Sir Geoffrey Latham Corbett KBE CIE (9 February 1881 – November 1937) was a British member of the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

and a mountaineer. He held senior positions in the Governments of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and the

Kingdom of Egypt The Kingdom of Egypt ( ar, المملكة المصرية, Al-Mamlaka Al-Miṣreyya, The Egyptian Kingdom) was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recog ...

Early life

The son of Frederick Corbett, of

Chaddesley Corbett Chaddesley Corbett is a village and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. The Anglican and secular versions of the parish include other named neighbourhoods, once farmsteads or milling places: Bluntington, Brocken ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

,'Sir G. L. Corbett' in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', issue 47832 dated 3 November 1937, p. 16 Corbett was educated at

Bromsgrove School Bromsgrove School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, England. Founded in 1553, it is one of the oldest public schools in Britain, and one of the 14 founding members of the Headmaste ...

'University Intelligence' in ''The Times'', issue 35975 dated 1 November 1899, p. 10 and was already a climber while still there. In 1898, when he was seventeen, he made his first climbing trip to Switzerland, visiting the central Alps and climbing the

Grand Muveran The Grand Muveran is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Vaud and Valais. At 3,051 metres, it is the highest summit of the group lying between the Rhone knee and the Pas de Cheville and the westernmost th ...

, the

Dent de Morcles The Dent de Morcles is a 2,969 metres high mountain located at western end of the Bernese Alps, overlooking the Rhone between Martigny and St. Maurice. It is the westernmost summit of the Muverans massif, which in turn is the westernmost of th ...

, and peaks around

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) ...

.Kenneth Mason,
IN MEMORIAM GEOFFREY LATHAM CORBETT 1881-1937
' from ''Himalayan Journal'', vol. 10 (1938), online at himalayanclub.org In 1899 arrived as a classical scholar at

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...

, and in 1901 he made a second trip to the Alps, when he made a traverse of the Aiguilles Rouges, among other routes. While at Oxford he also climbed in Yorkshire and the Lake District, usually with his friend Alfred Barran. However, after taking a double first in Classics he entered the

in 1904 and was lost to serious climbing for some years.

Career

Corbett achieved fast promotion in India, with periods of leave which he used for climbing. In 1916 he was elected to the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

. In 1918, the last year of the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was appointed Director of Industries and Controller of Munitions in the Central Provinces. While there he explored the

Satpuras The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and th ...

and also visited Kashmir and

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...

. In 1919 he was appointed as Deputy Secretary to the Government of India for Commerce and Industry, then went to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

as Director-General of Commercial Intelligence. He attended the

Washington Disarmament Conference The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, DC from November 12, 1921 to February 6, 1922. It was conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations. It was attended by nine ...

of 1921–22, was sent on a mission to Fiji later in 1922, attended the Assembly of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1929, and was Secretary of the British Indian delegation to the

Round Table Conferences The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in Dec ...

of 1930 to 1932. In 1931 he was a temporary member of the

Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...

. In 1921 he made a climbing trip to Switzerland with Henry Hayden and returned in 1922, 1925, and 1928, usually climbing with local guides. He also took up big game hunting. In 1926 Corbett was at

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...

as Secretary for Commerce and Industry in the Government of India, and his windows looked north towards the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

. He began to plan the establishment of a Himalayan Club, an idea which was far from new, but he got the support of several important men. These included

Lord Irwin Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

, the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

, who agreed to be a founder member, Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, the Commander-in-Chief, India, who eventually became the first President; and Sir Malcolm Hailey, Governor of the Punjab. The Club was formally created in Birdwood's meeting room at Army Headquarters, Delhi, on 17 February 1928, with 127 founder members, and with Corbett himself as the first Honorary Secretary. Due to a collapse in his health, Corbett left India in 1932 and returned to Oxford as Reader in Indian History, also becoming the Himalayan Club's representative on the

Mount Everest Committee The Mount Everest Committee was a body formed by the Alpine Club (UK), Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society to co-ordinate and finance the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition to Mount Everest and all subsequent British e ...

. After Oxford, Corbett was appointed as Adviser to the

's Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Cairo. In 1936 and 1937, he made expeditions to Switzerland, but died suddenly in Cairo in November 1937. At his own request he was buried at sea.

Private life

In 1912, Corbett married Gladys Kate Bennett, who like him was from Worcestershire, and they had one son. Their home in England was at Bonson, Nether Stowey,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. His nephew was the acclaimed British film director

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a seri ...

Honours

*Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

*Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

*Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sultana ...

'' London Gazette'' dated 5 November 1937
p. 6,890
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbett, Geoffrey Latham 1881 births 1937 deaths Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire English mountain climbers Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Bromsgrove School British people in colonial India British expatriates in Egypt