About this chapter

The author of this work, Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, 1863-1942, was born in India to a British military family and earned worldwide fame through his writings which recorded his expeditions across the Far East, notably in China, Afghanistan, India and Tibet. One writer describes him as 'the last great imperial adventurer.' A title he truly deserves. He also had three failed attempts to scale Mt. Everest, in 1921, 1922 and 1924 - the expedition in which Mallory and Irving lost their lives.

He was a British Army officer with the First Dragoon Guards, transferring in 1890 to the Indian Political Department. He was subsequently British commissioner to Tibet, 1902-4, and British representative to Kashmir, 1906-9; he was President of the Royal Geographical Society, 1919.

His personal interest in the Welsh Revival was revived after visits to Pontypridd and Cardiff in 1905. It was reported in the Western Mail that he believed ‘in the probability of the extension of the Revival to Hindoo and Mahommedan countries, and his own idea (was) that we might expect to see men come from India to witness the Revival and meet the Revivalist (Evan Roberts).’

His brief brush with Christianity, powerful though it was, failed to secure a lifelong commitment to Christ. His subsequent travels exposed him to a variety of religious experience and leaders, especially the Dalai Lama. Following a mountain top revelation in Tibet, he increasingly devoted his life to promoting a form of all-embracing, syncretistic spirituality.

Nevertheless, he remained a friend of the movement and this brief chapter is a fine précis of the revival and Evan Roberts' part in it.