Editing Francis Younghusband (section)

== Military career ==
In 1886–1887, on leave from his regiment, Younghusband made an expedition across Asia though still a young officer.  After sailing to China his party set out, with Colonel Mark Bell's permission, to cross 1200 miles of desert with the ostensible authority to survey the geography; but in reality, the purposes were to ascertain the strength of the Russian physical threats to the Raj. Departing Peking with a senior colleague, [[H. E. M. James|Henry E. M. James]] (on leave from his [[Indian Civil Service]] position) and a young British consular officer from [[Newchwang]], [[Harry English Fulford]], on 4 April 1887, Lieut Younghusband explored [[Manchuria]], visiting the frontier areas of [[Chuang Guandong|Chinese settlement]] in the region of the [[Changbai Mountains]].<ref name=yh1896/><ref>{{citation|first=Sir Henry Evan Murchison |last=James|author-link=Evan James (civil servant) | publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1888|title=The Long White Mountain, or, A journey in Manchuria: with some account of the history, people, administration and religion of that country|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4bICAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>
[[File:Long White Mountain - p235 - Interior of an inn.png|thumb|A one-room inn in a then-wild area east of [[Tonghua]], in [[Jilin Province|Jilin]], China, where Younghusband and his companions stayed in 1887<ref>{{harvnb|James|1888|pp=235–238}}</ref>]]
On arrival in India, he was granted three months' leave by the Commander-in-Chief [[Field Marshal Lord Roberts]]; the scientific results of this travel would prove vital information to the [[Royal Geographical Society]]. Younghusband had already carried out numerous scientific observations in particular, showing that the [[Changbai Mountains]]' highest peak, [[Baekdu Mountain]], is only around 8,000 feet tall, even though the travellers' British maps showed [nonexistent] snow-capped peaks 10,000-12,000&nbsp;ft tall in the area.<ref>{{harvnb|James|1888|pp=254,262}})</ref>{{Original research inline|date=April 2023}}<ref>{{harvnb|James|1888|pp=125,217}})</ref>{{Original research inline|date=April 2023}} Younghusband crossed the most inhospitable terrain in the world to the Himalayas before being ordered to make his way home. Parting with his British companions, he crossed the [[Taklamakan Desert]] to [[Chinese Turkestan]], and pioneered a route from [[Kashgar]] to [[India]] through the uncharted [[Mustagh Pass]].<ref name=yh1896>Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Avk88OI8bQkC The Heart of a Continent]'', pp. 58-290. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics.</ref> He reported to the Viceroy, [[Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava|Lord Dufferin]], his crossing through the [[Karakoram]] Range, the [[Hindu Kush]], the [[Pamirs]] and where the range converged with the Himalayas; the nexus of three great empires. In the 1880s the region of the Upper Oxus was still largely unmapped. For this achievement, aged still only 24, he was elected the youngest member of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] and received the society's 1890 [[Patron's Medal]].

[[Image:Younghusband PekingToYarkand Map.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|"From Peking To Yarkand and Kashmir via the Mustagh Pass"]]
In February 1889, he was made captain<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25924|page=2162|date=16 April 1889}}</ref> and was dispatched with a small escort of [[Gurkha]] soldiers to investigate an uncharted region north of [[Ladakh]], where raiders from [[Hunza (princely state)|Hunza]] had disrupted trade between [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] and India the previous year.<ref>''The Heart of a Continent'', pp. 186ff</ref> Whilst encamped in the valley of the [[Yarkand River]], Younghusband received a messenger at his camp, inviting him to dinner with Captain [[Bronislav Grombchevsky]], his Russian counterpart in "The Great Game". Younghusband accepted the invitation to Grombchevsky's camp, and after dinner the two rivals talked into the night, sharing brandy and vodka, and discussing the possibility of a Russian invasion of British India. Grombchevsky impressed Younghusband with the horsemanship skills of his [[Cossack]] escort, and Younghusband impressed Grombchevsky with the rifle drill of his Gurkhas.<ref>''The Heart of a Continent'', pp. 234ff</ref> After their meeting in this remote frontier region, Grombchevsky resumed his expedition in the direction of [[Tibet]] and Younghusband continued his exploration of the [[Karakoram]].