Key Information

Photographer

H. Staunton ?

Collection

Harry Staunton

Date of Photo

1940 - 1941

Named Person

Harry Staunton, Bo Tsering

Region

Gyantse > Mission Hospital

Accession number

1999.23.1.9.3

Image Dimensions

133 x 84 mm

Harry Staunton in a suit and Homburg hat and Medical Assistant Rai Sahib Bo Tsering also in a suit with a striped scarf standing in a room of the British hospital in Gyantse. There is an examination bed on the right, a round stool in the foreground and a table with glass bottles against the wall on the left.

Further Information

Activity

Health Care

Photographic Process

Print gelatin silver

Date Acquired

Donated 1999

Donated by

Diana Hughes

Expedition

H. Staunton

Photo also owned by

Diana Hughes

Other Information

Notes on album mount - "Rai Sahib Bo in Gyantse Hosp" is written in small letters in pencil on the album page below the photograph. [KC 9/12/2005]

Other Information - Album: This image appears in Staunton's personal album on a page (1999.23.1.9) with two other images. [KC 9/12/2005]

Other Information - People

Other Information - People: Alex McKay writes about Rai Bahadur Bo Tsering in 'The Birth of a Clinic? The IMS Dispensary in Gyantse (Tibet), 1904-1910', Medical History , vol.49 (2), 135-154, "Two Sikkimese youths were eventually trained as Sub-Assistant Surgeons and posted to Tibet during the First World War. One of these, Bo Tsering, subsequently served in the British hospitals in Tibet for more than thirty years." Also. footnote 83 states, "Bo Tsering (d.1953) was a Gangtok Sikkimese whose father worked for the local ruler. It is interesting to note that there was a large increase in the numbers of Tibetans attending the Gyantse hospital after Bo Tsering became Gyantse Medical Officer in December 1915. ... Tsering attributed the increase to the growing popularity of the biomedical facility, but it may be that the Tibetans actually felt more comfortable consulting a Sikkimese medical practitioner." [KC 9/12/2005]

Other Information - People

Other Information - People: F Spencer Chapman also mentions Rai Sahib Bo Tsering in Lhasa: The Holy City , 1938, London: Chatto and Windus, "I sat next to Rai Sahib Bo Tsering [at a local race meeting in Gyantse], the sub-assistant surgeon, who works under the Agency doctor. He is coming to Lhasa with us. A red-faced genial Sikkimese in loud checks, he is a famous horse-coper and is liked by everybody. His pony won the open race today." (p.54)

Other Information - Setting

Other Information - Setting: Alex McKay writes about the establishment of the hospital in Gyantse in ""The Birth of a Clinic"? The IMS Dispensary in Gyantse (Tibet), 1904-1910" (www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov Med Hist.2005 April 1; 49(2): 135-154)

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Harry Staunton, Rai Sahib Bo Tsering in Gyantse hospital" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1999.23.1.9.3.html>.

For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The Pitt Rivers Museum.