Yaks and cataracts: Medical mission at the top of the world

About Ada BurroughsMonica Bass

In 1903 Ada Moore was working as a laundry clerk in Scarborough Yorkshire when she was inspired by reports of Younghusband's expedition to Tibet and decided she was going to go there herself. In time after training at the Missionary Training College in Chelsea she applied to the only two missions working in that part of the world and was offered a place as a single sister with the Moravians in Ladakh in Little (or Western) Tibet. She married a fellow missionary Henry Burroughs and they spent thirteen years in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. Ill health eventually caused them to return to England where Harry was ordained into the Church of England. Their four children were all born in India. Monica was born in Poo on the Tibetan border before the family moved back to Ladakh to Khalatse. As was customary she was sent back to England to go to school but she clearly remembered her early upbringing. She and her parents had a great love for the Ladakhi people. Monica married a diplomat and spent her life moving between England and various postings abroad. She wrote this book using the extensive notes left by her mother and drawing on her memories as a child. However she was unable to publish it. At last Ada's granddaughter Gillian after her own experience of moving continuously with her army officer husband has been able to prepare the book for publication.