William Gill – Victorian Explorer and Spy
A presentation by Tony Hadland
At its meeting on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, Tony Hadland gave a fascinating talk on the exploits of his distant relative, William Gill, whose colourful history he had only quite recently discovered.
William was the son of a Major in the Indian Army and initially followed in his father’s footsteps by enrolling in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. At 30 years of age, he formed a close alliance with a certain Colonel Valentine Baker – a rich hussar officer – and was persuaded to engage in a number of military intelligence expeditions, notably mapping the territories of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Persia (now Iran). Their work was documented in Valentine Baker’s book entitled “Clouds in the East”.
With a view to pursuing a political career, William got himself selected as a Conservative Candidate but was ultimately defeated by a rival. He therefore turned his attention once again to exploration of little-known territories and went off to China to pursue a 5-week cyclical tour of Inner Mongolia, cataloguing buildings and bridges of significance along the way. There he met a new travelling companion, and man called Mesny (originally from Jersey who had “gone native”) and together they embarked on an expedition to Tibet, producing detailed maps (2 miles to the inch) along their route.
It was on a spying expedition that he was caught by tribesmen and murdered at the age of 36. He did a lot of travelling in a relatively short life.
Eventually, William Gill’s expeditionary work was recognized by the Royal Geographical Society and he was awarded a Gold Medal. In 1880, acknowledging his expertise on China, he was asked to report to the British Government on the strength of the Chinese Army and a number of other clandestine intelligence missions ensued.
In 1883, after a lifetime of exploration and intelligence work for the Goverment, William Gill was given the honour of being buried among the great and the good in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Janet Cato
June 2018
William was the son of a Major in the Indian Army and initially followed in his father’s footsteps by enrolling in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. At 30 years of age, he formed a close alliance with a certain Colonel Valentine Baker – a rich hussar officer – and was persuaded to engage in a number of military intelligence expeditions, notably mapping the territories of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Persia (now Iran). Their work was documented in Valentine Baker’s book entitled “Clouds in the East”.
With a view to pursuing a political career, William got himself selected as a Conservative Candidate but was ultimately defeated by a rival. He therefore turned his attention once again to exploration of little-known territories and went off to China to pursue a 5-week cyclical tour of Inner Mongolia, cataloguing buildings and bridges of significance along the way. There he met a new travelling companion, and man called Mesny (originally from Jersey who had “gone native”) and together they embarked on an expedition to Tibet, producing detailed maps (2 miles to the inch) along their route.
It was on a spying expedition that he was caught by tribesmen and murdered at the age of 36. He did a lot of travelling in a relatively short life.
Eventually, William Gill’s expeditionary work was recognized by the Royal Geographical Society and he was awarded a Gold Medal. In 1880, acknowledging his expertise on China, he was asked to report to the British Government on the strength of the Chinese Army and a number of other clandestine intelligence missions ensued.
In 1883, after a lifetime of exploration and intelligence work for the Goverment, William Gill was given the honour of being buried among the great and the good in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Janet Cato
June 2018