Quotes:Bogle, George

Zirkoff, Boris

Bogle, George. Scottish diplomat, b. Nov. 26, 1746; d. at Calcutta, April 3, 1781. Educated at Haddington, Glasgow and the Univ, of Edinburgh. After a few years in his eldest brother’s countinghouse, obtained, 1769, an appointment in the service of the East India Company. Having won by his abilities and character the 535 special approval of Warren Hastings, then Governor of Bengal, was selected in 1772 to act as envoy to the Tashi-Lama of Tibet, with a view of opening up commercial and friendly intercourse between that country and India. Bogle and his companions were the first Englishmen to cross the Tsanpu in its upper range. The mission was entirely successful, and Bogle formed a strong personal friendship with the Tashi-Lama, with whom he continued to correspond in later years. After his return to India, 1775, and a period of unemployment, was appointed, 1779, collector of Rangpur, where he established a fair which was frequented for years by Bhutan merchants. His death prevented him from carrying out a second mission to Tibet which had been planned for him by Hastings. The MS. of Bogie’s Journal concerning his trip to Lhassa, after many vicissitudes, was finally acquired by the British Museum (Add. MS. 19283). Sir Clements Roberts Markham, using Bogie’s journals and data supplied by his family in Scotland, compiled a work entitled Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa, London, 1876.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, pp. 634-635