Four Rugby Boys

The 1910s saw the attempt to turn four young Tibetans – the Four Rugby Boys – into a vanguard of "modernisers" through the medium of an English public school education.

Lungshar, a Tibetan high official, took four sons of Tibetan "respectable families" – W. N. Kyipup, K. K. Möndö, Gongkar and R. D. Ringang – to England, in 1913, so they could be educated at a public school. After completing their studies at Rugby, each of the Rugby Four received professional training in a particular field and eventually returned to Tibet.

According to Lungshar’s son Lhalu Tsewang Dorje, "the experiment was not a great success.". Historian Alastair Lamb concurs: “the experiment […] can hardly be described as a success”, adding that the boys were sidetracked by the Tibetan establishment and “made no significant contribution in later life to the development of Tibet”.

In August 1912, the Dalai Lama asked that some "energetic and clever sons of respectable families" should be given "world-class educations" in England. In early 1913 the youths selected turned up at the British Trade Agency at Gyantse, chaperoned by a Tibetan official called Lungshar. These were W. N. Kyipup, aged 16, K. K. Möndö, a monk, aged 17, Gongkar, aged 16, and R. D. Ringang, 11 years old. The Indian government decided that Basil Gould, who was about to go on leave back to England, should guide the four young boys (known as the "Rugby Boys") on their journey to the United Kingdom and assist them during their first few weeks in England in April 1913.

The Tibetan Boys settled down at Farnham, where they began to learn English under the supervision of the Berlitz School of Languages. It was decided that Rugby would be the best place for their schooling.

Kyipup studied telegraphy, surveying and cartography. On returning to Tibet, he was assigned the task of developing a telegraph network but failed and was given other assignments.

Möndö studied mining engineering in Grimethorpe and mineralogy in Camborne. Back in Tibet, he went into mineral ore prospecting but was accused of disturbing spirits and spoiling crops and so had to give up prospecting.

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Wikipedia