Morshead, Henry Treise (1882–1931), surveyor, explorer and mountaineer

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Morshead, Henry Treise (1882–1931), surveyor, explorer and mountaineer

23 November 1882 - 17 May 1931

Member of the 1921 and 1922 British Mount Everest Expeditions.

Henry Morshead was born in 1882 and brought up near Tavistock. He was the eldest son of Reginald Morshead, a banker, and Ella Mary Morshead. He was educated at Winchester College. In 1901 (at the second attempt) he passed the exams to enter the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, to become an officer in the Royal Engineers. At the Chatham Royal School of Military Engineering he had such a distinguished record that in 1904 he was posted to the Indian Army in the Royal Engineers' Military Works Services at Agra.

In 1906 he joined the Survey of India where, apart from his service in the First World War, he remained with the Survey until his death. He became knowledgeable in the history of Himalayan exploration, particularly in Tibet and distinguished himself on several arduous winter Himalayan expeditions.

In 1920 he accompanied Alexander Kellas in an attempt to climb the 25,447 ft (7,756 m) Kamet.

On the 1921 British reconnaissance expedition, Morshead led the Survey of India team which mapped 12,000 square miles (31,000 km2) of entirely unexplored country. During this expedition he climbed Kama Changri at 21,300 ft (6,500 m) and with George Mallory was the first to establish the camp on the 22,350 ft (6,810 m) Lhakpa La.

In the 1922 expedition, Morshead was a member of the Everest climbing party itself but because he had only been allowed leave at the last minute his expedition clothing had to be bought at Darjeeling bazaar and it was inadequate. On 20 May 1922 with Mallory, Howard Somervell and Teddy Norton, Morshead was in the first assault team, which attempted reaching the summit without oxygen. As the party left the North Col to head up towards the north east ridge, Norton's rucksack fell down to the glacier and this reduced the overnight clothing for camp V at 25,000 ft (7,600 m). The camp was at a higher altitude that anyone had ever been before. The next morning another rucksack was let slip but Morshead climbed down 100 ft (30 m) to recover it. However, on resuming the climb Morshead was almost immediately unable to continue and so went down to camp V while the other three continued. The team reached 26,985 ft (8,225 m) before turning back.

They joined Morshead at camp V who by then was very cold and all four immediately went down to camp IV on the North Col. On the way Morshead slipped and dragged two other men down the couloir. Mallory managed to stop the fall and saved everyone's lives. They reached camp at 23:30 but a logistical error had meant that the stove and fuel had been taken to a lower camp so there was no liquid water and no edible food. After surviving the night on the Col they descended to the glacier the next day but by then Somervell thought that Morshead was "not far from death". Norton, the expedition leader, wrote of him, "he kept going doggedly without complaint and in spite of a bad fall on an ice slope, knowing that the safety of the whole party depended on his determination to 'stay the course'". Morshead had severe frostbite to his hands and a foot and later three finger joints had to be amputated. However, at the time he hid the pain of his injuries from his colleagues.

For the 1924 Everest expedition Morshead was not considered able to participate as a climber because of his injuries but he was offered the role of base camp and transport officer. He had to turn this down because his employers would not give permission, even for unpaid leave. However, in the 1924 Olympic Games medals were awarded for mountaineering and Morshead received a special medal awarded to the climbers on the 1922 expedition.

In February 1931 Morshead stayed in Burma while the rest of the family returned to England for reasons of schooling. It was a time of unrest. A rebellion had started in Burma, against British rule, and Thakin rebels were in the vicinity of Maymyo. A colleague of Morshead had been shot at by a disaffected Survey employee who had been convicted of attempted murder. On 17 May 1931 Morshead set off riding by himself and later that day his riderless pony was discovered back in Maymyo. After extensive searching his body was found next day in the jungle nearby. He had been shot in the chest at point blank range. Two people were arrested, an ex-Gurkha who had been out shooting at the time, and the man whose gun he had been using. There was no apparent motive and no charges were ever brought because both men seemed to have alibis.

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