C & T Auctioneers
Lot 105
WW2 and South East Asia Group of Six Awarded to Captain James Whittaker Thornley 3/8th Gurkha Rifles Who Was Tragically Lost Climbing Nango Parbat in the Himalayas, the group consists of 1939-45 star, Africa star with clasp North Africa 1942-43, Burma star, Defence medal, 1939-45 war medal and George VI General Service medal 1918-62 with clasp S E Asia 1945-46 “CAPT J W THORNLEY GR”. Medals are complete with ribbons and remain in good condition. Accompanied by two newspaper cuttings about his death. Captain James Whittaker Thornley from Manchester Road, Southport. Educated at King George V School and later Liverpool University. He served for 4 ½ years in the armed forces, most of which was in the Far East where he rose to the rank of Captain in the Gurkha Rifles. In 1950 when on an expedition to collect samples of wildlife and flowers in the mountains on the Himalayas, he was reported missing and presumed dead along with another member of his team. An account of the expedition and his loss by the only survivor of the expedition R M W Marsh is detailed in the Himalayan Club’s “Himalayan Journal Volume 16”; “NANGA PARBAT, DECEMBER 1950, J. W. Thornley, W. H. Crace, and I decided to attempt a winter reconnaissance of Nanga Parbat when, in October 1950, after we had been out in the field for three weeks, our plans for spending a year in the north Karakoram were unexpectedly shattered. It was our only alternative to returning home. We did not intend to go high; our object was to see what winter temperatures^ snow, and avalanche conditions would be like. Base C lamp at 12,500 feet was fully established by 1 ith November, and on the 12th we occupied Camp I at 14,650 feet. Our four Sherpas were unwilling to sleep above Base Camp and we carried on alone, relaying food and equipment. On the 16th I returned to base willi frost-bitten toes. Crace and Thornley were going on for a short way, and we saw them on most days until 1st December, when they were moving up strongly, carrying loads at about 18,000 feet. We saw thrin slop and pitch a tent, but did not see them again. For the next three days the tent was visible: then there was a heavy storm, and that, too, had disappeared. Two of the Sherpas and I went up after them but we were unable to reach the place where they had last been seen. Later, planes searched the mountain-side without spotting anything. Their food-supplies were sufficient to last until 19th December, and on 26 th December we gave up hope and left the mountain. Thornley and Crace were both extremely determined. Thornley, for instance, marched 165 miles to Nanga Parbat over the Babusarr pass, wearing a pair of gym shoes, in six days, and was in no way fatigued at the end. They were a fine pair of friends and it took an expedition of this sort, where we lived close, in difficult conditions, to bring out fully the great qualities of endurance, patience, and kindness which were so characteristic of them. I am sure they wish for no better tribute than that when they were last seen they were still going up and still going strong.”
