Jim Corbett
| James Edward "Jim" Corbett | |
|---|---|
Jim Corbett
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| Born |
full name James Edward (or Edward James) Corbett 25 July 1875 Nainital, United Provinces, British India (now India) |
| Died | 19 April 1955 (aged 79) Nyeri, Kenya |
| Nationality | British Indian |
| Occupation | hunter, naturalist, writer |
James Edward "Jim" 'Corbett CIE VD (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was a British-Indian hunter and tracker-turned-conservationist, author and naturalist, who hunted a large number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India.
Corbett held the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army and was frequently called upon by the government of the United Provinces, now the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to kill man-eating tigers and leopards that were preying on people in the nearby villages of the Garhwal and Kumaon regions.
He authored Man-Eaters of Kumaon, Jungle Lore, and other books recounting his hunts and experiences, which enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success. Later on in life, Corbett became an avid photographer and spoke out for the need to protect India's wildlife from extermination and played a key role in creating a national reserve for the endangered Bengal tiger by using his influence to persuade the provincial government to establish what was called Hailey National Park. In 1957, the park was renamed Jim Corbett National Park in his honour.
Corbett was born of Irish ancestry in the town of Nainital in the Kumaon of the Himalaya (now in the Indian state of Uttarakhand). He grew up in a large family of 16 children and was the eighth child of Christopher William and Mary Jane Corbett (née Prussia was married to Dr Charles James Doyle of Agra who died at Etawah in 1857). His parents had moved to Nainital in 1862, after Christopher Corbett had quit military service and been appointed the town's postmaster. In winters, the family used to move to the foothills, where they owned a cottage named 'Arundel' in Chhoti Haldwani or "Corbett's Village", now known as Kaladhungi. Mary Jane was very influential in Nainital social life among Europeans and she became a kind of real estate agent for European settlers. Christopher William retired from the position of postmaster in 1878. He died a few weeks after a heart attack on 21 April 1881. Jim was 6 and his eldest brother Tom took over as postmaster of Nainital. From a very young age, Jim was fascinated by the forests and wildlife around his home in Kaladhungi. At a young age, through frequent excursions, he learned to identify most animals and birds by their calls. Over time he became a good tracker and hunter. He studied at Oak Openings School, later merged with Philander Smith College in Nainital (later known as Halett War School, and now known as Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital). Before he was 19, he quit school and found employment with the Bengal and North Western Railway, initially working as a fuel inspector at Manakpur in the Punjab, and subsequently as a contractor for the trans-shipment of goods across the Ganges at Mokameh Ghat in Bihar.
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