Key Information

Photographer

Arthur Hopkinson

Collection

A. J. Hopkinson

Date of Photo

May 20th - 22nd 1927

Region

Gyantse Region

Accession number

BMH.C.12.1

Image Dimensions

85 x 111

Colonel Bailey, the Political Officer at Sikkim, wanted to introduce a motorised postal service to speed up communications between the British Trade Agency stations in Tibet and the offices in Sikkim. A. J. Hopkinson was charged with overseeing the introduction of the system and repeatedly tried to bring the Dodge cars to Gyantse, invariably with much difficulty. On this occasion Hopkinson was returning from Kalimpong and had to bring the cars from their base in Phari to Gyantse.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative film nitrate

Expedition

A. J. Hopkinson's Tour of Duty as British Trade Agent, Gyantse, 1927-28

Other Information

In Negative - The negative has been cut very crudely down the left edge [MS 01/07/2006]

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - [Caption in A. J. Hopkinson's negative album 'Tibet C']: 'Bringing cars to Gyantse May 1927' [MS 28/04/2006]

Other Information - Description: [Extract from taped interview, Richard Blurton and Mrs Hopkinson] 'Dodge Brothers car - Col Bailey's scheme of running mail car on road up to Gyantse from, I suppose, from Phari; because you couldn't really take it over the passes - it was not regularly - the mind boggles at the idea, but they did manhandle it - they got it over somehow. The problems of supply seemed to put an end to it ... Four Tibetan nomads, the one on the right may be a red hat lama' [MS 01/07/2006]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "The car broken down en route to Gyantse" 05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMH.C.12.1.html>.

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The Pitt Rivers Museum

The British Museum

The car broken down en route to Gyantse