IN MEMORIAM

MRS. A. E. BROWNE

I cannot claim to have known Mrs. Browne for long, or to be in any way qualified to write an obituary notice of her. But I take willingly this opportunity of recalling her friendship to my own mind, and of giving expression to the sorrow that many mountaineers will feel on hearing of her death.

The Himalayan Club has lost, without doubt, one of its very staunchest supports. She was its perfect local representative. The first time that I arrived in Ranikhet, hot and worried in the summer of 1943, it was pure joy and relief to be greeted by her untroubled smile, to be assured that the coolies were ready, and that the bus would turn up on time. She had done the same service for many others. For them, too, she had arranged stores and suggested routes; to them, too, it had been a pleasure always to be remembered, when they arrived travel-dusty before her bungalow, to talk for an hour over tea and ^cbikkies' of the climbs done and the old days of Smythe and Shipton, Kamet and Nanda Devi.

Mrs. Browne did very much more than help us, as it behoved a local secretary to do; and more even than take a close personal interest in our deeds and difficulties. She was, in her own province, foremost in the fight to protect the Dhotials; for she was one of those who could not endure that the 'corruption' of the plains should pervert the simple and lovable hill peoples too. She did not want the Dhotials' pay to be increased. No, but neither would she have a part of it go to the coolie contractor who, she said, sat in the market-place and did nothing but eat the money. Through her interest in the welfare of the Dhotials and her work among the inhabitants of Ranikhet she was a most real benefactress. She worked hard and she worked her durzi working-parties hard. And they were glad of her. I think that she would have stood out like a rock above the confusion to which India may be doomed. But it must have pained her.

I am sadly aware of the inadequacy of this notice. Its only excuse is that it had to be written at speed, for a Journal about to go to press. Its only merit will lie in the expression of affection for 'Brownie' which is very deep in the hearts of a number of us. She stood in some sense as the symbol of comfort, when we lifted our eyes from the weary plain up to the hills.

C. W. F. N.

Sir Charles Stevenson-Moore, who was killed while mountaineering alone near Montreux at the age of 81, had a long and distinguished career in Bengal, where he served for the full period of thirty-five years admissible to a member of the Indian Civil Service. Known throughout the services in Bengal as 'Stuffy’ Moore, the nickname was merely a convenient and affectionate abbreviation, for there was nothing in the least bit 'stuffy’ about him. Invariably calm and dignified he was yet accessible to all. A keen and competent sportsman, mountaineering was his joy, and it is fitting that his life should be brought to a close among the surroundings he loved so well. He will long be remembered by the older generation of government servants in Bengal. In addition to being a member of the Alpine and Alpine Ski Clubs, he was a keen supporter of the late Mountain Club of India and the Himalayan Club in their earlier days.

William Ernest Buchanan, who died in October 1946, was a founder member of the Club. He was for thirty years water and drainage engineer to the Simla Municipality. He was a hill-walker of outstanding endurance, and a water-colour artist of great ability.

The late Brigadier-General Theodore Roosevelt was recommended by General Eisenhower for promotion to the rank of Major-General, but died before he received his new command.

In 1925 he was a member of the Roosevelt-Simpson Expedition in Central Asia. In this expedition he was accompanied by Kermit Roosevelt, George Cherry, and myself. He left Kashmir for Turkestan via the Leh Karakoram route and proceeded to the Tien Shan mountains, returning via the Russian Pamirs and the Gilgit Hunza route. This expedition was for the Chicago Field Museum and the collection was as follows: bhurrel from Ladakh; gazelle from the Turkestan plains; Ovis Karelini, ibex, bear (2 species), and wapiti from the Tien Shan; Ovis Poli from the Pamirs.

In 1928-9 General Roosevelt was a member of the Kelly-Roosevelt Expedition with myself. The party left Bhamo in Upper Burma and travelled via Dali Fu, the Muli country, to Tatsienlou, and proceeded to Indo-China. In this expedition sambur and giant panda were collected. The giant panda was the first of this species ever collected up to that time.

Snydon Cutting.

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