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Robert Wright
Colonial history writer, with particular interests in the Indian sub-continent including Pakistan. Lives in Tiverton, Devon, United Kingdom.
Rebellion in Gilgit: The Man for the Hour (Hunza Histories Book 2)
Hunza and the Raj: British Involvement in the Karakoram Mountains 1876 – 1946. (Hunza Histories Book 1) 16-May-2020
Hunza and the Raj: British Involvement in the Karakoram Mountains 1876 – 1946. (Hunza Histories Book 1)
by Robert Wright
In the latter half of the 19th century Britain’s defence policies in regard to India’s north-west frontier were increasingly dictated by Russia’s swift expansion of empire eastwards across Central Asia, in which they annexed a chain of decaying Moslem Khanates to the north of Afghanistan. By 1876 they had captured Tashkent, Samarkand, Bokhara, Khiva, and Khokand, and had crossed the Alai mountains until they were drawn up along the western border of Chinese Turkestan; from where they were surveying the Wakhan Pamir, directly to the north of Hunza and Gilgit, as their next acquisition.
It was known that the Cossack army, spread wide across the barren Steppe, dreamed of nothing finer than swelling their ranks with cutthroat tribes enlisted along the way in a charge towards lush and exotic South, with Kashmir as their first prize. It was also known that successive Tsars had coveted a warm-water port on the shores of the Arabian Sea, by way of Persia, in order to increase their military capabilities and trade, and thereby further threaten Britain’s possession of India.
The petty chiefs along this frontier were seen either as ‘puppets of the British’, or as ‘creatures of the Tsar’, and so Russia’s evident interest across the Pamir mountains led to a race to map the dwindling unexplored areas of wilderness remaining between the two empires so that first influence could be claimed over them.
Other than selected gifted officers there were no lower ranking white British troops ever posted to the sensitive Gilgit frontier. Where the history was of tyrants, royal patricides, and few heroes; of the cruelties of slavery and the drudgery of serfdom; alleviated by the tribal pastime of looting the silk route caravans, nomads with herds of yaks for transport. In 1862 it was reported to the British Agent in Leh that ten richly laden caravans had been robbed – meanwhile the Abolitionists in Parliament saw the Chinese slave markets of Kashgar and Yarkhand as the blackest blots left on earth.
A state of affairs that was to be overturned by stories of the young subalterns’ gung-ho battles and camaraderie framed in isolation amidst a sublime mountain chain. With only 16 officers theirs was an astonishing campaign to train and lead a rag-bag army of Gurkhas, Afghan rogues, and Kashmir Dogra troops, all of them speaking several languages, and then show them the way to force open a bandits’ stronghold.
Those mostly young officers had to think for themselves, behave confidently, be devoted and robust in spirit, and ever determined to do what they saw as right. ‘Forward policy’ on the border demanded such qualities. Their initial campaigns hardly needed their provoking, and although small were as thrilling as they could hope for in which to win their medals and promotions.
For its physical and political geography, and for the unique scientific discoveries abounding in the area, Hunza is simply the most extraordinary valley I know of in the greater Himalayan chain. The only things they ever had an abundance of were rocks and ice; and their greatest achievement is that from such unfavourable beginnings they have created the most peaceful, least fanatical, best educated and well organised gardened valley in Pakistan today.
A secondary intention has been to represent some more friendly experiences of Pakistan, rather than the dire ‘bad press’ the country receives in the West, as in four visits between 1970 and 1988, totalling a year in the country, I never had any trouble with anyone whatsoever. To archaeologists, anthropologists, mountaineers, and elitist back-packers Pakistan is well known as one of the most exciting and hospitable countries in the world.
The book is lavishly illustrated both with old photos of the historic characters within, as well my own Kodchrome slide photos of this vast mountain environment.
Rebellion in Gilgit: The Man for the Hour (Hunza Histories Book 2)
"Truth is a perishable commodity; considerable care must be exercised in shipping it around the world." – Peter Fleming.
It is not an historian’s job to offer his opinions, nor is it duty to take sides in bygone disputes – and when his balanced work is finished his conscience should be clear that he wronged none of the statesmen or soldiers who played their part in great events.
There is a second popular school of British history writers who see it as their duty to eat shame for our erstwhile Empire and look for every chance to sharpen their pen accusingly at their countrymen’s misdeeds. This is a fashionable policy, accepted in British literary circles as politically correct – and one which rewards their authors with sales figures and acclaim.
Alas, in the foreign field, there is a third rustic school of local history writing in which heart-felt beliefs have become indisputable facts. Your Facebook know-it-all will adamantly stand by the prejudices of his grandfathers’ and will hear of no other version of events. They are easily found online, where they vent their anger at the present political situation in Gilgit, and turn past heroes into cowards to blame for it.
One such maligned hero is Major William Brown MBE, for whom the compelling reason to write this book is that I felt that such an extraordinary commander has been greatly wronged in print. In later years, on a Calcutta pavement at night, he was very nearly beaten to death as he was seen only as an enemy of the Sikhs; whereas in fact he had saved hundreds more civilian Sikh lives, than the few score of soldiers killed in fair battle on his orders.
Undoubtedly it was Major Brown, along with his second-in-command Captain Jock Matheison, who secretly and intelligently master-minded and led the Liberation of Gilgit from Kashmiri occupation in 1947 – yet there are many liberated Gilgitis today who believe him to have been a coward and a traitor.
This unique and extraordinary story is written in defence of a 25 year old Scottish officer who seized a huge tract of land from India, including most of the vast Karakoram mountain range with K2, Nanga Parbat, and then handed the area over to Pakistan. He achieved this feat with a minimal death toll too. This was exactly what the vast majority of people in Gilgit and Baltistan were clamouring for at the time. He had served them faithfully and with great success and so the people gave him a hero’s ceremonial departure, with many dashing forward to touch his stirrup, just to tell their grandchildren.
Today the younger Gilgitis have turned against Brown, cursing him as the one who gave away their Independence – whereas in fact it was their grandfathers who saw greatest faith and hope in joining Pakistan, which seemed to be a pure and shining new Islamic country to them. Yet still with no vote, and therefore with no elected Member in their erstwhile ‘National parliament’, the Gilgitis find themselves overrun by down-country immigrants – who look down on them just as the Kashmiri Dogras had done before them.
Yet what Major Brown knew to be a solid certainty was that with the internal division of three religions among them, with potential enemies in valleys all around, and with the aggressive USSR hovering just fifty miles away, Independence was by far the most dangerous and unworkable solution. So as the only option he promoted Pakistan as the safest country to harbour them – and all the hill chiefs agreed with him.
When one looks at the comparative heartbreaking history of Indian occupied Kashmir, then one has to say he has been perfectly vindicated.
Letters From Hunza: Adventures in the Karakoram Foothills (Hunza Histories Book 3) 05-May-2020
It is not an historian’s job to offer his opinions, nor is it duty to take sides in bygone disputes – and when his balanced work is finished his conscience should be clear that he wronged none of the statesmen or soldiers who played their part in great events.
There is a second popular school of British history writers who see it as their duty to eat shame for our erstwhile Empire and look for every chance to sharpen their pen accusingly at their countrymen’s misdeeds. This is a fashionable policy, accepted in British literary circles as politically correct – and one which rewards their authors with sales figures and acclaim.
Alas, in the foreign field, there is a third rustic school of local history writing in which heart-felt beliefs have become indisputable facts. Your Facebook know-it-all will adamantly stand by the prejudices of his grandfathers’ and will hear of no other version of events. They are easily found online, where they vent their anger at the present political situation in Gilgit, and turn past heroes into cowards to blame for it.
One such maligned hero is Major William Brown MBE, for whom the compelling reason to write this book is that I felt that such an extraordinary commander has been greatly wronged in print. In later years, on a Calcutta pavement at night, he was very nearly beaten to death as he was seen only as an enemy of the Sikhs; whereas in fact he had saved hundreds more civilian Sikh lives, than the few score of soldiers killed in fair battle on his orders.
Undoubtedly it was Major Brown, along with his second-in-command Captain Jock Matheison, who secretly and intelligently master-minded and led the Liberation of Gilgit from Kashmiri occupation in 1947 – yet there are many liberated Gilgitis today who believe him to have been a coward and a traitor.
This unique and extraordinary story is written in defence of a 25 year old Scottish officer who seized a huge tract of land from India, including most of the vast Karakoram mountain range with K2, Nanga Parbat, and then handed the area over to Pakistan. He achieved this feat with a minimal death toll too. This was exactly what the vast majority of people in Gilgit and Baltistan were clamouring for at the time. He had served them faithfully and with great success and so the people gave him a hero’s ceremonial departure, with many dashing forward to touch his stirrup, just to tell their grandchildren.
Today the younger Gilgitis have turned against Brown, cursing him as the one who gave away their Independence – whereas in fact it was their grandfathers who saw greatest faith and hope in joining Pakistan, which seemed to be a pure and shining new Islamic country to them. Yet still with no vote, and therefore with no elected Member in their erstwhile ‘National parliament’, the Gilgitis find themselves overrun by down-country immigrants – who look down on them just as the Kashmiri Dogras had done before them.
Yet what Major Brown knew to be a solid certainty was that with the internal division of three religions among them, with potential enemies in valleys all around, and with the aggressive USSR hovering just fifty miles away, Independence was by far the most dangerous and unworkable solution. So as the only option he promoted Pakistan as the safest country to harbour them – and all the hill chiefs agreed with him.
When one looks at the comparative heartbreaking history of Indian occupied Kashmir, then one has to say he has been perfectly vindicated.
Letters From Hunza: Adventures in the Karakoram Foothills (Hunza Histories Book 3) 05-May-2020
For its physical and political geography, and for the unique scientific discoveries abounding in the Karakoram mountains, Hunza is simply the most extraordinary valley I know of in the greater Himalayan chain. Consequently I have found no need to perpetuate the trite myths of Shangri La, or the ‘Hunzas’ perfect diet’, or of their fabled longevity. The only thing this humble Ismaili community ever had an abundance of were rocks – and their greatest achievement is that from such unfavourable beginnings they have created the most peaceful, least fanatical, best educated and well organised valley in Pakistan today.
These present stories and essays are taken from notes written during two visits to Hunza totalling nine months in 1987 and 1988. Some were originally intended to be included in my British colonial history titled "Hunza and the Raj", which, after several years of wide ranging research, had simply become too long. So this potentially useful trekking journal mostly deals with my personal experiences of the Hunza, as well as giving plenty of local informative. I have published these notes separately here as a complimentary supplement for those who have read the full work – and also as a taster for those who have not.
A secondary intention has been to represent some more friendly experiences of Pakistan, rather than the dire ‘bad press’ the country receives in the West, as in four visits between 1970 and 1988, totalling a year in the country, I never had any trouble whatsoever. To archaeologists, anthropologists, mountaineers, and elitist back-packers Pakistan is well known as one of the most exciting and hospitable countries in the world.
The 24 photos included were taken on Kodachrome slide film during my second visit.
These present stories and essays are taken from notes written during two visits to Hunza totalling nine months in 1987 and 1988. Some were originally intended to be included in my British colonial history titled "Hunza and the Raj", which, after several years of wide ranging research, had simply become too long. So this potentially useful trekking journal mostly deals with my personal experiences of the Hunza, as well as giving plenty of local informative. I have published these notes separately here as a complimentary supplement for those who have read the full work – and also as a taster for those who have not.
A secondary intention has been to represent some more friendly experiences of Pakistan, rather than the dire ‘bad press’ the country receives in the West, as in four visits between 1970 and 1988, totalling a year in the country, I never had any trouble whatsoever. To archaeologists, anthropologists, mountaineers, and elitist back-packers Pakistan is well known as one of the most exciting and hospitable countries in the world.
The 24 photos included were taken on Kodachrome slide film during my second visit.
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