The Education of Maharajah Kumar Sidkeon Namgyal
BULLETIN OF TIBETOLOGY 27 'THA T HE MA Y TAKE DUE PRlDE IN THE EMPIRE TO WHICH HE BELONGS': THE EDUCATION OF MAHARAJAH KUMAR SlDKEON NAMGY AL TULKU OF SIKKIM ALEXMcKAy University College London In 1879, the first wife of the 9th Maharajah of Sikkim, Thutob Namgyal, gave birth to their second son, Sidkeon Namgyal, following the birth of a daughter in 1876 and their first son, Tsodag Namgyal, in 1878. The Maharani died in childbirth in 1880, I and the years that followed were difficult ones for the Maharajah, as the interests of Sikkim clashed with those of the British Indian empire. Following the conflict of 1888, a British Political Officer was appointed to oversee the administration of Sikkim. The officer selected, John Claude White (1853-1918), was a mean, petty and domineering individual who, during the following two decades in which he dominated the state of Sikkim, carried 011 a long vendetta against both the Maharajah and his son Tsodag Namgyal. John Claude White's successors in the Gangtok Residency included some of the outstanding frontier officers of the British empire, men such as Lieutenant-Colonel F.M. Bailey (1882- 1967) and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir W.F. O'Connor (1870-1943), as well as f()f\vard-thinking and culturally sensitive diplomats such as Sir Charles Bell (1870-1945) and Sir Basil Gould (1883-1956). White, however, who came from the Public Works Department rather than the usual military or ICS background required of Political Officers, was the worst type of colonial official, lacking the background, training, and character that produced his successors.
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