Godfrey Vigne

Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1 September 1801 – 12 July 1863) was an English amateur cricketer and traveller.

Early life

Vigne was born on 1 September 1801 at Walthamstow, then in Essex, the eldest son of Thomas Vigne. He entered Harrow School in 1817, became a barrister in 1824, and was a member of Lincoln's Inn.^[1]

Cricketing career

He was mainly associated with Hampshire sides and he made 11 known appearances in first-class matches from 1819 to 1845.^[2]

Travels

Portrait of Richard Wood, British consul in Damascus, drawn by Vigne in 1844

In 1831 Vigne left England for Persia, and then travelled to India. He spent the next seven years travelling in north west India and Central Asia.^[1] Between 1835 and 1838 he travelled extensively in Kashmir and Ladakh and was the first European known to have visited Baltistan. In the light of his ease in obtaining a permit to travel to Kashmir, despite his unofficial status, the timing and his repeated extensive journeys north of Kashmir, reaching as far as Skardu and the Saltoro Pass, it has been suggested that he may have been a spy involved in the Great Game.^[3]

In 1836 Vigne visited Afghanistan, and met the emir, Dost Mohammed. He was said to be the first Englishman to have visited Kabul.^[1] He visited the Lahore Durbar of the Sikh Empire in 1837.^[4] He was also the first to describe Nanga Parbat.^[3]

After 1852 Vigne travelled in Mexico, Nicaragua, the West Indies and the United States. He published several books describing his travels.^[1]

In 1841, the urial, a wild sheep living in Central and Southern Asia, was given the scientific name Ovis vignei in his honour.^[5] During his 1892 expedition to the Karakoram, Conway named several previously unvisited glaciers which he encountered, one of those was the Vigne Glacier.^[6]^[7]

Works

Outline of a Route Through the Panj-áb, Kábul, Kashmír, and into Little Tibet, in the Years 1834-8. Publisher: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 9, 1 January 1839
A personal narrative of a visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, and Afghanistan, and of a residence at the court of Dost Mohamed with notices of Runjit Sing, Khiva, and the Russian expedition. With illus. from drawings made by the author on the spot. Publisher: Whitacker & Co., London, 1840
Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab. Volume I. Publisher: Henry Colburn London, 1842
Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab. Volume II. Publisher: Henry Colburn London, 1842
Observation on the Vegetation and Products of Afghanistan, Kaschmir and Tibet by J. Forbes Royal M.D. F.R.S.

Gallery

Greytown
Lima
View of Trebizond from the south in 1833 by Godfrey Thomas Vigne

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Carlyle, Edward Irving (1899). "Vigne, Godfrey Thomas" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
^ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862
^ ^a ^b Keay, John (1977). When Men and Mountains Meet. pp. 83–98. ISBN 0-7126-0196-1.
^ Hardgrave, R. L. (1996). An Early Portrayal of the Sikhs: Two 18th Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns. International Journal of Punjab Studies, 3(2), 213-27. Accessed via: https://www.laits.utexas.edu/solvyns-project/sikhs.html
^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (18 November 2009). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801895333 – via Google Books.
^ Conway, Sir William Martin (1894). Climbing and Exploration in the Karakoram Himalayas. Unwin. p. 454. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
^ Isserman, Maurice; Weaver, Stewart (2008). Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. Yale University Press. p. 43. doi:10.12987/9780300142662-003. ISBN 9780300164206. Retrieved 27 April 2024.