No scan for this photo
2001.59.7.82.2 (Print)
2001.59.7.82.2 (Print)
Hugh E. Richardson
Hugh Richardson
June-July 1939
O'Malley, Lhalu Lhacham
Lhasa > Lhalu House
2001.59.7.82.2
60 x 60 mm
Print silver
Donated August 2001
The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson
Hugh E. Richardson
Notes on print - 'Dr O'Malley Lhalu Lhacham (in pencil) Dr O'Malley Fox (partially erased)' is written on the reverse of print in Richardson's hand and '510' and 'Velox' in an oval is stamped in black. There is also a label with 'Customer original 18' printed on it. [KC 5/7/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative index - 'Folio 82. 'do [Lhalu Lhacham] with O'Malley'. [KC 3/7/2006]
Clare harris 2003: Lhacham Lhalu, was one of the “first ladies” of Tibet as her father and late husband had both been Dukes, a title only awarded to those related to a Dalai Lama. The family home, the Lhalu mansion on the outskirts of Lhasa, was the headquarters of the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa in 1904. The house had its own private monastery in which the 13th Dalai Lama would often meditate. By the 1930s she was a popular figure in the social world of Lhasa and one of the few Tibetan women to host parties for the British. Spencer Chapman (1938:319) noted that “ The lady of Lhalu was of middle age and extremely stout. She wore the most wonderful jewellery, and was more made-up than any Tibetan woman I had seen”. “Our hostess was wonderfully good company. … The lunch was excellent but our indefatigable hostess made us eat far more than we wanted, and absolutely forced us to drink quantities of excellent but potent chang.” (Tibetan beer)
Other Information - Biography: Capt. A.H.O. O'Malley took up post as the Medical Officer Gyantse in July 1938 and kept it until July 1939. ( Tibet and the British Raj, London Studies on South Asia, no. 14, London, Curzon Press, 1997, p. 236.
Other Information - People: Alex McKay writes about Reginald Fox in Tibet and the British Raj , 1997, Richmond: Curzon Press, p. 203 - 4, "Reginald Fox served as Lhasa mission Radio Officer from March 1947 until 1950 and similarly died soon after retiring. While he and his Tibetan wife were frequently mentioned by travellers, there is also no trace of him in surviving official records." [KC 13/12/2005]
Other Information - Dates: This image relates to a group of 15 contact prints which all have the same batch development number, 516 printed in black ink upon them. In this group of images there is one picture with Capt. A. H. O O’Malley, who had taken up the post of Medical Officer in Gyantse in July 1938 [see McKay 1997 p.236] and who visited Lhasa in early June 1939. Also, some of the images are from a ceremony at Darpoling Monastery on the 15th Day of the 5th Month, which Richardson states he saw only once and which correlate with the year 1939. Many of the images were taken in and around Lhalu mansion [MS 19/12/2005]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Party hosted by Lhalu Lhacham"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.7.82.2.html>.
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