OBITUARY

  1. MAJOR GEORGE LORIMER
  2. Lt.-Col. N. H. L. WATTS
  3. Dr. K. BISWAS
  4. BILL ALLSOP

 

 

MAJOR GEORGE LORIMER

(1917-1969)

Major George Lorimer died suddenly at his home in Scotland in May 1969. George joined the Indian Army and was commissioned into the 4th Gurkha Rifles in the early 1940s. We first met in 1942 when he volunteered for service with the 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalion. Short war-time holidays in Northern India and Kashmir, skiing and shooting brought us together and after the war, in 1946, we went off on a three-month trip to the Eastern Karakorams with a couple of Sherpas and one Gurkha.

Our objective was Saser Kangri (25,133 ft.) but we could make little progress on the west (Panamik) side of the mountain. Later in the expedition George crossed the Saser La with one of the Sherpas and photographed and examined the eastern side. Saser Kangri is now, I think, the highest unclimbed mountain lying entirely inside Indian territory. An Indian expedition is planned for 1970 and the key to a route to the summit may be found on that eastern side.

George proved to be an ideal companion, good-humoured, generous and uncomplaining of irritating whims of a leader who thrived on a constant change in plans. Again, in 1954, we went to the Dhaulagiri Himal in Nepal with a few Sherpas. As a mountaineer in the technical sense George probably lacked much ambition. He liked expedition life for its own sake and made his own special contribution to the expeditions he joined. However, although he mentioned the matter to me only once and quite casually, I know his bitter disappointment that he had had to turn back below the summit of Putha Hiunchuli that year.

In 1960 we were together on the joint services expedition which made the first ascent of Annapurna II.

It is sad to think we shall not be able again to think up some improbable plans and disappear into the blue with a couple of Sherpas. For myself, in future, it will be only the Sherpas. But the grateful memory of our happy association in the mountain will always remain.

J. O. M. R.

 

 

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Lt.-Col. N. H. L. WATTS, o.b.e.

(1917-1969)

We regret to announce the death of Lt.-Col. N. H. L. Watts on 18 October 1969. Miss Sybil B. Watts, his daughter, was kind enough to send us a poem written by him, in the Himalayas, before the war and we print it below as a fitting appreciation of his love for the mountains.

Nightfall at Arau

The glory of the pine-clad ridge seems scarcely real

The wonders of the snow-topped crags, a passing dream,

As mighty landscapes fade at dusk I almost feel,

I touch the mysteries of the Universal Scheme.

The struggling city's toil and stress recede afar,

And natures melody alone, the ear enthralls;

The dying afterglow yields to the evening star,

The velvet night falls softly, blessing as it falls.

Here, in the nobler air of natures own domain,

The soul from human jealousies obtains release,

The littleness of mans ambitions is made plain,

And God invites the troubled heart to share His peace.

N. H. L. Watts

 

 

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Dr. K. BISWAS

Dr. Kalipada Biswas, a botanist of international repute and a life member of the Club for nearly 30 years, died at his residence on 29 Dec. 1969. He was 70 and leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter.

Dr. Biswas had a brilliant academic career. He stood first- class first in the M.A. (Botany) examination in 1922 (securing the University Gold Medal). In 1936 he left for Europe and worked at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh and in the Natural History Department of the British Museum. He gained his D.Se. (Edinburgh) in 1937.

He was awarded the Elliot Gold Medal and Prize in 1928 and again in 1936; the Coronation Medal in 1937 for meritorious service in the Royal Botanical Garden and at the Herbarium; the Paul Johannes Briihl Memorial Medal in 1952 for the best research work in Systematic Botany; the Rabindranath Prize in Science in 1951-52 and the Barclay Memorial Medal in 1969.

He was appointed curator of the Sibpur Botanic Garden's Herbarium in 1927 and became its superintendent in 1937— Director, Botanical Survey of India, in 1954—Director, Medicinal Plants, Government of West Bengal, from 1955 to 1956—Chairman, Medicinal Plants Committee—member of the Executive Council, Central Indian Medicinal Plants Organization and National Botanic Gardens, Lucknow.

During his 30 years of membership of the Himalayan Club, he rendered valuable service as a member of the Committee (1951- 55, 1960-62, 1968) and was Editor of the Himalayan Journal from 1961 to 1967. At all times he worked with complete dedication—the Club has lost an old and valued member and a friend.

Soli S. Mehta

 

 

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BILL ALLSOP

Bill Allsop was a keen rock-climber in the time before and after the 1914-18 War. When leading up Hopkinsons crack on Dow Crag, he fell over 60 feet and damaged a leg badly. Some years later I led him up the crack and he climbed it like a cat.

He was a manager at the armaments factory at Cossipore (Calcutta) and was a founder member of the Himalayan Club, of which he became a Vice-President in 1943. In 1928 he asked me to attempt with him the second ascent of Kabru, and we set off with 10 of the 1924 Everest Sherpas to do so. Between Jongri and the Pang La he got dysentery, and was so weak with it (we had no adequate medicines) that we had to give it up and I climbed two or three of the peaks around the Pang La with a couple of Sherpas. In a few days he was able to continue the trek along the Nepal-Sikkim frontier to Chiabanjan in pouring rain. Allsop, far from fit, managed to continue the trek, and from Phalut to Darjeeling we had glorious weather and views. We never managed to get to Kabru again, and I never met him until about 1950.

Since 1955 he became a chronic invalid, much crippled with arthritis, bearing his pain and frustration with patience and courage, and always full of good humour. I believe he made several more expeditions to the Himalaya after 1928, but I can find no trace of any record of them and do not know who were his companions on them.

Those who knew him will recall him with memories of a jovial, friendly man, always faithful to his love of the mountains.

T. H. Somervell

 

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