Bertram E. Smythies

Who was Bertram E. Smythies?

Bertram Evelyn Smythies was a British forester and ornithologist.

Smythies was born in India, to E. A. Smythies, silviculturist of Uttar Pradesh and, in the 1940s, Chief Conservator of Forest of Nepal, and his wife, Olive, well-known author of The Tiger Lady. After school in the UK, Bill read botany and forestry at Balliol College, Oxford.

Bill's grandfather came to India in 1873 to join the Indian Forest Service and served until 1902 around Dehra Dun. His father had degrees in forestry and geology from Oxford and served in the Indian Forest Service from 1908 to 1940. He was based in Nainital, where Bill was born in 1912. He wrote: ... "started hill trekking at the age of six months, camping in tents in the hills of Kumaon... brought up within sight of Nanda Devi and Trisul - who could fail to have a love of mountains and natural history?"

Smythies father took up a contract post of Forest Advisor to the Maharaja of Nepal and moved to Kathmandu after 1940 and stayed on till 1947. During this time Bill used to visit his father in Nepal and had access to places that were normally out of bounds for foreigners. Bill Smythies joined the Burma Forest Service in 1934 and during this time he explored the botany and ornithology of these Burmese regions with his Kachin guide and friend Sumdu Mai. He spoke fluent Burmese, Jingpo, Malay and Iban. He was a great fan of the British botanist and explorer Kingdon-Ward.