Historical Sources & Testimonies Page

Sir Francis Younghusband (1863 - 1942)

Wikipedia entry: Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband KCSI KCIE (31 May 1863 - 31 July 1942, Dorsetshire) was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia--especially the 1904 British invasion of Tibet, which he led--and for his writings on Asia and foreign policy. Younghusband held positions including British commissioner to Tibet and President of the Royal Geographic Society.

Younghusband was elected President of the Royal Geographic Society in 1919, and two years later became Chairman of the Mount Everest Committee which was set up in 1921 to co-ordinate the reconnaissance of Mount Everest. He actively encouraged climbers, including George Mallory, to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and they followed the same initial route as the earlier Tibet Mission.

In 1938 Younghusband encouraged Ernst Schäfer, who was about to lead a German expedition to Tibet, to "sneak over the border" when faced with British intransigence towards Schäfer's efforts to reach Tibet.

A 'Curious' Theory

In his book, Kashmir, published in 1909, Sir Younghusband attested to the Kashmiri traditions regarding the sojourn of Jesus to India:

“There resided in Kashmir some 1900 years ago a saint of the name of Yuz Asaf, who preached in parables and used many of the same parables as Christ uses, as, for instance, the parable of the sower.  His tomb is in Srinagar…and the theory is that Yuz Asaf and Jesus are one and the same person.  When the people are in appearance of such a decided Jewish cast, it is curious that such a theory should exist.” (Sir Francis Younghusband, Kashmir (London: A. & C. Black Ltd, 1909), p. 112