is known to have said that "the best actor was the tiger". In 1986, the BBC produced a docudrama titled ''Man-Eaters of Kumaon'' with Frederick Treves in the role of Corbett. An
IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
movie '' India: Kingdom of the Tiger'', based on Corbett's books, was made in 2002 starring
Christopher Heyerdahl Christopher Heyerdahl (born September 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor who portrayed Alastair (Supernatural), Alastair in ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural,'' the Wraith (Stargate), Wraith Todd in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Sam in ''Van ...
as Corbett. A TV movie based on ''The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag'' starring
Jason Flemyng Jason Iain Flemyng''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 25 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for his work with British filmmakers Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn appearing in ...
was made in 2005.


Books

* ''Jungle Stories''. Privately published in 1935 (only 100 copies) * '' Man-Eaters of Kumaon''. Oxford University Press, Bombay 1944 * ''The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag''. Oxford University Press, 1948 * ''My India''. Oxford University Press, 1952 * ''Jungle Lore''. Oxford University Press, 1953 * ''The Temple Tiger and More Man-eaters of Kumaon''. Oxford University Press, 1954 * ''Tree Tops''. Oxford University Press, 1955 (short 30-page novella) * ''Jim Corbett's India – Selections by R. E. Hawkins''. Oxford University Press, 1978 * ''My Kumaon: Uncollected Writings''. Oxford University Press, 2012


See also

* Literary references to Nainital * Hunter-naturalists of India * List of big-game hunters *
Project Tiger Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation movement initiated in India to protect the endangered tiger. The project was initiated in 1973 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India. As of March 2025, there ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * *


External links


The Corbett Foundation India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbett, Jim 1875 births 1955 deaths British conservationists British Indian Army officers British naturalists British people in colonial India Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Hunters from British India Indian conservationists Naturalists from British India People from Nainital Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal