Richard Hingston

Hingston, standing, second from left.

Major Richard William George Hingston (1887-1966) was educated at Merchant Taylor’s School then near London, in Cork and in University College Cork; he graduated as a medical doctor and entered the Indian Medical Service in 1910. During the First World War he served in the British Indian Army in East Africa, Mesopotamia and France. He was awarded the Military Cross and was twice mentioned in despatches. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society since 1922 and had a long career as a member of expeditions to many parts of the world.

His reputation as a naturalist led to his appointment in that capacity in 1913 as the surgeon and naturalist with the Indo-Russian Pamir Triangulation Expedition. Hingston is best remembered as the doctor and naturalist on the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition during which he made a special study of the effect of altitude on the human body, and of the entomology of the region. He was the surgeon-naturalist on the Indian Marine Survey of 1925-1927. Hingston was also an author who published several works about his expedition experiences as a naturalist; he also wrote a study of Charles Darwin.

In 1990-1991 Hingston’s family presented to the Library quite a number of diaries and journals. The donation includes his journal of the 1913 expedition to the Pamirs; of the 1924 Everest expedition; of the 1928 Oxford University Expedition to Greenland; of the 1930 Mission to Africa on behalf of the Society for the Preservation of the Empire Fauna. Hingston’s photographs from some of his travels were also generously donated and some of them are available on our Digital Collections site.