a British political officer and one of the last major figures of the Great Game. His expeditions in Tibet and Assam Himalaya gave him many opportunities to pursue his hobbies of photography, butterfly collecting and trophy hunting in the high Tibetan region.

In 1913 he made an unauthorised exploration to the Tsangpo Gorges with Captain Henry Morshead of the Survey of India. Morshead was later a surveyor for the initial 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, along with George Mallory. Their adventures led them to the Rong Chu Valley, a gorge on the Upper Tsangpo. It was in that valley that Bailey spotted a tall blue poppy at the margin of the forest and pressed it in his notebook, now called Meconopsis baileyi.

One of Bailey's more well-known adventures occurred in 1918, when he travelled to Tashkent in Central Asia on a mission to discover the intentions of the new Bolshevik government, specifically in relation to India.

He helped Frank Kingdon-Ward and Lord Cawdor in 1924 when he was a Political Officer in Gangtok, Sikkim. Bailey arranged passports and encouraged them to search the 40 mi unexplored gap of the river to solve the riddles of the Tsangpo Gorges. Kingdon-Ward wrote a book by the same name documenting that expedition.

Fluent in Tibetan

was a British radio officer who worked in Tibet in the late 1940s. He was one of the few Westerners to be appointed by the Government of Tibet in the period of de facto independence between 1912 and the year 1950 when the Chinese army marched on Chamdo. He was arrested and jailed for five years by the Chinese. In 1994, he declared that he "had the opportunity to witness and experience at first hand the reality of Tibetan independence." In 1956 he was appointed at the British Diplomatic Service and served in the Foreign Office.

An English surveyor, explorer and mountaineer. He is remembered for several achievements – with Frederick Bailey he explored the Tsangpo Gorge and finally confirmed that the Yarlung Tsangpo flows into the Brahmaputra River after cascading through Himalaya; also he was a member of the 1921 and 1922 British Mount Everest expeditions and in 1922 he climbed to a height of over 25,000 feet (7,600 m). His death was due to murder and the circumstances remain mysterious.

A Tibetan. Wife of the first Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigme Palden Dorji. As the wife of Bhutan’s Prime Minister, Tess La, had an important behind the scenes role to arrange meals and host important guests both domestic and foreign.

After her husband's assasination, she went to teach in a Tibetan school for young refugee students, and she eventually remarried.

Better known as Tess La (a nickname given to her by English nuns who were unable to pronounce her name).

She had 3 sons with her first husband: Dasho Benji Dorji, Tobgye Sonam Dorji and Kalden Wangchuk Dorji.

Tess La did not hold any official position in the Royal Government of Bhutan, but her unofficial duties and interests played an important role in Bhutanese education and diplomacy. She played an important role during the advent of modern education in Bhutan and was involved in starting Bhutan’s first agricultural cooperative to help farmers.

In the earlier days Tess La looked after a young Crown Prince Jigme Dorji Wangchuck who would go on to become His Majesty The Third King, HRH (Paro Penlop) Namgyel Wangchuck, HRH Ashi Deki Yangzom Wangchuck and many ordinary Bhutanese students who were among the first waves of Bhutanese studying in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

Tess La was also part of the 3-member all women delegation sent from Bhutan headed by Ashi Tashi Chodzom Dorji to Australia in 1962 that enabled Bhutan to get a surprise entry into the Colombo Plan and here again Tess La played an important role behind the scenes. Ever the skill full host, full of charm and a good dancer, Tess La was a social hit and became popular with the international crowd already amazed by the all-women delegation from Bhutan to the Colombo plan talks.