User:David Kernow/Charles von Hugel

Baron Charles (Carl, Karl) Alexander Anselm von Hügel (1795-1870)

Baron Charles Von Hugel

Baron Charles Von Hugel was an important Austrian soldier, diplomat, courtier, horticulturist, traveler, and ethnologist. He was born into a noble Catholic family in Regensburg, Bavaria on 25 April 1795. In 1810, at the age of fifteen, he commenced his studies at Heidelberg University as a law student, developing the incisive analytical and rhetorical skills that became the hallmark of his published work. In 1813, he joined the Austrian army, serving as an officer in the Hussars during the campaign against Napoleon (1813-1815). After Napoleon’s defeat, Von Hugel remained in the Hussars serving with distinction until 1824. This military service was crucial in the formation of Von Hugel’s interests in natural history, ethnology, and history as it allowed him to travel extensively within Europe, serving in southern France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia.

In 1824, Von Hugel left the military to devote his energies to the study of botany and horticulture at his large estate at Hietzing, just outside Vienna. In 1830 he traveled to Toulon in southern France from where he embarked on a lengthy world tour. He journeyed through much of the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and the Middle East before undertaking extensive travels in Australasia and Asia, including the journey through Kashmir and Punjab.

Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab

Product Details: Author: Baron Charles Von Hugel | ISBN: 0-19-579857-0 | Format: Hardcover | Pages: 423 | Weight: 1.72 lbs | Pub. Date: 2003 | Publisher: Oxford University Press

DESCRIPTION Although Baron Charles Von Hugel gained considerable fame for his botanical work in both Austria and during his travels (especially in Australia), it was his travels in north India that secured his renown.

Beginning in 1840, he published in German a four volume account of his travels in Kashmir and Punjab entitled Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek. The first and third volumes narrated Von Hugel’s journey in Kashmir and Punjab (the second volume was synthetic account of Kashmir’s history, geography and resources, while the fourth was a gazetteer) which were complied, translated, and published as 'Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab, Containing a Particular Account of the Government and Character of the Sikhs' by J. Petheram in 1845.

This translation was of considerable significance for a British audience. Not only did 'Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab' offer a detailed account of a region which remained largely unknown in Europe, but it was also published against the backdrop of the first Anglo-Sikh war, when the Victorian press carried detailed coverage of the East India Company’s efforts to annex Punjab and extend British Paramountcy on India’s north-west frontier. Von Hugel’s contribution to the extension of European knowledge of South Asia was formally recognized in 1849 when Britain’s Royal Geographical Society awarded a Patron’s Gold Medal to Von Hugel 'for his enterprising exploration of Cashmere'.

Von Hugel's travelogue has an encyclopaedic quality, as he attempted to collect information on a vast range of issues and topics, from the region’s natural history to the 'character' of its various populations, from fluctuations in the climate and atmospheric pressure to detailed discussions of lake Dal and Ranjit sigh's court at Lahore.

Since Kashmir had been absorbed into Ranjit Singh's kingdom in 1819, both the Maharaja and Sikhism are prominent and recurrent themes in Von Hugel’s work.