Bell, Sir, Charles Alfred, 1870-1945, diplomat, Tibetanist

Tibet-related material bequeathed to the Society by Bell's widow, comprising photographs, glass slides, notes, and reprinted papers. Also, documents relating to Bell's letter to The Times (1935) in which he discussed the Tibetan name for Mt Everest.

Sir Charles Bell, KCIE, CMG, joined the Royal Central Asian Society in 1931, and was a recipient of its highest award, the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal, in 1937. In addition to the Tibet-related material bequeathed to the Society by Bell's widow, the RSAA Library also holds a number of books from Bell's personal library, including his principal publications (with some marginalia).

Born in Calcutta (1870), Bell joined the Indian Civil Service in 1891. In 1900, he was transferred to Darjeeling and developed a life-long interest in Tibetan language and culture. In 1908, he was appointed Political Officer of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet, in which capacity he gave refuge to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, forced to leave Tibet when the Chinese entered Lhasa in 1910 (the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa in June 1912). Their meeting and continued friendship was fundamental to the development of international relations between Tibet and Britain over succeeding years.

Prevented from doing so before by political constraints, Bell finally visited Lhasa in 1920 as part of a diplomatic mission, his role to advise Tibet on matters of foreign policy. He was given a warm reception and granted privileged access to the Dalai Lama. Bell remained in Lhasa until the following year, when he retired from the Indian Civil Service, devoting the remainder of his life to the study of Tibetan culture and history.

In addition to his earlier lexicographical work on the Tibetan language, Bell subsequently published Tibet: Past and Present; (1920), The People of Tibet; (1928), The Religion of Tibet; (1931), and, completed shortly before his death, Portrait of the Dalai Lama (1946). In the Preface to this biography, Bell wrote (p. 11): "The reader will appreciate the significance of the close friendship with which [the Dalai Lama] honoured me. That in a country generally hostile to the foreigner the Dalai Lama could form an abiding friendship with a white foreigner, was a feature in his character, and should be made clear in his biography." Sir Charles Bell died in Canada, 8 March, 1945.