Thomas George Montgomerie

Who was Thomas George Montgomerie?

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas George Montgomerie FRS was a British surveyor who participated in the Great Trigonometric Survey of India as a lieutenant in the 1850s. He was the person to label K2, the second highest mountain in the world, the K standing for Karakoram. The label "K2" has stuck and has become, and remains, the mountain's most commonly used name.

Despite being often denied close range access, the 19th century survey work carried out by Montgomerie and the survey of India has been shown to be accurate. The elevations of major summits which they calculated are very close to the elevations which are accepted today.

He was subsequently involved in attempts to extend the survey of India into Tibet. Tibet was not part of the British Empire and was closed to foreigners, so he employed and trained Indians, who entered Tibet disguised as travelling Tibetans, and became known as pundits.

In 1867 Major Montgomerie was assigned to Peshawar where he was tasked with recruiting native agents to explore Central Asia.