Thomas Manning

Thomas Manning (8 November 1772 – 1840) is considered the first lay Chinese studies scholar in Europe and was the first Englishman to enter Lhasa, the holy city of Tibet. Early life Manning was born in Broome, Norfolk. After leaving school, he entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge to study mathematics where he became a friend of future writer and essayist Charles Lamb and was expected to achieve Second Wrangler. However, his eccentricity and a "strong repugnance to oaths" meant that he left before graduation. Long devoted to Chinese studies, he studied medicine and Chinese at Paris from 1800 to 1803. China and Tibet After making his way to Canton (now Guangzhou) on the south coast of China, Manning procured a letter of introduction from the Select Committee of the East India Company (EIC) to then Governor-General of India Lord Minto. The letter requested that he be given "every practicable assistance in the prosecution of his plans". In practice Manning received little official help but with a single Chinese servant he travelled through Bhutan into Tibet, arriving in Phari at the head of the Chumbi Valley on 21October 1811. . The imperial resident commissioner (amban) of Qing arrived on 31October and promised to write immediately to the Qing official in Lhasa seeking permission for Manning to proceed. His medical skills were much in demand and led to a request to travel on with the amban to Gyantse, a journey made uncomfortable by the extreme cold and an unpredictable horse. In Gyantse, he continued to practice medicine while waiting for the necessary passport to travel on to Lhasa. This was duly granted and on 17December 1811, he had an audience with the 9th Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso, at the Potala Palace. As the Dalai Lama was only seven years old, the interview was short and consisted of only a few remarks to Manning translated first from Tibetan to Chinese then into Latin which Manning was used to speak with his Chinese servant. Manning remained in Lhasa for several months during which he had several further audiences with the Dalai Lama. Orders arrived from the Qing court in Peking for him to return the way he came and he departed Lhasa on 19April before arriving in Koch Bihar on 10June 1812. Not only had Manning become the first Englishman to visit Lhasa, but also the first to obtain interviews with the Dalai Lama.