(HUMPHREYS, Dr Gordon Noel.) Everest Expedition 1936 Autograph Letter Signed to Cyril H. Barraud and two other pieces of correspondence.
A wonderful 2 page Autograph Letter Signed by Dr Gordon Noel Humphreys (1863-1966), senior medical officer on the 1936 Everest expedition, written during the 1936 expedition to his friend and British artist, Cyril Henry Barraud (1877–1965). A unique survival providing a fascinating first-hand account of the 1936 Everest Expedition.
Accompanying the letter is the original envelope with a typed note stuck to the reverse which reads:
“Suffered detention in Gangtok post office owing to the Postmaster’s failure to affix postage stamps and to forward them in time. The Post-master has been sent to jail for this offense.”
Additionally included are two other pieces of correspondence from Dr Humphreys to Cyril Henry Barraud: A “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card with an inscribed message to the reverse from Dr Humphreys, and a 1934 Christmas Card with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys.
Provenance: By family descent to the previous owner who was a grandchild of Cyril Henry Barraud.
The 2 page Autograph Letter Signed is written on Mount Everest Expedition 1936 headed notepaper and reads as follows:
“29.5.36
Dear Barraud
Just a line from Everest to hope that all is going well with you all. At the moment we have been driven back to camp I from camp III & camp IV. There have been heavy falls of snow on the mountain which makes it quite unclimable until the snow has been blown away and at III, 21,000 ft, one is deteriorating all the time. Today is beautifully fine and we will return to the attack tomorrow or the next day.
We had a very interesting 250 mile march across Tibet; a country like the Sahara at that time of year but beautiful with its honey-coloured plains, its blue lakes and the distant indigo Himalayas. Some of the buildings – the forts and monasteries – are very fine tho most of the people live in mud homes. People very friendly. At each monastery we passed we were blessed with much ceremony by the Lama.
Here, at 18,000 ft., the Spring has come, there are butterflies and a few tufted plants in flower – saxifrage, vetch, primulas.
Marion and I had a good voyage out and saw something of Bombay, Agra (The Taj Etc.), Calcutta, Darjieling & Kalimpang, before ‘I left her’ at Gongtok. She has been staying with friends in different places and is now with cousins in the Murree Hills near Raul Pindi. I expect to be back at Gongtok towards the end of June and to get a boat early in July and be back home about the end of July. Our daughter Bead is at the vicarage at Harlow Common, in Essex, where Marion’s brother is vicar.
The odds are against the expedition as the monsoon normally arrives June 5 or 6 so, unless it is late this year, we’ve only till then to get in a shot at the summit.
However.
Hope we find you all very fit on our return.
Yours very sincerely
G.N. Humphreys.”
The letter has been well looked after and carefully preserved, with the original sending folds and a few minor spots; near fine. The original envelope has some minor spots; very good.
The “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card measures 13.5cm*10.5cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed photograph of Mount Everest from Camp II. The inscribed message to the reverse by Dr Humphreys reads:
“Mount Everest
From Camp II
With best wishes
From Marion & Noel Humphreys.”
The 1934 Christmas card measures 9.2cm*13cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed message which reads:
“WITH BEST WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS
AND THE NEW YEAR
FROM
DOCTOR & MRS G. NOEL HUMPHREYS”
Inside the card is a photograph of the Humphreys daughter, Susan Bead Humphreys, together with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys, which reads:
“Very sorry indeed we haven’t yet got down to see you. Marion is at Claygate. I go to Mount Everest at end of January. We hope to see you before then. Meet Bead Humphreys (we think she is rather nice). All the very best wishes to you all for Christmas and 1935.
GNH”
The 1936 Everest expedition was led by Hugh Ruttledge. In addition to Dr Humphreys, the members of the expedition included: Eric Shipton, Tenzing Norgay, Frank Smythe, Percy Wyn-Harris, Bill wager, Edwin Kempson, Dr. Charles Warren, Edmund Wigram, Peter Oliver and James Gavin, William Russell Smijth-Windham (communications) and John Morris (transport.)
The team reached the North Col, but were unable to progress above 7,000m. An early monsoon and heavy snowfall resulted in Ruttledge calling off the expedition from progressing any further. In regard to Ruttledge’s leadership on the expedition, Tenzing Norgay wrote in his 1955 autobiography:
“Mr Ruttledge was too old to be a high climber, but he was a wonderful man, gentle and warm-hearted, and all the Sherpas were very glad to be with him. This was a very big expedition, with more sahibs than there had ever been before, and a total of sixty Sherpas, which was five times as many as in 1935.”
An obituary for Dr Humphreys published in The Polar Record, Vol 13, No 85, p 492, provides a summary of his life and achievements:
“The British explorer and surveyor, was born in 1883 and died on 11 March 1966. He was educated at Epsom College and the University of Cambridge, where he gained his BSc in 1910, followed by the Royal Geographical Society's diploma in surveying and cartography. His first exploratory journey was to Mexico, in 1910-12, where he climbed the highest peak of Popocatapetl and collected plants. He then took up flying, joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1913 and serving in France where he was shot down and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. After a time with the Geographical Section of the General Staff at the War Office, he joined the Land and Survey Department of the Uganda Protectorate and, between 1926 and 1932, carried out a comprehensive survey, by air and on foot, of Ruwenzori, climbing all the major peaks. During these years he also qualified as a doctor at Cambridge and St Mary's Hospital, London, and, after leaving Uganda, went into private practice in London.
In 1934-35, however, he returned to travel, leading the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition which wintered at Etah, in north Greenland, and worked in the Lake Hazen area, in western Ellesmere Land and to the north of Bache Peninsula the following summer. In 1936 he was medical officer of Hugh Ruttledge's expedition to Mount Everest.”
The Coggeshall Museum provides a summary of Cyril Henry Barraud’s life and achievements:
“Cyril Henry Barraud, was born at Barnes, Surrey on 9 July 1877. Educated at Downside School, where he won a drawing prize in 1890, and at Brighton School of Art before taking over the running of his late father’s photographic business in Piccadilly, Central London. He was close to his uncle Francis Barraud and helped him with the final version of ‘His Master’s Voice’ – the painting used on HMV records.
Cyril emigrated to Canada arriving in Manitoba in 1913 and became a leading figure in the Winnipeg arts community serving as President of the Manitoba Society of Artists and Craftsmen and in 1915 was a founder of the Winnipeg Art Club.
In May 1915 Barraud enlisted in the Winnipeg Grenadiers, serving with the Queen’s own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. He was wounded in the left leg in October 1916 but was back at the front before Christmas that year. In November 1917 he was posted to the Canadian War Office as an official war artist but long before this Barraud had been sketching scenes along the front. Barraud filled seven sketchbooks, completing more than 300 images and remained in the army after the armistice, working some of these drawings into etchings. In August 1919 he resigned his commission and in the same year some of his work formed part of the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition held in London. He returned to Canada but in the 1920s came back to England for good and eventually settled in Coggeshall where he remained for the rest of his life.
Barraud’s favourite medium was undoubtedly etching but he also worked with dry-point, oils and watercolours. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy between 1912 and 1924 and received commissions, recording industrial scenes, aircraft and topographical views used in LNER Railway carriages. He was a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1948-1949 and also exhibited from his home, Royal Oak Cottage, on Stoneham Street, once the Royal Oak Inn opposite the old school. He produced many etchings of Coggeshall scenes including views of Market Hill, the Woolpack, the river bridge and several interiors of Paycockes. Barraud died in 1965 and has a monument in St Peter’s Church.”
Please contact us for shipping costs costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A wonderful 2 page Autograph Letter Signed by Dr Gordon Noel Humphreys (1863-1966), senior medical officer on the 1936 Everest expedition, written during the 1936 expedition to his friend and British artist, Cyril Henry Barraud (1877–1965). A unique survival providing a fascinating first-hand account of the 1936 Everest Expedition.
Accompanying the letter is the original envelope with a typed note stuck to the reverse which reads:
“Suffered detention in Gangtok post office owing to the Postmaster’s failure to affix postage stamps and to forward them in time. The Post-master has been sent to jail for this offense.”
Additionally included are two other pieces of correspondence from Dr Humphreys to Cyril Henry Barraud: A “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card with an inscribed message to the reverse from Dr Humphreys, and a 1934 Christmas Card with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys.
Provenance: By family descent to the previous owner who was a grandchild of Cyril Henry Barraud.
The 2 page Autograph Letter Signed is written on Mount Everest Expedition 1936 headed notepaper and reads as follows:
“29.5.36
Dear Barraud
Just a line from Everest to hope that all is going well with you all. At the moment we have been driven back to camp I from camp III & camp IV. There have been heavy falls of snow on the mountain which makes it quite unclimable until the snow has been blown away and at III, 21,000 ft, one is deteriorating all the time. Today is beautifully fine and we will return to the attack tomorrow or the next day.
We had a very interesting 250 mile march across Tibet; a country like the Sahara at that time of year but beautiful with its honey-coloured plains, its blue lakes and the distant indigo Himalayas. Some of the buildings – the forts and monasteries – are very fine tho most of the people live in mud homes. People very friendly. At each monastery we passed we were blessed with much ceremony by the Lama.
Here, at 18,000 ft., the Spring has come, there are butterflies and a few tufted plants in flower – saxifrage, vetch, primulas.
Marion and I had a good voyage out and saw something of Bombay, Agra (The Taj Etc.), Calcutta, Darjieling & Kalimpang, before ‘I left her’ at Gongtok. She has been staying with friends in different places and is now with cousins in the Murree Hills near Raul Pindi. I expect to be back at Gongtok towards the end of June and to get a boat early in July and be back home about the end of July. Our daughter Bead is at the vicarage at Harlow Common, in Essex, where Marion’s brother is vicar.
The odds are against the expedition as the monsoon normally arrives June 5 or 6 so, unless it is late this year, we’ve only till then to get in a shot at the summit.
However.
Hope we find you all very fit on our return.
Yours very sincerely
G.N. Humphreys.”
The letter has been well looked after and carefully preserved, with the original sending folds and a few minor spots; near fine. The original envelope has some minor spots; very good.
The “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card measures 13.5cm*10.5cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed photograph of Mount Everest from Camp II. The inscribed message to the reverse by Dr Humphreys reads:
“Mount Everest
From Camp II
With best wishes
From Marion & Noel Humphreys.”
The 1934 Christmas card measures 9.2cm*13cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed message which reads:
“WITH BEST WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS
AND THE NEW YEAR
FROM
DOCTOR & MRS G. NOEL HUMPHREYS”
Inside the card is a photograph of the Humphreys daughter, Susan Bead Humphreys, together with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys, which reads:
“Very sorry indeed we haven’t yet got down to see you. Marion is at Claygate. I go to Mount Everest at end of January. We hope to see you before then. Meet Bead Humphreys (we think she is rather nice). All the very best wishes to you all for Christmas and 1935.
GNH”
The 1936 Everest expedition was led by Hugh Ruttledge. In addition to Dr Humphreys, the members of the expedition included: Eric Shipton, Tenzing Norgay, Frank Smythe, Percy Wyn-Harris, Bill wager, Edwin Kempson, Dr. Charles Warren, Edmund Wigram, Peter Oliver and James Gavin, William Russell Smijth-Windham (communications) and John Morris (transport.)
The team reached the North Col, but were unable to progress above 7,000m. An early monsoon and heavy snowfall resulted in Ruttledge calling off the expedition from progressing any further. In regard to Ruttledge’s leadership on the expedition, Tenzing Norgay wrote in his 1955 autobiography:
“Mr Ruttledge was too old to be a high climber, but he was a wonderful man, gentle and warm-hearted, and all the Sherpas were very glad to be with him. This was a very big expedition, with more sahibs than there had ever been before, and a total of sixty Sherpas, which was five times as many as in 1935.”
An obituary for Dr Humphreys published in The Polar Record, Vol 13, No 85, p 492, provides a summary of his life and achievements:
“The British explorer and surveyor, was born in 1883 and died on 11 March 1966. He was educated at Epsom College and the University of Cambridge, where he gained his BSc in 1910, followed by the Royal Geographical Society's diploma in surveying and cartography. His first exploratory journey was to Mexico, in 1910-12, where he climbed the highest peak of Popocatapetl and collected plants. He then took up flying, joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1913 and serving in France where he was shot down and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. After a time with the Geographical Section of the General Staff at the War Office, he joined the Land and Survey Department of the Uganda Protectorate and, between 1926 and 1932, carried out a comprehensive survey, by air and on foot, of Ruwenzori, climbing all the major peaks. During these years he also qualified as a doctor at Cambridge and St Mary's Hospital, London, and, after leaving Uganda, went into private practice in London.
In 1934-35, however, he returned to travel, leading the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition which wintered at Etah, in north Greenland, and worked in the Lake Hazen area, in western Ellesmere Land and to the north of Bache Peninsula the following summer. In 1936 he was medical officer of Hugh Ruttledge's expedition to Mount Everest.”
The Coggeshall Museum provides a summary of Cyril Henry Barraud’s life and achievements:
“Cyril Henry Barraud, was born at Barnes, Surrey on 9 July 1877. Educated at Downside School, where he won a drawing prize in 1890, and at Brighton School of Art before taking over the running of his late father’s photographic business in Piccadilly, Central London. He was close to his uncle Francis Barraud and helped him with the final version of ‘His Master’s Voice’ – the painting used on HMV records.
Cyril emigrated to Canada arriving in Manitoba in 1913 and became a leading figure in the Winnipeg arts community serving as President of the Manitoba Society of Artists and Craftsmen and in 1915 was a founder of the Winnipeg Art Club.
In May 1915 Barraud enlisted in the Winnipeg Grenadiers, serving with the Queen’s own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. He was wounded in the left leg in October 1916 but was back at the front before Christmas that year. In November 1917 he was posted to the Canadian War Office as an official war artist but long before this Barraud had been sketching scenes along the front. Barraud filled seven sketchbooks, completing more than 300 images and remained in the army after the armistice, working some of these drawings into etchings. In August 1919 he resigned his commission and in the same year some of his work formed part of the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition held in London. He returned to Canada but in the 1920s came back to England for good and eventually settled in Coggeshall where he remained for the rest of his life.
Barraud’s favourite medium was undoubtedly etching but he also worked with dry-point, oils and watercolours. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy between 1912 and 1924 and received commissions, recording industrial scenes, aircraft and topographical views used in LNER Railway carriages. He was a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1948-1949 and also exhibited from his home, Royal Oak Cottage, on Stoneham Street, once the Royal Oak Inn opposite the old school. He produced many etchings of Coggeshall scenes including views of Market Hill, the Woolpack, the river bridge and several interiors of Paycockes. Barraud died in 1965 and has a monument in St Peter’s Church.”
Please contact us for shipping costs costs if ordering from outside the UK.
A wonderful 2 page Autograph Letter Signed by Dr Gordon Noel Humphreys (1863-1966), senior medical officer on the 1936 Everest expedition, written during the 1936 expedition to his friend and British artist, Cyril Henry Barraud (1877–1965). A unique survival providing a fascinating first-hand account of the 1936 Everest Expedition.
Accompanying the letter is the original envelope with a typed note stuck to the reverse which reads:
“Suffered detention in Gangtok post office owing to the Postmaster’s failure to affix postage stamps and to forward them in time. The Post-master has been sent to jail for this offense.”
Additionally included are two other pieces of correspondence from Dr Humphreys to Cyril Henry Barraud: A “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card with an inscribed message to the reverse from Dr Humphreys, and a 1934 Christmas Card with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys.
Provenance: By family descent to the previous owner who was a grandchild of Cyril Henry Barraud.
The 2 page Autograph Letter Signed is written on Mount Everest Expedition 1936 headed notepaper and reads as follows:
“29.5.36
Dear Barraud
Just a line from Everest to hope that all is going well with you all. At the moment we have been driven back to camp I from camp III & camp IV. There have been heavy falls of snow on the mountain which makes it quite unclimable until the snow has been blown away and at III, 21,000 ft, one is deteriorating all the time. Today is beautifully fine and we will return to the attack tomorrow or the next day.
We had a very interesting 250 mile march across Tibet; a country like the Sahara at that time of year but beautiful with its honey-coloured plains, its blue lakes and the distant indigo Himalayas. Some of the buildings – the forts and monasteries – are very fine tho most of the people live in mud homes. People very friendly. At each monastery we passed we were blessed with much ceremony by the Lama.
Here, at 18,000 ft., the Spring has come, there are butterflies and a few tufted plants in flower – saxifrage, vetch, primulas.
Marion and I had a good voyage out and saw something of Bombay, Agra (The Taj Etc.), Calcutta, Darjieling & Kalimpang, before ‘I left her’ at Gongtok. She has been staying with friends in different places and is now with cousins in the Murree Hills near Raul Pindi. I expect to be back at Gongtok towards the end of June and to get a boat early in July and be back home about the end of July. Our daughter Bead is at the vicarage at Harlow Common, in Essex, where Marion’s brother is vicar.
The odds are against the expedition as the monsoon normally arrives June 5 or 6 so, unless it is late this year, we’ve only till then to get in a shot at the summit.
However.
Hope we find you all very fit on our return.
Yours very sincerely
G.N. Humphreys.”
The letter has been well looked after and carefully preserved, with the original sending folds and a few minor spots; near fine. The original envelope has some minor spots; very good.
The “Greetings from Mount Everest 1936” card measures 13.5cm*10.5cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed photograph of Mount Everest from Camp II. The inscribed message to the reverse by Dr Humphreys reads:
“Mount Everest
From Camp II
With best wishes
From Marion & Noel Humphreys.”
The 1934 Christmas card measures 9.2cm*13cm and is in near fine condition having been well looked after and carefully preserved. The front of the card contains a printed message which reads:
“WITH BEST WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS
AND THE NEW YEAR
FROM
DOCTOR & MRS G. NOEL HUMPHREYS”
Inside the card is a photograph of the Humphreys daughter, Susan Bead Humphreys, together with an inscribed message from Dr Humphreys, which reads:
“Very sorry indeed we haven’t yet got down to see you. Marion is at Claygate. I go to Mount Everest at end of January. We hope to see you before then. Meet Bead Humphreys (we think she is rather nice). All the very best wishes to you all for Christmas and 1935.
GNH”
The 1936 Everest expedition was led by Hugh Ruttledge. In addition to Dr Humphreys, the members of the expedition included: Eric Shipton, Tenzing Norgay, Frank Smythe, Percy Wyn-Harris, Bill wager, Edwin Kempson, Dr. Charles Warren, Edmund Wigram, Peter Oliver and James Gavin, William Russell Smijth-Windham (communications) and John Morris (transport.)
The team reached the North Col, but were unable to progress above 7,000m. An early monsoon and heavy snowfall resulted in Ruttledge calling off the expedition from progressing any further. In regard to Ruttledge’s leadership on the expedition, Tenzing Norgay wrote in his 1955 autobiography:
“Mr Ruttledge was too old to be a high climber, but he was a wonderful man, gentle and warm-hearted, and all the Sherpas were very glad to be with him. This was a very big expedition, with more sahibs than there had ever been before, and a total of sixty Sherpas, which was five times as many as in 1935.”
An obituary for Dr Humphreys published in The Polar Record, Vol 13, No 85, p 492, provides a summary of his life and achievements:
“The British explorer and surveyor, was born in 1883 and died on 11 March 1966. He was educated at Epsom College and the University of Cambridge, where he gained his BSc in 1910, followed by the Royal Geographical Society's diploma in surveying and cartography. His first exploratory journey was to Mexico, in 1910-12, where he climbed the highest peak of Popocatapetl and collected plants. He then took up flying, joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1913 and serving in France where he was shot down and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. After a time with the Geographical Section of the General Staff at the War Office, he joined the Land and Survey Department of the Uganda Protectorate and, between 1926 and 1932, carried out a comprehensive survey, by air and on foot, of Ruwenzori, climbing all the major peaks. During these years he also qualified as a doctor at Cambridge and St Mary's Hospital, London, and, after leaving Uganda, went into private practice in London.
In 1934-35, however, he returned to travel, leading the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition which wintered at Etah, in north Greenland, and worked in the Lake Hazen area, in western Ellesmere Land and to the north of Bache Peninsula the following summer. In 1936 he was medical officer of Hugh Ruttledge's expedition to Mount Everest.”
The Coggeshall Museum provides a summary of Cyril Henry Barraud’s life and achievements:
“Cyril Henry Barraud, was born at Barnes, Surrey on 9 July 1877. Educated at Downside School, where he won a drawing prize in 1890, and at Brighton School of Art before taking over the running of his late father’s photographic business in Piccadilly, Central London. He was close to his uncle Francis Barraud and helped him with the final version of ‘His Master’s Voice’ – the painting used on HMV records.
Cyril emigrated to Canada arriving in Manitoba in 1913 and became a leading figure in the Winnipeg arts community serving as President of the Manitoba Society of Artists and Craftsmen and in 1915 was a founder of the Winnipeg Art Club.
In May 1915 Barraud enlisted in the Winnipeg Grenadiers, serving with the Queen’s own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. He was wounded in the left leg in October 1916 but was back at the front before Christmas that year. In November 1917 he was posted to the Canadian War Office as an official war artist but long before this Barraud had been sketching scenes along the front. Barraud filled seven sketchbooks, completing more than 300 images and remained in the army after the armistice, working some of these drawings into etchings. In August 1919 he resigned his commission and in the same year some of his work formed part of the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition held in London. He returned to Canada but in the 1920s came back to England for good and eventually settled in Coggeshall where he remained for the rest of his life.
Barraud’s favourite medium was undoubtedly etching but he also worked with dry-point, oils and watercolours. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy between 1912 and 1924 and received commissions, recording industrial scenes, aircraft and topographical views used in LNER Railway carriages. He was a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1948-1949 and also exhibited from his home, Royal Oak Cottage, on Stoneham Street, once the Royal Oak Inn opposite the old school. He produced many etchings of Coggeshall scenes including views of Market Hill, the Woolpack, the river bridge and several interiors of Paycockes. Barraud died in 1965 and has a monument in St Peter’s Church.”
Please contact us for shipping costs costs if ordering from outside the UK.