Frank Ludlow (third from right) & George Sherriff (second from right) at the Gangtok Residency, 1933 |
Earlier this week I went to a talk
at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Titled: Primulas, Poppies and Rhododendrons – the ‘Botanical Endeavours’ of
Ludlow and Sherriff. It was given by Jan Faull, a retired film expert from
the British Film Institute (BFI), now writing her PhD on the use of film during
the 1920s Everest Expeditions. The purpose of the talk was to highlight the
recently digitised RGS film archive relating to the remarkable exploits of two
intrepid plant hunters, Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff.
I am also looking at the Ludlow and
Sherriff expeditions, but from a slightly different perspective, as part of my
PhD research. Beginning with Ernest H. Wilson and Augustine Henry at the turn
of the century, and followed by George Forrest, Reginald Farrer, William
Purdom, Joseph Rock, and Frank Kingdon Ward, the period covered by my study of
botanists on the Sino-Tibetan frontier up to 1949 is neatly bookended by Frank
Ludlow and George Sherriff. In June this year, whilst I was researching in the archives of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh, I was able to take a
quick look through some of their personal papers, diaries, and photographs. They
made six extensive expeditions in total, steadily and systematically working
their way east from Bhutan to Tibet in the years between 1933 and 1949. Given
the level of their meticulous organisation in conducting these very methodical
expeditions it is surprising they published very little of the results, only
authoring a handful of articles on their botanical and avifaunal discoveries
themselves. Neither of them published any book length accounts of their
travels. Instead the main work to consult today is Harold Fletcher’s excellent A Quest of Flowers (Edinburgh, 1975), which makes
extensive use of their diaries and letters to retell their expeditions in their
own words. There is a wonderful chapter in Fletcher’s book which is written by
George Sherriff’s wife, Betty, recounting the years of the Second World War –
an ‘interlude’ from their plant collecting expeditions, which they spent on a
British Government posting to Lhasa. Hence I was fascinated to find out that
shortly before she died in 1978 Betty Sherriff recorded a narration to accompany
one of their original colour films, which has now been digitised by the BFI and
can be viewed here:
Jan Faull’s talk was illustrated by
several similar clips from their black and white films (now held in the
archives of the RGS) which they shot in Bhutan and SE Tibet, as well as one
filmed in Kashgar (in present day Xinjiang). These films show a wealth of
fascinating detail, particularly in terms of life on expedition; the wonderful
national dress found in these Himalayan communities; and the warm smiles of their
porters and the local people they met is very notable. However, I was
particularly struck by two things with regard to Ludlow and Sherriff
themselves: firstly, the fact that George Sherriff always appears to be
industriously occupied, busying himself with various tasks, whereas Frank Ludlow
often seems to be strolling around, meditatively staring off into the distance at the high, misty
peaks surrounding them. Writing in The
Alpine Journal in 1997, Michael Ward
notes that Sherriff was 15 years younger than Ludlow: “Their attitudes were complimentary; Ludlow was the scholarly academic,
whilst Sherriff was the precise, efficient, practical organiser and an expert
mechanic and electrician. Both were captivated by the magic of the Himalaya and
Tibet. They had a great mutual respect and harmony of views, and serious
arguments and friction were unknown: yet, during all the long years of their
friendship, they always addressed each other by their surnames only.” They
were also great friends of the King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk.
The second thing I found most
striking about their films is how remarkably heavy and very cumbersome the loads
which the expedition porters had to bear on their bent backs seem to be
(although it’s possible these loads weren’t quite so heavy as some of the regular
loads of tea which were carried into Tibet from China), as well as the
precarious state of the ‘roads’ they had to travel, with precipitous inclines,
fording fast flowing rivers, or shinning across precarious ropeways and
suspension bridges. These were journeys for the hardiest of travellers. Jan
Faull pointed out that George Sherriff always swore by the health-giving
benefits derived from the large supplies of whisky which they took with them; something
which he also considered as highly effective against malaria too! … I didn’t
realise before but Sherriff was related to the famous family of Scotch whisky
distillers of the same name from Bowmore in Islay.
Something else which these films show
are the remarkable vistas of flowers that were the commercial and scientific
purpose of all their expeditions. I’d pictured these scenes from the very vivid
descriptions found in Farrer and Kingdon Ward’s books, as well as Fletcher’s,
along with my own experience wandering through the region further to the north,
but seeing these vistas as rendered first-hand in their films is quite something
else. As Jan Faull explained, Ludlow and Sherriff pioneered the use of colour
photography on their journeys, at first using Kodacolour film made by the
Eastman Kodak Company, a type of film stock which was only in use for a few
years before it was superseded by the more familiar Kodachrome film. It’s
thought that these films were primarily made by Sherriff and Ludlow for their
own records, or for use as part of their public talks and lectures rather than
for proper distribution. As can readily be seen these films now comprise a
unique record. They certainly constitute an invaluable source of information for
historians, anthropologists, and for the local communities of the Himalayas
themselves. Through the joint work of the RGS and the BFI, it’s wonderful to
see that many of these films (and others like them) are currently being
preserved through digitisation, and it’s even more wonderful that they are now being
openly shared with everyone across the globe via the world-wide-web for free:
See for yourself:
(including
George Sherriff’s B&W and Kodacolour Films)
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