A Christmas Pilgrimage To The Gravesite Of Colonel Edward James "Jim" Corbett

Anbessa Gedai

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A few days ago, I made the road trip to the town of Nyeri, about three hours’ drive north of Nairobi. Buried in a small cemetery there is one of the most legendary hunters of all time, and after reading his books many years ago, and being a fellow hunter, I felt an obligation to visit his grave . . .

I believe many members of the forum are well aware of Colonel Corbett’s exploits, and much has been written about them including other excellent posts here on the forum, but for those who may not be, I’ve drafted a brief bio’ (not intended to be comprehensive).

Born on 25 July 1875 of British ancestry but simple means in India, the country in which he spent nearly all of his life, this quite unassuming and humble man became one of the most legendary hunters of all time.

From a very early age, Corbett was fascinated by the forest and wildlife around his home in the northern India Himalaya. He learned to identify many animals and birds by their calls and over time he developed the ability to mimic various calls with his own voice, a skill he would later employ many times in the pursuit of man-eater tigers and leopards. He shot his first leopard at age 10, the first of many big cats over his 53+ years of hunting.

At age eighteen, he quit school and found employment as a clerk with the Bengal and Northwestern Railway. He later joined the British-Indian Army, attaining the rank of Captain in the First World War and during the Second World War he trained soldiers in the art of jungle warfare - a job in which he was imminently well-qualified. Over his 32 years of military service, time and time again, whenever a man-eater began to terrorize a village – or villages, he was summoned. Moving on foot for days, and often weeks, he hunted alone, frequently living with the native villagers while on the hunt. On several occasions he successfully used himself as “bait” to lure the tiger to his location by purposely positioning himself upwind of an area that he expected the tiger to pass.

An exact number of man-eater tigers and leopards killed by Corbett is difficult to verify as he bagged many tigers and leopards over the years, some being “collateral damage” in the pursuit of a specific animal that might range over hundreds of square miles. However, the number of confirmed man-eaters certainly exceeds a dozen, of which two were leopards.

Calculating the total fatalities from his accounts, the big cats killed more than 1,200 men, women, and children.

Notable among them are:
  • The Champawat man-eater – Corbett’s first documented man-eater, a tigress that killed over 434 victims in six years
  • The Tigers of Chowgarh – a tigress and sub-adult male, apparently her cub, that worked together to kill over 64 people
  • The Panar man-eater – a leopard, killed over 400 people
  • The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag – more than 126 victims over eight plus years
  • The Mohan man-eater
  • The Muktesar man-eater
  • The Talla Des tigress
  • The Temple Tiger
  • The Thak tigress that killed and ate four people near the Nepalese border was the final man-eater killed by Corbett, in 1938.

The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag.jpg

Corbett With “The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag”​

With at least one major exception Corbett did not sport hunt, or “trophy hunt” to any significant extent. I find this to be quite expected as surely the challenge, and satisfaction realized by bagging a man-eater would far exceed that of a typical “sport hunt”. But he did bag “The Bachelor of Powalgarh”, a monstrous 10-foot, 7-inch tiger. Many hunters had pursued it without success, and it was the most sought after big-game trophy in the United Provinces for several years until Corbett shot it in the winter of 1930. To the best of Corbett’s knowledge, it was not a man-eater (at least not yet!).

images.jpg
Corbett with “The Bachelor of Powalgarh”

Corbett used several different rifles over the years. Most of the tigers were brought to bag with a Jeffery boxlock double rifle in 450/400. He also used a Westley Richards bolt-action in .275 that he purchased from Manton in Calcutta, apparently the only rifle he bought new. Corbett’s killing of the Champawat man-eater tigress led to him being presented a Rigby .275 bolt-action rifle by a grateful administration. He used this rifle on several man-eaters, including the Rudaprayag Leopard. This rifle is now owned by Rigby, and I saw it on display at the Safari Club International convention in 2015.

In the autumn of his life and after retiring from the Army, Corbett moved to Kenya in 1947. I don’t know if he hunted there, but he did carry a double rifle on at least one other occasion. When Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited Kenya in February 1952, the Princess specifically requested Col. Corbett to accompany them during their stay at Treetops lodge near Nyeri. The waterhole at Treetops was frequented daily by elephant, buffalo, and black rhino and with the lodge being elevated, they frequently walked under the building and even bedded in its shade. In those days motor vehicles did not drive up to the lodge, and guests had a substantial walk through the forest to reach the lodge. Being the “White Hunter in Residence” at Treetops, he was responsible for ensuring the royal party was safely guarded during their visit. It was during this visit that the Princess became Queen when her father King George VI died in England during the night.

430090_194493007327736_172324304_n.jpg

An early postcard depicting Treetops Lodge/Hotel

Colonel Edward James “Jim” Corbett died of natural causes in Nyeri in 1955, three months shy of age 80. He is buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri.

CORBETT HEADSTONE.PNG

I don’t know why the headstone has no mention of his military service, rank, or achievements as a hunter in India. Being a particularly modest man (especially given his exploits), perhaps he wanted it this way . . .

CORBETT HEADSTONE 2 - Copy.PNG

Though Corbett is known most for his exploits as a hunter of man-eaters, I believe he would have preferred to be known as a naturalist and conservationist first and voiced a need for wildlife conservation and preservation of India’s natural heritage long before it became popular to do so. In recognition of his efforts to ensure the future of the big cats, India renamed the Ramganga National Park to The Jim Corbett National Park in 1956, and the Indochinese sub-species of tiger is named Panthera tigris corbetti in his honor.

Also buried in this cemetery is Lord Baden-Powell, General in the British Army, “Father of the Scouts” . . . founder of the worldwide scouting movement. He also served in India and was a close friend of Col. Corbett.

BADEN POWELL.jpg

You that were scouts will recognize the circle enclosed dot as the trail sign for: “I have gone home”

BADEN POWELL 2.PNG


I found the below grave off in a neglected corner of the cemetery. The headstone reads:
“HEBEN CARPENTER, OF OKEHAMPTON DEVON, BORN 3RD DEC 1901, KILLED BY A RHINO 14th JAN 1935” I have no further details other than he was believed to have been a farmer.

KILLED BY RHINO.PNG


Additional note:

The big cats of India and surrounds continue to prey on humans to this day. Both leopards and of course tigers, but now man-eater leopards out-number the tigers as the leopard population is significantly greater than that of the tigers and they have adapted better to living and surviving in close proximity to the ever-growing human population. Several Indian hunters in recent years have followed in Col. Corbett’s footsteps and done so quite effectively.
 

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Thanks for sharing your story Anbessa. Col. Corbett was quite a man. Hunter, conservationist and soldier. He certainly packed a lot into his 79 years on the planet. The poor chap killed by the rhino…..not only killed by one but also resting under an epitaph saying so until Judgement Day!

I‘m also am fascinated with old cemeteries. We have two historic cemeteries in St. Louis. Calvary Cemetery is the final resting place of General William Tecumseh Sherman, Dred Scott, Tennessee Williams, and Auguste Chouteau. Bellefontain Cemetery is where William Clark the famous explorer of Lewis and Clark fame is buried. Rush Limbaugh is there too.

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for sharing your pilgrimage with us.
 
Lovely post; thanks for sharing that
 
My father bought me ”Man Eaters of Kumaon” in 1961 as a birthday gift. That book I must have read 1000 times over, and I still have it. Mr. Corbett’s assessment that Royal Bengal tigers have no sense of smell, greatly aided me when I went after my three man eating Royal Bengal tigers in 1981 & 1988 & 1989.

Just like Mr. Corbett, I had opportunity to down the final man eater with a 7x57mm Mauser.
B9FC5297-603B-4857-AE95-1172A9D3353E.jpeg

9C9943D0-5118-471B-ACA9-0F569B77F62B.jpeg

368ACF24-2DF8-48B4-9BD9-7494895A92AC.jpeg

His books are a godsend to anybody that ever has to deal with man eating tigers.
 
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Excellent post. I find myself reading or rereading a Corbett book about every other year.
 
A great little adventure, thanks for sharing and taking the time to write this out! Cheers
 
I’m incredibly jealous of your experience! Mr. Corbett was a great man who lived an incredible life.
 
My father bought me ”Man Eaters of Kumaon” in 1961 as a birthday gift. That book I must have read 1000 times over, and I still have it. Mr. Corbett’s assessment that Royal Bengal tigers have no sense of smell, greatly aided me when I went after my three man eating Royal Bengal tigers in 1981 & 1988 & 1989.

Just like Mr. Corbett, I had opportunity to down the final man eater with a 7x57mm Mauser.
View attachment 507834
View attachment 507835
View attachment 507836
His books are a godsend to anybody that ever has to deal with man eating tigers.

Hunter-Habib,

I was looking forward to your contribution on this thread . . . (y)
And I hope you realize that my last paragraph was in reference to yourself, and your
comrades-in-arms that to this day are occasionally called upon to bring a sudden halt to the big cats' man-eating habits . . . when they arise.
 
Great thread, thank you for posting.
”Man-Eaters of Kumaon” has a been a favorite of mine for many years. I first read it in paperback as a teenager. Then in 2009, during one of my deployments in Afghanistan, while waiting to board a helo for the next mission, I was going through one of the boxes of donated books always available at HLZ's, I found a first edition, hardback copy of Man Eaters. My team thought I had been out in the sun too long due to my excitement over a book. I still have it and enjoy reading it every now and then. Jim Corbett was an amazing individual. He and Theodore Roosevelt are on my fantasy list of people I would want to have dinner and drink with.
 
Great write up. His exploits were some the first books I read as a kid. The story of Princess Elizabeth being guarded by Corbett at the TreeTops was interesting. I remember spending a couple nights there 20 some years ago.
 
Just to note April 19th will mark the 68th anniversary of the passing of Jim Corbett. I believe I shall raise a glass and take a moment to remember this great man.

A coworker recently returned from a month in India, where he visited Corbett's Kaladhungi and the reserve. He has some amazing footage and pictures of tigers.
 
A few days ago, I made the road trip to the town of Nyeri, about three hours’ drive north of Nairobi. Buried in a small cemetery there is one of the most legendary hunters of all time, and after reading his books many years ago, and being a fellow hunter, I felt an obligation to visit his grave . . .

I believe many members of the forum are well aware of Colonel Corbett’s exploits, and much has been written about them including other excellent posts here on the forum, but for those who may not be, I’ve drafted a brief bio’ (not intended to be comprehensive).

Born on 25 July 1875 of British ancestry but simple means in India, the country in which he spent nearly all of his life, this quite unassuming and humble man became one of the most legendary hunters of all time.

From a very early age, Corbett was fascinated by the forest and wildlife around his home in the northern India Himalaya. He learned to identify many animals and birds by their calls and over time he developed the ability to mimic various calls with his own voice, a skill he would later employ many times in the pursuit of man-eater tigers and leopards. He shot his first leopard at age 10, the first of many big cats over his 53+ years of hunting.

At age eighteen, he quit school and found employment as a clerk with the Bengal and Northwestern Railway. He later joined the British-Indian Army, attaining the rank of Captain in the First World War and during the Second World War he trained soldiers in the art of jungle warfare - a job in which he was imminently well-qualified. Over his 32 years of military service, time and time again, whenever a man-eater began to terrorize a village – or villages, he was summoned. Moving on foot for days, and often weeks, he hunted alone, frequently living with the native villagers while on the hunt. On several occasions he successfully used himself as “bait” to lure the tiger to his location by purposely positioning himself upwind of an area that he expected the tiger to pass.

An exact number of man-eater tigers and leopards killed by Corbett is difficult to verify as he bagged many tigers and leopards over the years, some being “collateral damage” in the pursuit of a specific animal that might range over hundreds of square miles. However, the number of confirmed man-eaters certainly exceeds a dozen, of which two were leopards.

Calculating the total fatalities from his accounts, the big cats killed more than 1,200 men, women, and children.

Notable among them are:
  • The Champawat man-eater – Corbett’s first documented man-eater, a tigress that killed over 434 victims in six years
  • The Tigers of Chowgarh – a tigress and sub-adult male, apparently her cub, that worked together to kill over 64 people
  • The Panar man-eater – a leopard, killed over 400 people
  • The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag – more than 126 victims over eight plus years
  • The Mohan man-eater
  • The Muktesar man-eater
  • The Talla Des tigress
  • The Temple Tiger
  • The Thak tigress that killed and ate four people near the Nepalese border was the final man-eater killed by Corbett, in 1938.

View attachment 507749
Corbett With “The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag”​

With at least one major exception Corbett did not sport hunt, or “trophy hunt” to any significant extent. I find this to be quite expected as surely the challenge, and satisfaction realized by bagging a man-eater would far exceed that of a typical “sport hunt”. But he did bag “The Bachelor of Powalgarh”, a monstrous 10-foot, 7-inch tiger. Many hunters had pursued it without success, and it was the most sought after big-game trophy in the United Provinces for several years until Corbett shot it in the winter of 1930. To the best of Corbett’s knowledge, it was not a man-eater (at least not yet!).

View attachment 507750 Corbett with “The Bachelor of Powalgarh”

Corbett used several different rifles over the years. Most of the tigers were brought to bag with a Jeffery boxlock double rifle in 450/400. He also used a Westley Richards bolt-action in .275 that he purchased from Manton in Calcutta, apparently the only rifle he bought new. Corbett’s killing of the Champawat man-eater tigress led to him being presented a Rigby .275 bolt-action rifle by a grateful administration. He used this rifle on several man-eaters, including the Rudaprayag Leopard. This rifle is now owned by Rigby, and I saw it on display at the Safari Club International convention in 2015.

In the autumn of his life and after retiring from the Army, Corbett moved to Kenya in 1947. I don’t know if he hunted there, but he did carry a double rifle on at least one other occasion. When Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited Kenya in February 1952, the Princess specifically requested Col. Corbett to accompany them during their stay at Treetops lodge near Nyeri. The waterhole at Treetops was frequented daily by elephant, buffalo, and black rhino and with the lodge being elevated, they frequently walked under the building and even bedded in its shade. In those days motor vehicles did not drive up to the lodge, and guests had a substantial walk through the forest to reach the lodge. Being the “White Hunter in Residence” at Treetops, he was responsible for ensuring the royal party was safely guarded during their visit. It was during this visit that the Princess became Queen when her father King George VI died in England during the night.

View attachment 507752
An early postcard depicting Treetops Lodge/Hotel

Colonel Edward James “Jim” Corbett died of natural causes in Nyeri in 1955, three months shy of age 80. He is buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri.

View attachment 507791
I don’t know why the headstone has no mention of his military service, rank, or achievements as a hunter in India. Being a particularly modest man (especially given his exploits), perhaps he wanted it this way . . .

View attachment 507761
Though Corbett is known most for his exploits as a hunter of man-eaters, I believe he would have preferred to be known as a naturalist and conservationist first and voiced a need for wildlife conservation and preservation of India’s natural heritage long before it became popular to do so. In recognition of his efforts to ensure the future of the big cats, India renamed the Ramganga National Park to The Jim Corbett National Park in 1956, and the Indochinese sub-species of tiger is named Panthera tigris corbetti in his honor.

Also buried in this cemetery is Lord Baden-Powell, General in the British Army, “Father of the Scouts” . . . founder of the worldwide scouting movement. He also served in India and was a close friend of Col. Corbett.

View attachment 507763
You that were scouts will recognize the circle enclosed dot as the trail sign for: “I have gone home”

View attachment 507790

I found the below grave off in a neglected corner of the cemetery. The headstone reads:
“HEBEN CARPENTER, OF OKEHAMPTON DEVON, BORN 3RD DEC 1901, KILLED BY A RHINO 14th JAN 1935” I have no further details other than he was believed to have been a farmer.

View attachment 507766

Additional note:

The big cats of India and surrounds continue to prey on humans to this day. Both leopards and of course tigers, but now man-eater leopards out-number the tigers as the leopard population is significantly greater than that of the tigers and they have adapted better to living and surviving in close proximity to the ever-growing human population. Several Indian hunters in recent years have followed in Col. Corbett’s footsteps and done so quite effectively.
Excellent ! I also visited his grave last year. If you find yourself in Nairobi and bored, go visit the local cemeteries like Langata. I have been able to fin JA Hunter, and after two days searching John Boyes. Also a fun day trip to see Finch Hattons grave.
 
What a terrific post. great story. I too had read Corbett, back in '66. What a great man.
 
I am in the middle of a Corbett project and just happened to notice something - Jim Corbett's full name was Edward James Corbett - but the plaque on the buttstock of the 275 Rigby he was given for killing the Champawat tiger says Mr. J. G. Corbett.

Simple mixup?

Here is the plaque:

Jim-Corbett-Village-Museum-1.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am in the middle of a Corbett project and just happened to notice something - Jim Corbett's full name was Edward James Corbett - but the plaque on the buttstock of the 275 Rigby he was given for killing the Champawat tiger says Mr. J. G. Corbett.

Simple mixup?

Here is the plaque:

Jim-Corbett-Village-Museum-1.jpg
Recalling that the rifle was purchased and presented to Corbett by the government at the time, I expect the incorrect initials are the result of what the government would have called a "clerical error".
Though I (perhaps naively) would have expected better of that era, perhaps they were similar to today's governments where accountability is absent, and "errors" are the norm rather than the exception . . . ??
 
Recalling that the rifle was purchased and presented to Corbett by the government at the time, I expect the incorrect initials are the result of what the government would have called a "clerical error".
Though I (perhaps naively) would have expected better of that era, perhaps they were similar to today's governments where accountability is absent, and "errors" are the norm rather than the exception . . . ??

Very likely. I also find it strange they did not recognize his military title at the time. In any case, not sure why I’ve never noticed until now.
 

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