With Mounted Infantry in Tibet

The Great Game for political supremacy and influence was played out across the plains of Central Asia between British India and Imperial Russia for almost the entire duration of the nineteenth century. The Younghusband Mission to Tibet was the ‘end game’ of the ‘’Great Game.’’

Officially termed the ‘’Sikkim Tibet Field Force,’’ the British presence in Tibet in 1904 has been variously known as the ‘’Younghusband Mission,’’ the ‘’British Mission to Tibet,’’ strictly refers to the diplomatic corps surrounding Younghusband, which was composed of personnel from the 32nd Sikh Pioneers and 300 followers. However Lord Kitchener issued orders for them to be supported by a Royal Artillery Mountain Battery with two tenpounder screw guns, a half company of the 2nd Sappers and Miners, eight companies of the 23rd Sikh Pioneers, six companies of the 8th Gurkhas, and two Maxim guns from 1st Battalion, the Norfolk Regiment.