William Johnson (surveyor)

Early ife

Johnson was born in India to an Ordinance officer of the East India Company, who lived in "Deyrah". He was educated at Mussorie and joined the Civil Branch of the Great Trigonometric Survey (the precursor of the Survey of India), where he was trained by Andrew Scott Waugh.

Career

Johnson began his career as a surveyor in 1848 under Captain du Vernet in the North-West Himalayan Survey. After du Vernet moved to Assam in 1852, he worked for some time doing route surveys in Punjab, then the survey of the Chenab River, and the survey of Bhagirathi and Kanawar. In 1854, he ascended the snowy peak near the Néla pass, which was regarded as a considerable accomplishment.

In 1855, he joined the newly formed Kashmir Survey party to survey the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was second-in-command to Thomas George Montgomerie but in fact had a leading role on account of Montgomerie being busy in Srinagar. He led the survey of the Pir Panjal range, Kishenganga valley, Chandrabhaga valley, and later Indus and Shyok river valleys. He ascended some of the tallest peaks in the line of his work. He also connected the Kashmir triangulation with the North-West Himalaya.

Starting 1862, Johnson worked from Leh in Ladakh, surveying all the way to the Chinese frontier. He surveyed the Chang Chenmo valley and the plateau to the north of it. In 1865, he undertook his famous journey to Khotan, which garnered notability as well as controversy.

Expedition to Khotan and the Johnson Line

In 1863, the Chinese rule collapsed in the Chinese Turkestan and local rulers established their own domains. The governor of Ladakh, Mehta Mangal, sent a small force Shahidullah, a strategic point between the Karakoram range and Kunlun mountains, and constructed a chauki (police post). These developments were likely known to Johnson.

In May 1865, Johnson was commissioned to survey the Kashmir series "beyond and to the north of the Chang Chenmo valley". He set out on his expedition two months later, with a party consisting of fifty coolies (porters), an attendant, five mules, six horses and a state trooper. Governor Mehta Mangal is said to have made all the arrangements for his expedition. Johnson quickly went over to the heretofore unexplored territory of Aksai Chin. According to scholar John Lall, Johnson maintained an average speed of 19.2 miles a day through "barren country at heights between 15,000 to 19,500 feet". He spent twenty days at the source of the Karakash River doing surveys and recording his findings.

From this location, Johnson made a journey to Khotan (also called "Ilchi"), spent 18 days there and returned via the Karakoram Pass. Why he went to Khotan remains controversial. Johnson's own statement was that he received an invitation via a messenger of the Khan of Khotan. However, John Lall states that there was not enough time for a messenger to come from Khotan and return within Johnson's time frame. He believes that Johnson must have sent a message to Khan of Khotan and invited himself. He also states that Johnson was censured for crossing the frontier without government permission and that he later changed his story to say that he was forcibly taken to Khotan. Scholar Parshotam Mehra contests these conclusions stating that Johnson's results were highly prized among the British surveyors, and Johnson was reemployed in 1869 on an even higher salary.

The journey made Johnson's reputation as a traveller. He reported on it to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1866, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the same year. But the unauthorized journey met with official disapproval; and he resigned from the Survey the following year. Part of his legacy was the "Johnson line", or "Ardagh–Johnson line", a proposed northern boundary for Ladakh and Kashmir running through the Aksai Chin. It was later endorsed by Sir John Ardagh. It assumed later importance in the Sino-Indian border dispute, after China had occupied Tibet.

Jammu and Kashmir

Johnson took up a position for the Maharajah of Kashmir and Jammu, and was appointed as the governor (Wazir-e-wazarat) of Ladakh. He used it to facilitate the third covert journey of Nain Singh Rawat into Tibet.

Death

Johnson died in Jammu, believing he had been poisoned.

His daughter, Teresa Johnson, married Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley, Irish peer and later convert to Islam, in 1899. She died in 1919.

Works

Reception

H. H. Godwin-Austen, a distinguished surveyor, has said, "there were few men living who had greater experience of mountain work, and none who had ascended to greater heights, and the work he did was of considerable value and magnitude". He cites Johnson's expedition to Khotan as an example of valuable knowledge that would have been gained had the (British) Government of India encouraged such work. He states that the views of the officers of the Survey of India were disregarded by the government. The official report of the Great Trigonometrical Survey (1865–65) called his explorations "most valuable and important". Johnson was commended for his "great energy and perseverance". The Royal Geographical Society honoured him in 1875 and presented a gold watch for his survey journey of 1865. Frederick Drew, another surveyor and geologist in Jammu and Kashmir called him a "bold and enduring traveller".