Inez Esther Dorothea MACGILLYCUDDY [2531]

  Research Notes:

28427
Images Shuttleworth Collection courtesy British Library

  Other Records

1. Census: England, 2 Apr 1911, Bournemouth HAM. Esther I is recorded as a daughter aged 18 unmarried born Bournemouth HAM

2. Inez Shuttleworth Interview about her travel to Tibet, Sunday Post Image, Crossing a glacier in Rohtang Pass Area, In camp in the Area.
The Sunday Post
9 Jul 1922
My Adventures on the Roof of the World.
"First White Woman The Villagers Had Seen"
By Mrs Lee Shuttleworth.
In an interview exclusive to The Sunday Post.
Mrs Lee Shuttleworth has just arrived in London after accomplishing what no other European woman has achieved. Accompanied by her husband, Mrs Shuttleworth entered the secret land of Tibet by way of the Pin-la, the pass between the Spiti Mountains. The ascent was regarded as one of the most arduous any man could attempt, and deemed to be quite out of the question for a woman.
At present Mrs Shuttleworth is staying with her family, Dr Edward Shuttleworth the celebrated mental specialist, who is living in retirement in Hampstead, and it was here that she talked modestly of her achievements.
Before her marriage Mrs Shuttleworth lived in London, and nothing in her education specially fitted her for the toil of an ascent up a mountain in the Western Himalayas Range 18,000 feet in height. "After my marriage" Mrs Shuttleworth said, "I sailed with my husband for India, where he held the position of District Officer in Kulu, one of the most beautiful provinces of British India. In Kulu you can grow any fruit you choose and every flower, and it seems to be a natural paradise, my husband's duty took him to the country across the mountains, where famine had causee an enormous amount of suffering and distress, and naturally I was anxious to accompany him.
The Secret Country.
"Quite apart from my desire to help in the work of relief, I was keen to go to Tibet the secret country so few white people have visited. My mountain wardrobe consisted of some khaki shirts, one pair of khaki and one pair of stuff breeches, with a khaki skirt for ceremonial occasions. As there were no such occasions the skirt was not required, special attention was given to the footwear and a pair of Gurkha boots was included in the outfit. These boots are made of the softest fine leather and for this occasion they were well covered with grease, preventing blisters even after a long march.
"I felt just like someone out of the Bible," laughed Mrs Shuttleworth "for there we were, marching along with our sheep and goats, and horses, our servants, and baggage. The sheep were with us so that we could have some fresh meat from time to time and the goats provided us with milk, though we found that we generally had to send these on ahead of us, as there was no milk to be had unless the poor little animals had a day's rest."
Mrs Shuttleworth's own pony was her special care Jig-Gee was an engaging little animal, bigger than an ordinary Shetland in build, exceptionally surefooted, and seeming to know by instinct the best place to ford a river.
In the Ice Country.
Mrs Shuttleworth makes light of the adventures of the mountain asent. It was when they came into the ice country that their troubles began. The other ponies were sent back, but Jig-Gee was retained, his knees being carefully bandaged, Mrs Shuttleworth took his head and Mr Shuttleworth his tail, and in this fashion he was conducted on to the glacier. In addition to Jig-Gee's discomfort, the travellers here encountered their first disappointment. Instead of the track towards the expected Pass into Spiti, they found themselves confronted by a solid wall of ice.
This was the most critical moment of the expedition. Here they were on the steep mountainside, their maps having betrayed them, and every moment they were in danger of death, for owing to some unaccountable geological unrest great stones and boulders came crashing down the mountainside.
Mr Shuttleworth went out by himself to see if he could discover where the pass lay. Many hours afterwards he returned with the news that he had made a discovery of a steep stretch of snow leading in the direction of the Spiti Mountains. It was then too late to continue the ascent. The only thing to do was to camp out for the night on a narrow ledge of rock, precipitously placed at a height of 15,000 feet - a nerve wracking experience - for the narrow and dangerous ledge had to be shared with sheep, and goats, and the pony.
On the Top of the World.
With daybreak the ascent was continued in a new direction. "Then we had a perfectly horrible time," said Mrs Shuttleworth. "We were overtaken by a terrible snowstorm, which almost blinded us. We fought on as long as we could, but at last were reduced to exhaustion, and had to call a halt. Here we waited till the storm ceased, but when we started on the new track we could only march very slowly over the avalanche of snow. However we stuck it, and at last we came to the real pass, the Pinla. This is 17,500 feet high. At this height the great Himalayas looked like little hills peeping out of the snow. "We stayed here for two days, for we all wanted sleep badly, and then, after three days marching, we came to Muth, our first village in Tibet. It was a great thing to have been on the top of the world. "I found that I was the first white woman that the villagers had seen. They stared at me, and I stared at them, and then they asked for medicine, as the Hill people always do. These natives strongly believe in the healing touch of a white person, and my application of bandages bought me immediate fame. "It was rather pitiful to see how they thought I could cure them of everything, but luckily some of them were suffering merely from neglected sores, and these I washed and bound with fresh linen."
The travellers, however, could not linger in Muth, and three days further marching brought them to Dankbar, which is the capital of Spiti. Here they lived in a house for the firstt time since they left Kulu. It was a disused room in the old fort of Spiti, and it was on the roof of this fort that Mr Shuttleworth held his court, and distributed the fund allocated by the British Government for the alleviation of the distress caused by the famine.
Pass Never before Transversed By White Woman.
Their journeyings were not at an end, however. Leaving Dankbar, they went to Rupshu, by way of the redoubtable Prang-la, 18,000 feet high, a pass never before traversed by a white woman, and by few white men. Here the winding and swollen rivers cause them great inconvenience, for the bridges are primitive contrivances. Constructed of rope and plaited twigs, they are swung across the stream, and sway violently in the wind, so that the traveller is in imminent danger of being flung into the water at every step.
The rivers safely negotiated one last test awaited the travellers before they reached Spiti on their return journey. Crossing the Pang-po-la at a height of 18,000 feet, they found themselves on the bare mountainside without any trace of a track for their descent. A false step meant almost certain death, for the mountain was precipitous. Clinging with hands and feet, scrambling from boulder to boulder, now sliding a few inches, now climbing to secure a better foothold, they were at length able to cut a track in the rock, and so eventually they arrived at Ling-po plain.
"I'm glad I've done it," quietly remarked Mrs Shuttleworth. "But oh! How glad I was to see Kulu again. I am glad to be in England with all my people, but everyone who has ever lived in Kulu wants to go back."
Ref: Sunday Post 9 July 1922 Pg. 6. Image courtesy The Sunday Post.

Inez married Henry Lee Hadwen SHUTTLEWORTH [2530] [MRIN: 829], son of Dr George Edward SHUTTLEWORTH BA (Hons) MD LSA MRCS [558] and Edith Mary HADWEN [2401], in Aug 1915 in St Swithuns Bournemouth. (Henry Lee Hadwen SHUTTLEWORTH [2530] was born on 14 May 1882 in Scotforth LAN, baptised on 11 Jul 1882 in St Thomas Lancaster LAN, died on 28 Feb 1960 in New Delhi India and was buried in Nicholson Cemetery Old Delhi India.). The cause of his death was complications from diarrhoea.