Hugh E. Richardson (1905–2000) was a British diplomat and Tibetologist.
His academic work focused on the history of the Tibetan empire, and in particular on epigraphy. Born in St. Andrews, he studied classics at Keble College, Oxford. He joined the civil service in 1930, and represented Britain in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1946 to 1950, in the final years having become the diplomatic representative of the recently independent India. After his retirement from public service he returned to St. Andrews and spent the remainder of his life as an independent scholar.
He was an accomplished linguist who spoke Bengali fluently, a skill he put to use when conversing with Rabindranath Tagore, and his fluent Tibetan was described by the Tibetan politician Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa as "impeccable Lhasa Tibetan with a slight Oxford accent." [1]
He was an advocate of the right of Tibetans to a separate political existence, a case he made in two books, Tibet and Its History (1962) and A Cultural History of Tibet (1968), and at the United Nations when the issue of Chinese oppression of Tibet was raised by the Irish Republic. There, in the words of one commentator, "he acted valiantly as a man of honour in a cause which has been largely lost because of the notions of political expediency, where sides are taken without regard to principle and in order not to risk aligning oneself with a potential loser, however deserving he may be" - a position which reportedly earned him the displeasure of both the British and Indian delegations to the UN Assembly.[2]
He later wrote: "The British government, the only government among Western countries to have had treaty relations with Tibet, sold the Tibetans down the river and since then have constantly cold-shouldered the Tibetans so that in 1959 they could not even support a resolution in the UN condemning the violation of human rights in Tibet by the Chinese."
Richardson also said that he was "profoundly ashamed",[3] not only at the British government's refusal to recognise that Tibet had a right to self-determination, but also at the government's treatment of the 14th Dalai Lama.[4]
Obituary -- Dr Hugh Richardson (The Scotsman)
Thursday, 7th December 2000
The Scotsman. Dr Hugh Edward Richardson, civil servant and scholar
Born: 22 December, 1905, in St Andrews Died: 3 December, 2000, in St
Andrews, aged 94
RENOWNED as one of the world's leading authorities on Tibet, Hugh Richardson
was the son of the late Colonel Dr Hugh Richardson, a general practitioner
and lecturer at St Andrews University.
He was educated at St Salvator's School, St Andrews, and Trinity College,
Glenalmond. He later went on to study Classics at Keble College, Oxford.
As officer-in-charge of the British Mission in Tibet for many years he
acquired an extensive knowledge of the country, its language and its people.
His unrivalled collection of artefacts and photographs of Tibetan life and
customs formed a significant part of the Tibetan exhibition staged at the
British Museum in 1981.
Dr Richardson was a tireless advocate of the right of Tibetans to a separate
political existence, living their own lives, enjoying their own culture. It
was a case he made in two books, Tibet and Its History (1962) and A Cultural
History of Tibet (1968), and at the United Nations when the issue of Chinese
oppression of Tibet was raised by the Irish Republic. There, in the words of
an informed commentator, "he acted valiantly as a man of honour in a cause
which has been largely lost because of the notions of political expediency,
where sides are taken without regard to principle and in order not to risk
aligning oneself with a potential loser, however deserving he may be" - a
position which earned him the displeasure of both the British and Indian
delegations to the UN Assembly.
Richardson later wrote scathingly of the British government's attitude
towards Tibet: "The British government, the only government among Western
countries to have had treaty relations with Tibet, sold the Tibetans down
the river and since then have constantly cold-shouldered the Tibetans so
that in 1959 they could not even support a resolkution in the UN condemning
the violation of human rights in Tibet by the Chinese."
Richardson confessed that he was "profoundly ashamed", not only at the
British government's refusal to recognise that Tibet had a right to
self-determination, but also at the government's treatment of the Dali Lama.
Dr Richardson was appointed to the Indian Civil Service - regarded as the
cream of British administrative services - in 1930 and was posted to Bengal.
It was during his vacations that he visited Sikkim and then set foot in
Tibet for the first time and began the start of a long love affair with the
country and its peoples.
In 1934 he transferred to the Foreign and Political Service of the
Government of India and held a number of appointments before taking over as
trade agent at Gyantse in 1936. He was a member of the British Commission
which visited Lhasa under the leadership of Sir Basil Gould that year and
was put in charge of the British Mission, recently established to
counterbalance Chinese influence. He remained in Lhasa, the first white
representative to function in the capital, from 1936-1940 and again from
1946, having held a number of offices in the intervening years.
During the Second World War he served as secretary of the Indian Agency
General in Chungking and was a signatory to the Sino-British Treaty on
behalf of India in 1943.
He returned to Lhasa after the end of the war as British representative and
when Britain left India in 1947 after it was awarded self-government he
remained in Tibet as the representative of the Indian government as officer
in charge of the Indian Mission.
His involvement within the country was total, mastering the language and
becoming a friend of the leading people of Lhasa, who sought his help in the
problems they faced after 1946. He also met and became a friend of Tibet's
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. during his time in the country.
Dr Richardson eventually relinquished his post in 1950 after a total of 14
years in Lhasa - the same year that the Chinese invaded Tibet - and later
returned to his native St Andrews.
In 1944 he was appointed OBE and two years later was again in the Honours
list as a Companion of the Indian Empire.
He also published a number of other books, including A Corpus of Early
Tibetan Inscriptions (1985), which is a major source book for the study of
Tibetan history, Ceremonies of the Lhasa Year (1993) and High Peaks, Pure
Earth (1998).
A keen golfer, he joined the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews in
1946 and was a very popular figure who enjoyed playing a few holes each
Saturday until earlier this year. He also had a great enthusiasism for
gardening and plants.
He was predeceased by his wife, Huldah Rennie, several years ago.
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