Key Information

Photographer

Hugh E. Richardson

Collection

Hugh Richardson

Date of Photo

1945 - 1950

Named Person

James Guthrie

Region

Lhasa Area

Accession number

2001.59.7.59.1

Image Dimensions

55 x 57 mm

Three monks and James Guthrie in the countryside near Lhasa. Guthrie, who was the Civil Surgeon Bhutan and Tibet from 1945 onwards, is wearing a monk's shawl.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative film nitrate

Date Acquired

Donated August 2001

Donated by

The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson

Expedition

Hugh E. Richardson

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative album - '7' 'PEOPLE'

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative index - Folio 59. 'James Guthrie Surkhang'

Other Information - Biography: See Alex McKay, Tibet and the British Raj, Richmond, Curzon Press, 1997, pp 167-8 . James Guthrie took up post as Medical Officer Gyantse in September 1934 - November 1935 and as Civil Surgeon Bhutan and Tibet from March 1945. " ... Major James Guthrie, though inclined to use his command of Tibetan to say what his superiors considred 'the most stupid and senseless things', had a great empathy with the Tibetans. Guthrie was given considerable reponsibility as the only senior British officer in Lhasa during Pemba Tsering's first months in charge of the mission [April 1945]. Among Guthrie's varied tasks in Lhasa was an operation to remove a cyst from the eye of one of the Dalai Lama's peacocks. The worried young Dalai Lama watched the operation and he remebers that Guthrie assured him, in the three forms of Tibetan speech, inferior, regular, and onorific, 'Don't worry, it will not die.'"

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Three monks and James Guthrie" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.7.59.1.html>.

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